MAINE’S GOVERNOR LePAGE IS RIGHT OUT OF THE 1950’s

…The many faces of the Governor of Maine.

 

Another, “open-mouth-insert-foot” episode for the governor.

 

There was a recent brouhaha about an another off-the-wall comment from the Governor of Maine, Paul LePage.

 

Now I have been asking for years how the good people of Maine could actually elect a yahoo such as Governor LePage.  Today, the governor of Maine is commonly referred to in major US publications as the “Nation’s Craziest Governor”.

 

As an example, what better way to start his first term as governor than to refuse to attend a Martin Luther King, Jr. Day breakfast.  And when the NAACP complained about his refusal to attend, he told them, on camera, to “kiss my butt”.

 

This is the same governor that refused for months to allow his state commissioners to testify before legislative committees.  He also ordered state employees not to speak to the state’s largest newspaper.  This move earned national attention.

 

Governor LePage has also become very skeptical of wind power.  Due to this, he sabotaged a $120 million offshore wind investment by Norwegian energy giant Statoil last year.  His explanation for doing this was because of his declared false belief that wind turbines “have a little electric motor that turns the blades when the wind isn’t blowing… so that they can show people wind power works.”

 

LePage is also a super champion of charter schools and school voucher initiatives.  He has outwardly advised students: “If you want a good education, go to private schools. If you can’t afford it, tough luck. You can go to the public school.”

 

Last June, LePage denounced a Democratic state senator for always wanting to “give it to the people without Vaseline.” He has referred to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as the American Gestapo.  When criticized for the remark, he claimed the agency’s enforcement of Obamacare would cause a slaughter comparable to the Holocaust. He even told schoolchildren that Maine’s newspapers are full of lies and he joked about bombing the largest newspaper, the Portland Press Herald, who has been covering all of LePage’s strange antics.

 

What has surprised me about this rude man being elected in Maine is because this is totally against Maine’s past reputation regarding their elected officials. 

 

Maine citizens have long seen their state as an example of practical, common-sense politics. It’s a place whose most revered politicians in recent years have been consensus-minded, civil US Senators.  These include moderates like Republicans Margaret Chase Smith, Bill Cohen, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins.  Also, the independent Angus King; and centrist Democrats: Edmund Muskie and George Mitchell. Oddballs like LePage have previously been totally foreign to a state like Maine.

 

But Governor LePage has once again stuck his size 13 foot deep into his mouth.

 

This “Back To The Future” Governor actually appeared out of his 1950’s time machine to offer a jaw-dropping 1950’s sexist remark.  (Perhaps he watched too many episodes of TV’s “Mad-Men”?)

 

At a town hall meeting in Auburn, Governor LePage continued to lash out against a citizen’s ballot initiative called “Question 1”.  If passed, this measure would increase election transparency and strengthen Maine’s Clean Elections Act.    Per the governor, “That’s like giving my wife my checkbook. I’m telling you, it’s giving your wife your checkbook,” said LePage.

 

One writer from a local paper wrote, “Hahaha! See, you can't just let the little lady run around with the checkbook! She'll probably spend it all buying new dress patterns at Woolworths. And heaven help us if she has the checkbook at a Tupperware party! She might even waste money on that Jackie Kennedy pillbox hat she's been cackling about with her hens. Governor LePage is getting the vapors just thinking about it.“

 

“The governor’s attitude toward women, toward relationships and toward money are so dated as to be bizarre,” said Eliza Townsend, Executive Director of the Maine Women’s Lobby in response to LePage’s comment. “The Maine Women’s Lobby supports Question 1 because we know that a legislature made up of Mainers with a variety of backgrounds and experiences will make better decisions for all of us.”

 

The Clean Elections Act has been particularly beneficial to Maine women candidates. The number of women running and winning elections increased significantly after passage of the original Clean Elections Act.  A survey of candidates by the Maine Citizen Leadership Fund found that women were more likely than men to say that access to the public financing option was very important in their decision to run for office

 

Hopefully, all the women in Maine will get together and oust this relic of a governor from the 1950’s.  And I apologize if I have offended any retired governors from the 1950’s.

 

Copyright G.Ater  2015