In Tuesday night's first Maine gubernatorial race debate between incumbent Democrat Janet Mills and Republican challenger Paul Lepage, LePage underscored his desire to downsize state government.Lepage said, "Janet Mills' only solution over the last four years is to throw money at a problem."State spending has increased 20% since Mills replaced LePage in office in 2019, from a $7.2 billion biennial budget in fiscal years 2018-19 to $8.7 billion in fiscal years 2022-23, according to the nonpartisan state Office of Fiscal and Program Review.Maine's constitution requires a balanced budget. so, after LePage lowered income tax rates in his first term, Mills said, "The last income tax was paid for by increasing the sales tax and increasing the property taxes."LePage said, “Governor, you need a Pinocchio tonight. We did not raise the sales tax when I was governor. It was 5.5% and it stayed there."But Maine's general sales tax did increase from 5.0% to 5.5%, in October 2013, when LePage was governor -- over his veto -- according to a January 2002 report from the the nonpartisan state Office of Fiscal and Program Review (see page 9, re: LD 1509, PL 213, Ch. 368).Both candidates expressed a desire to let immigrants, such as the hundreds of asylum seekers living in Maine, work legally earlier than federal law currently allows, but they remembered differently former President Trump's 2017 ban on immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim countries.Mills said, "Mr. Lepage joined the Trump Muslim travel ban. He was very clear about that as governor. I opposed him on that."LePage said, "Janet Mills, you're a liar. I have not joined and prevented Muslims from going to work ever. I did not join the Trump Administration in any immigration."However, we found a Feb. 7, 2017, Tweet from then-governor LePage, saying; "AG Mills speaks for herself on immigration order. I support @realDonaldTrump exec action to protect all Americans. #mepolitics #MAGA."On the ongoing opioid crisis, which has caused Maine drug deaths to double in the past four years, LePage called out the cancellation of a 200-bed detox wing he had envisioned at the medium security state prison in Windham.“We proposed a facility in Windham that would have put 100 beds for detoxing people, 100 beds for dealing with mental illness, get them stabilized, get them back in the workforce, and work with them for housing,” LePage said. "This governor got rid of that, and we have dining rooms, gyms, and libraries."Mills said, “There was no plan on my desk, left on my desk, to create 100 units to incarcerate people with mental illness. No such plan. But we have responded to the drug issue by using medicated-assisted treatment in the prison."As we saw on a tour of the renovated Windham prison last month, the Maine Department of Corrections during her administration did pivot to a wholistic approach to substance abuse disorder, which affects 60% of inmates statewide, with treatment, counseling, education, and normalization.Of 1,100 inmates treated and released since June 2019, according to the MDOC, two-thirds stuck with their rehabilitation plan for at least three months, though in 2020, 6 died of overdoses, and in 2021, 12 died, which was a little more than 1% of Maine drug deaths each year.