LePage attacks on local control, unemployed “out of line”
AUGUSTA – Top Democrats in the Maine Senate and House said Governor Paul LePage’s attacks on local communities and workers during a closed-door meeting with businesses in Bangor yesterday were out of line and concerning.
According to the Bangor Daily News, LePage said “he planned to submit a bill that would allow the state to cut back on revenues to communities that don’t adjust their regulations to match the state’s. ‘If you will not cooperate with the state, [if you are] stricter on regulations, then you lose revenue sharing,” said LePage. “Obviously, you don’t need the revenue.’”
“It is out of line and concerning that the governor would threaten local communities because he doesn’t agree with the way the local people run their towns,” said Rep. Terry Hayes, D-Buckfield, the assistant House Democratic leader. “The people in my town of Buckfield and in communities across the state won’t tolerate those threats. If he has evidence or data that supports his theory that local laws are restricting business development, he should share them in a productive way and stop trying to bully towns. Revenue sharing helps keep property taxes down. Raising property taxes for Maine people is absolutely the wrong approach to improve our economy.”
He also told the Bangor newspaper that unemployment insurance was too high. LePage said, “We have got to convince those who can work that we need to get them back to work. Quite frankly, I think that might be a sign that we’re paying them a bit too much when they’re at home not working.”
“What kind of strange world are we living in when we have a governor who blames the unemployed for not working and attacks those who are working?” said Sen. John Patrick, D-Oxford, who works in the mill in Rumford. “In Governor LePage’s latest tirade, he falsely accuses Maine workers of not wanting to work and getting paid too much to not work. This is not a time to play the blame game. It is not a time to kick people when they’re down. It is a time to help Maine people get back to work, put food on their tables and pay their fuel bill.”
Patrick added, “This is a governor who is completely out of touch with the realities and struggles of Maine people. My Democratic colleagues and I are clear on one thing: we are sent to Augusta to work for Maine people, not pit employers against workers or workers against the unemployed.”