Maine news, sports, weather | Kennebec Journal, Augusta, Maine

GOVERNOR'S RACE

Youths grill candidates

LePage: I didn't seek Tea Party, they support me

By Matt Wickenheiser mwickenheiser@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer

WESTBROOK -- The five candidates for governor sat down together for the first time at a forum Sunday afternoon hosted by the TV program Youth in Politics.

click image to enlarge

Maine gubernatorial candidates, left to right, democratic candidate Elizabeth "Libby" Mitchell, undeclared candidate Eliot Cutler, undeclared candidate Kevin Scott, republican candidate Paul LePage, and undeclared candidate Shawn Moody during the Youth in Politics Maine gubernatorial debate at WPXT TV station in Westbrook on Sunday.

Tim Greenway

Related headlines

• Got votes? A measure of political pull
• Young journalists prove mettle

Select images available for purchase in the
Maine Today Photo Store

Participation -- or lack of participation -- in forums over the summer had actually become a campaign issue.

Republican Paul LePage was criticized for not taking part in some debates. And Democrat Elizabeth "Libby" Mitchell made news recently when she pulled out of several forums because all candidates had not been invited. While unenrolled Eliot Cutler had been invited, his fellow independents Shawn Moody and Kevin Scott had not.

Sunday's forum was hosted by Logan Leavitt, 17, of Portland, a senior at Deering High School, and Justin Chenette, 19, of Saco, a sophomore at Lyndon State College in Vermont.

There wasn't any back-and-forth between candidates; this wasn't a debate, per se. Rather the Blaine House hopefuls gave their positions on a number of topics including the economy, energy, health care and education.

And the youthfulness of the hosts didn't stop them from hitting the candidates hard with questions critics have raised about each of them -- providing some of the least wonkish parts of the two-hour forum.

The first went to Mitchell.

"You have made change a centerpiece in your candidacy, yet you have been in Augusta for decades," said Chenette. "How would you answer critics that say you've been part of the problem and not part of the solution?"

Mitchell, the first Maine woman to serve as both Speaker of the House and Senate President, noted that she had not yet been governor of the state of Maine.

"I look forward to the chance to having a plan that is executed at the executive level," said Mitchell.

And in her 30 years in state politics, she has worked to keep markets competitive for Maine paper mills, to improve school and to keep dangerous chemicals from household goods.

Chenette asked Cutler about criticism that he's out of touch with "Main Street Mainers" because of his financial background and his living out of state for many years.

"I left Maine to go to work for Ed Muskie. Everything we did was for America and for Maine," he said.

He noted his work on the Clean Air and Clean Water acts, on the development of the Superfund Program, and in the settlement of the Maine Indian Claims. And the work he did in the U.S. and abroad gave him skills he wants to apply as governor, Cutler said.

To Scott, Chenette asked, "Your biggest claim to fame is chair of the board of trustees of the Andover Water District. Does your perceived lack of political experience make you an unviable candidate for governor in the eyes of average Mainers?"

Scott said he doesn't seek fame, but thought that his biggest claim was that he's been working since 1988 with Massachusetts Institute of Technology startups to secure venture capital funds for cutting edge technology.

"My experience from the private sector, from not being in the public sector, is not a criticism, it is a strength," said Scott. "We need fresh eyes on the problem."

LePage was asked by Chenette if it would be difficult for him to attract Democrat and independent voters "with a possible more radical image through your association with the Maine Tea Party?"

"Well," LePage responded, "I don't know why you're associating me with the Tea Party -- I didn't seek them, they're supporting me."

LePage noted that he was the first Republican elected mayor in Waterville in 30 years, and he's now in his third term, with a City Council entirely comprised of Democrats the whole time. The city has lowered the tax rate, set up a rainy day fund and improved its bond rating, he said.

And Chenette asked Shawn Moody if his candidacy was "strictly a marketing ploy to promote Moody's Collision Center?"

That question drew laughter from the candidates and audience of about 20 people. Moody said it would be a poor business move, as none of his campaigning is tax deductible, as it would be if it were money spent on actual marketing for his company.

"We need business experience in Augusta," said Moody. "It's how to grow the economy, how to grow our way out of this."

Leavitt asked the candidates whether the question of raising taxes would be on the table were they governor, in light of a $1 billion budget shortfall projected for the next biennium.

Mitchell said it was premature to talk about raising taxes; pressed by the moderators on the question, she said "not initially."

Moody said it would be irresponsible for any candidate to take a no-new-taxes pledge, until they were in office and had a first-hand look at state finances.

Cutler and Scott both said a tax hike wouldn't be part of their plan. LePage said he wouldn't raise taxes, bond or increase fees.

The candidates were asked what sort of alternative energy initiative they would support as governor. Moody suggested retrofitting existing hydropower systems with new, more efficient turbines. LePage said he also supported hydro. Scott said he'd push solar. Cutler said Maine needed a broad portfolio of everything, including natural gas, hydro, solar and wind, and Canadian electricity, as well, and Mitchell said she agreed with him, and also was impressed with a tidal power project off the coast of Eastport.