PORTLAND, Maine — U.S. Rep. Jared Golden of Maine’s 2nd District broke with Gov. Janet Mills on Wednesday by calling for the state to lead a lawsuit against the federal government over lobster regulations at a Wednesday rally.
“We need to call on whoever’s in the Blaine House, anyone that’s involved in state politics, we got to step up and lead the charge,” Golden told the crowd at an event held by the Maine Lobstering Union.
The vulnerable Democrat echoed an attack line on Mills that has come from former Gov. Paul LePage, a Republican who is running against the Democratic governor and has promised to sue the administration of President Joe Biden himself if he is elected.
LePage has criticized the governor and Attorney General Aaron Frey for the state’s status as an intervenor in a lawsuit led by the Maine Lobstermen’s Association. The state set aside $3 million for legal costs and Mills put $100,000 from a state contingency account toward the lawsuit against rules enforced on the industry that are aimed at protecting endangered whales.
Attorney General Aaron Frey, a Democrat, said in a Wednesday statement that the state becoming the leader of another suit would be “legally insignificant” because it is already making key arguments against the rules in court.
Asked about those comments, Golden said it was important for the state to show support for lobstermen and that the Mills administration may be “missing some other points of significance.”
“Tell Aaron Frey he needs to get a real job if that’s what he thinks,” a seething LePage said.
Maine politicians have spoken with one voice against the rules, but the Democratic governor has come under fire for her support of offshore wind development. Mills did not attend and was booed by the conservative-leaning crowd when her name was mentioned.
In a statement, Mills spokesperson Lindsay Crete said Mills would “always fight to protect the lobster industry” and had put the state’s full support behind lobstermen in the legal fight.
Some of the loudest applause from the crowd came after speakers attacked offshore wind. Shirts, hats, and signs echoed support for the lobster industry. One sign said “lobstering doesn’t kill whales” and another said “keep your laws off our claws.”
Golden got no applause when he took the stage and some when he left it, seeming to win over many in the crowd with his support for the state becoming a lead plaintiff. His Republican opponent, former U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin, told the crowd that regulators did not care about their plight, saying the same apathy had made the supply of heating oil and gas go up.
“I’m in this fight,” he said.
Many lobstermen said the fight against federal regulators was existential, often comparing it to the loss of paper mills across Maine. Virginia Olsen of Stonington, a leader of the Maine Lobstering Union, said many were fishing in areas with few opportunities if they lost jobs.
The campaign between Golden and Poliquin has been marked by debate over support for the industry. Last month, the Republican hit the incumbent for a 2020 donation from the head of a group that “red-listed” the lobster last month over sustainability concerns, though Democrats responded by noting Poliquin has gotten money linked to companies that donated to the group.
As Golden left the stage, a woman yelled at him to ask why he took the money. But Olsen praised the congressman, saying his office had been attentive to lobstering issues.
“If I haven’t called them, they call me to see what they can do,” she said.
Bill Coppersmith, 65, who lives in Windham but fishes out of Portland, said Mills should have better anticipated new regulations that would hurt the industry. He said he had warned as much in a fishermen’s meeting with Golden, Frey and other Democrats three years ago.
“I’m ready to try somebody else,” Coppersmith said, when asked if LePage would be better for the lobster industry.