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THE RACE FOR GOVERNOR: Libby Mitchell withdraws from forums

By Matt Wickenheiser mwickenheiser@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer

Democratic gubernatorial nominee Libby Mitchell has pulled out of at least two gubernatorial forums because two unenrolled candidates were not invited to attend.

She is encouraging her competition to do the same.

"By winning primaries or gathering signatures, five candidates earned a spot on the general election ballot. At this early stage, when voters are still learning where the candidates stand and what their visions are for Maine, all of the candidates should be included in the debates," Mitchell said in a statement Wednesday. "Using artificial thresholds to determine whom to invite to a debate will do a disservice to the voters, especially at this point in the race. Maine people prefer inclusion so that they can make up their own minds."

Mitchell said she would not attend forums or debates if invitations had not been extended to all five candidates.

Groups that had invited only Mitchell, Republican Paul LePage and unenrolled candidate Eliot Cutler said they had no plans to extend invitations to unenrolled candidates Shawn Moody and Kevin Scott. With a limited amount of time for forums, they said, organizers preferred to hear from candidates they considered frontrunners. It's not uncommon in primary and general elections for groups to filter out whom they invite, narrowing the field based on whom they consider to be viable candidates.

Mitchell, LePage and Cutler were set to appear in a forum in Bangor this morning. The forum was a "leadership roundtable," and the three were to answer questions about cross-border economic development. It would have been the first time the three candidates appeared together. Scott and Moody were not invited.

Today's roundtable discussion was sponsored by the Bangor Region Development Alliance, Bangor Metro and Maine Ahead magazines, with organization support form the Bangor Regional Chamber of Commerce. Chamber President and CEO John Porter said he thought Mitchell's campaign preferred to have other unenrolled candidates on the stage, beyond just Cutler.

"I think they feel that if Eliot has the stage to himself as the only independent candidate, that just strengthens him as a candidate," Porter said.

Both Cutler's and LePage's camps said their candidates were still attending.

Edward "Ted" O'Meara, Cutler's campaign manager, suggested that Mitchell's stand "has nothing to do with principle and everything to do with politics."

"Groups that sponsor these events have every right to invite the candidates that they feel are the serious candidates," O'Meara said. "To cancel something the day before with a stunt like this is rude. This would have been the first opportunity for Maine people to hear the three front runners on the same platform. Paul LePage has ducked all the debates this summer. That doesn't seem to bother Mrs. Mitchell. Tomorrow she's taking herself out of it."

David Loughran, Mitchell's spokesman, noted that his candidate was scheduled to debate Cutler, Moody and Scott in Bath Wednesday night.

"Accusing her of ducking the debates is kind of silly, considering she's debating tonight, she's debated twice and she'll continue to debate throughout the fall," Loughran said. "Libby's happy to debate all of the candidates, and has no problem with including any of them."

LePage's campaign manager, John Morris, declined to comment on Mitchell's statement, or to respond to O'Meara's comment.

"Paul will be there to discuss energy policy and how to lower the electric bills of hardworking Maine people," was all Morris would say about the forum.

However, a news release from the Maine Republican Party said she was running from today's forum on economic development.

"Libby Mitchell needs to explain her record on these issues," said Charlie Webster, chairman of the Maine Republican Party, in the release, with further comments taking Mitchell to task for her "long, sordid record of anti-business activity."

Michael Pajak, Scott's campaign manager, said he was glad to see Mitchell "kind of putting this stake in the ground."

"It's an inherent unfairness to members of groups hosting forums and the electorate who are allowed to see or hear from three-fifth of the slate that have earned a spot on the ballot," said Pajak. "It's certainly unfair to the candidates."

Moody said he supported groups' right to limit forums however they choose, but gave credit to Mitchell for making a stand on including all candidates.

"To get a balanced, objective forum, to me, you need all of them," Moody said.

Moody said he didn't believe Mitchell's decision was politically motivated.

"People can second-guess the motivation, but I see her motives as being pure," he said.

Mitchell said she also had informed organizers of a forest products forum scheduled for Sept. 2 that she would not be attending, for the same reason. Organizers of a tourism-industry event set for Sept. 9 had invited only Cutler, LePage and Mitchell, though the Democratic candidate had not contacted them yet to cancel.

Porter said organizers of today's event had invited only the three because they considered them the frontrunners in the race. John Williams, president of the Maine Pulp & Paper Foundation, said his group organized the Sept. 2 forum, along with the Maine Forest Products Council, the Small Woodlot Owners Association and the Forest Resource Association. The groups decided that with a limited amount of time -- about an hour and a half -- for the forum, they wanted to limit it to three candidates, "one of whom was most likely to win in November."

"It certainly wasn't a reflection on the other two candidates," Williams said. "We felt we really needed to use our time the best we could."

Williams said the group discussed the issue again Tuesday, after the Mitchell campaign asked it to consider including the other two candidates.

"We made a decision, it's too late to make changes, and we'll stick with what we've decided," Williams said. "You do have to make these kinds of decisions, so we did."

Vaughn Stinson, CEO of the Maine Tourism Association, said the six member groups of the Hospitality and Tourism Alliance decided to invite only Cutler, LePage and Mitchell because of time constraints. Mitchell's campaign hadn't yet contacted the alliance, said Vaughn. If she does pull out, Stinson said, his inclination would be to continue with Cutler and LePage, adding that it was a decision the group would have to make.

In the statement sent Wednesday, Jesse Connolly, senior adviser to the Mitchell campaign, made the case for groups to include all five candidates.

"The public polling shows that this is a two-person race between Libby and Paul LePage. If organizations want a debate with the frontrunners, then they would invite those two. If they want to include the independents, they should invite all three of them," Connolly said. "This race has a long way to go before the voters select the next Governor. At some point it may make sense to invite only the frontrunners, but at this early stage, doing so is a disservice to Maine voters."