Governor Paul LePage took the stage Tuesday night in a town hall meeting at Windham High School. He addressed the audience first focusing on four areas that concern most Mainers and laying out plans he had to combat the issues in a state of the state-like speech. The first issue was income tax, then energy costs, continuing to reform the welfare system and finally student debt.
“We
compete globally,” LePage said. People and businesses go where they are welcome
and stay where they are wanted, he added. The top 10 states with the strongest
economy do not have income tax and many of those don’t have sales tax. Maine is
not on that list.
He
pointed out that many companies are relocating to Texas because the regulations
are predictable and they “don’t tax people to death.” LePage said his number
one goal is to lower the income tax and get rid of it all together by moving to
a consumption based tax with reductions for youth and those on fixed incomes.
He would like to eliminate the state tax by 2025.
In
the last five years, energy has become his number one issue and Maine is
falling behind. “We have a renewable portfolio of 64 percent which is the
highest in the country,” he said. “We are paying a very high price for that.”
LePage said that legislators have signed $198 million in above market rate
energy contracts to special interests over the last 20 years. “They don’t care
for you. They care for the next election.”
He
spoke about solar energy and wind power, which is better than solar, neither
are more than 25 percent efficient. Hydro power is 90 percent efficient. LePage
said that 10,000 homes in Maine have converted to heat pumps after seeing the
numbers and learning that it’s a highly efficient way to heat homes. He would
like to buy cheaper energy from Canada, and we should fight like crazy to bring
natural gas into Maine.
“Every
dollar we spend on energy we are not spending in wages,” LePage said.
Maine
needs welfare reform, LePage said. Maine is number three for providing welfare
behind Washington DC and Vermont. “I’m fighting for number four,” he said. For
Maine to get to number 25, the midpoint, $6,700 has to be cut to $2,500 in
entitlements per resident.
He
told a story about a woman who was writing to governors to find out which state
could provide her with the best benefits. “I told her ‘ask not what we can do
for you, but what you can do for us’,” he said. He said he had nothing against
someone asking for a hand up when they need it, but he doesn’t want to see able
bodied people working.
Another
issue he talked about was student debt. Where people with advanced degrees pay
$3,000 a month in student loans, this is a problem. He is working with Finance
Authority of Maine (FAME) to lower the cost the debt. One solution would be to
encourage people in science, technology, engineering and math fields to be in
Maine by having half their debt paid off after five years of work and then
after 10 years pay off the rest. To do this, LePage estimated it would cost $10
million dollars put into FAMEs budget. “Everybody is competing for the best
people,” he said. This could make Maine more marketable.
He
is currently asking the legislature to approve a measure that if an employer
pays off student loans for an employee the boss would get a dollar for dollar
return on their taxes. He would also like to see more online education and
better use of technology within the state education system.
Maine
is the oldest state in the union with a median age of 44. Bringing people to
Maine to fill rural industries and bringing back manufacturing would help our
economy.
LePage
took a few detours from his four listed items to talk about making laws and
abiding by them and where money goes, for example, money being reallocated to
“sanctuary cities” where asylum seekers come for the services.
He
only mentioned once the failed impeachment. “Special interest runs the state.
When you fight back they try to impeach me,” he said.
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During
the question and answer portion of the town hall meeting the following topics
were discussed: Drug rehabilitation treatments, how prescription drugs are over
used and over prescribed, National fines put on the state for $29 million
because federal laws are in direct opposition to Maine laws, consolidation from
local control to county control, welfare fraud, gun control, expansion of
heathcare and the moral compass of Maine residents. LePage had answers for all
of them. Not all of his answers were popular with the audience. Dr. Jane
Pringle of Windham, a former representative, asked about the expansion of
Medicaid, which was the only heated conversation of the night with LePage
refusing to hear arguments that expansion is the way to go. “ACA and Medicaid
is going broke,” he said. States that expanded are now deep in the red, he
added.
At
the end of the night, he closed with “I try to be straight forward and tell you
the truth.”
