Paul LePage distances himself from Maine GOP platform on abortion, same-sex marriage
Former Maine Gov. Paul LePage, a Republican who has made fiscal policy the centerpiece of his campaign to return to office this year, distanced himself Friday from controversial state Republican Party platform planks on social issues.
Answering questions from WMTW following a party “unity” rally in Lewiston, LePage rejected the idea of repealing state law recognizing same-sex marriage, which Maine voters approved in a 2012 referendum.
LePage said, "Marriage equality – I'm not interested in talking about that. If that's in the platform, I'm not going there."
The platform adopted at the convention in April opposed same-sex marriage, sex education before senior year in high school, and abortion.
The platform stated Republicans “recognize the definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman.”
The platform also stated Republicans “believe in the sanctity of human life – from conception to natural death” and “support prohibiting the use of state funds for abortions or activities that run counter to the sanctity of human life.”
LePage on Friday called for state funding to support women who carry babies to term for adoption but did not oppose the state’s version of government-funded Medicaid health insurance, MaineCare, paying for abortions for low-income women, as it has since 2019, when Democratic Governor Janet Mills succeeded LePage in office.
LePage said, "I wouldn't touch that. I'm not saying it won't be brought across my desk, I'm saying it's not anything I would initiate."
LePage would initiate tax and spending cuts. The centerpiece of his campaign is phasing out state income tax.
When asked how he would begin the process, LePage said, "First year, seniors, no more income tax on pensions."
He said he might want to lower top income tax rate, as he did in his first term in office a decade ago, and increase the exemption for lower income earners from paying any tax at all.
Prior to answering reporter questions, LePage addressed the rally for candidates seeking state legislative and congressional offices.
"The Augusta spending is out of control," LePage said.
Maine's biennial general fund appropriations for the 2022-2023 fiscal years approved by the Democratic-controlled legislature and Mills total $8.7 billion, according to the Maine Office of Fiscal and Program Review.
That’s $1.5 billion higher than the $7.2 billion appropriated in LePage’s last two years in office, the 2018-19 fiscal years, according to the Maine Office of Fiscal and Program Review.
"The state's not an $8 billion state. It's just not," LePage told WMTW.
One way he'd seek to lower the budget is by reducing the government payroll by hundreds of positions.
LePage said, "State employees – we have way too many. We're not an employment agency. What we should be doing is having efficient work rules."
Though Maine's unemployment rate is down to 3.2%, close to the pre-pandemic low, LePage said only 58% of the workforce is employed or looking for work, compared to 65-66% when he was in office.
He said that decline occurred “in the last three years,” but according to the Maine Department of Labor, the civilian workforce participation rate was 59% in May 2022, was 62.8% when Mills took office in January 2019, and peaked during the LePage years at 65.1% in July 2013.
The rebate checks are now arriving in mailboxes.
LePage said in his speech, “Instead of sending everybody $850, I’d have put that in an account, I’d gone to every oil dealer in Maine, ‘You charge $2, $2.50, and we’ll make up the difference from this fund’ so people can afford to heat their homes.”
To deliver Mainers further inflation relief, LePage called on Mills to suspend the state's 30-cent a gallon gas tax and tolls on trucks carrying food and other goods into the state.
However, no Maine governor can take such actions unilaterally; gas tax changes are subject to legislative approval, and tolls are overseen by the Maine Turnpike Authority Board of Directors.
Two-thirds of Maine toll revenue comes from out-of-state drivers, said Erin Courtney, an MTA spokeswoman.
Suspending the gas tax, the principal source for highway maintenance, would save the average driver, someone who drives 15,000 miles annually with a 25 MPG vehicle, $22 a year, said Mills spokeswoman Lindsay Crete.
The unity rally followed Tuesday’s statewide primaries, which set up a general election featuring familiar faces like LePage and Mills at the top of the ballot.
Former congressman Bruce Poliquin will face Congressman Jared Golden in Maine’s battleground, the 2nd congressional district.
After winning the primary by 20%, Poliquin has been publicly endorsed by his primary opponent, Liz Caruso.
Former Navy SEAL Ed Thelander is challenging Congresswoman Chellie Pingree in the 1st congressional district.
“The only way we win in November is if everyone works together and works as hard as possible,” Maine Republican Party Chair Demo Kouzounas told the rally.
“We need to run scared,” she said, “like we are 10 points behind.”