Read complete coverage of the Lewiston mayoral race.
LEWISTON — Mayoral candidates Bob Macdonald and Larry Gilbert can’t agree on the most basic question — whether or not they even like each other.
“I know Larry can’t stand me, and I don’t like him,” Macdonald said. “I think he’s arrogant, but that’s his style. I’m not like that. I just want to get the job done and I don’t think you need to be in the public eye to do that.”
Gilbert disagrees.
“He says I hate him, but I don’t,” Gilbert said. “I hate how he represents us, what he does and what he says. But I don’t hate him personally.”
And that’s just the beginning of their differences. Gilbert is liberal, while Macdonald is conservative. Gilbert comes across as polished and verbose, Macdonald as gruff and plainspoken.
It’s a unique situation for Lewiston voters.
Both have careers as mayors, Gilbert from 2007 to 2012 and Macdonald ever since. Both have fans and detractors.
They are the only two candidates in the race this year, meaning there won’t be a runoff election when this one is complete. There’s not a third, fourth or fifth candidate to dilute the selection; whoever gets a simple majority at the polls Nov. 5 wins the seat.
And the two candidates disagree starkly on many things: government aid to the city, welfare for residents and even the mayor’s role.
Gilbert accuses Macdonald of being negative and dragging down the city’s image.
“Is division, talking about our blemishes and focusing on those things promoting our city?” Gilbert asked. “No, and then he’s critical about how people around the state view us. Well, they view us by what you put out there. If they see us in a negative light and your ambassador just talks about negatives, how else will they view you?”
Macdonald doesn’t see it that way.
“I’m trying to take care of all the negative stuff that people are afraid to bring up, and I’ll take the heat for that,” Macdonald said. “We’ll change it. That way, when the next person comes in, there will be an easy transition. They won’t have to worry about offending anyone because I will have already taken care of that.”
Gilbert points to a series of gaffes Macdonald made early in his term, culminating in a 2012 BBC documentary in which he was quoted as telling immigrants to “… leave your culture at the door” when they come to the U.S. It created a divisive climate in the city and hurt Lewiston’s image nationally, Gilbert said.
“It came to a point where the pressure cooker blew,” Gilbert said. “He’s sort of relaxed that since, and I’m sure he has been counseled to cool it. But, I think it says a lot about the person.”
Macdonald acknowledges he has changed. He sat down with Somali elders this past December to discuss and explain his comments. He says he now has a good relationship with Somalis and other new Mainers.
“My temper’s under control now,” he said. “I don’t have a temper anymore. I can just sit there now and listen.”
Even so, some of his most notorious comments were taken out of context, he said.
“For instance, they didn’t put the rest of my comment in, where I said they should come here, be Americans and prosper,” Macdonald said. “I think that’s much different than just, ‘Leave your culture at the door.'”
Gilbert compares Macdonald to Paul LePage, Maine’s outspoken, conservative governor.
“They think alike, they act alike and they speak alike,” Gilbert said. “To me, LePage has been an embarrassment to the state. I view Bob Macdonald the same way, as to how our city has been represented.”
Macdonald said he counts the governor as a friend and agrees with him on many things, but not everything.
“I don’t march in lock step with anybody,” he said. “All I’m concerned with is the city of Lewiston and the taxpayers.”
Macdonald said he was front and center this year as LePage proposed a budget that sharply cut state revenue to cities and towns. Legislators eventually passed the budget with reduced cuts, but they still hurt.
“If it happens again, I will be there again,” Macdonald said. “If it’s detrimental to Lewiston, I will be there — every meeting and every workshop.”
Gilbert said Macdonald hasn’t been willing to use his relationship to help the city. Legislators came up with money to help the city after arson fires destroyed 10 apartment buildings in the downtown.
“But the mayor didn’t say anything to (the governor),” Gilbert said. “He makes excuses for (LePage) and frankly, I think the state and the city have had enough of both of them.”
The candidates disagree on welfare and government aid. Macdonald has said Section 8 housing vouchers have ruined the downtown. He would like to see the downtown be all free-market housing, with no government support.
“You can’t say that,” Gilbert said. “You can’t do away with Section 8 housing. He says he wants to stop a minority who are abusing the system. But to do that, he wants to stop the whole system that’s helping the needy. I say, fix the system but keep helping. As long as there is poverty — and we have poverty in this community — we will have need for welfare.”
The two even disagree about the value of community cleanups, the kind led by neighborhood groups to collect litter downtown in the wake of the fires in April and May. Gilbert participated in the cleanups.
“I lead by example,” Gilbert said. “I’ve talked about litter and I got involved. I would not ask people to do anything I wouldn’t do myself.”
Macdonald said they are of little value.
“It’s a pigpen down there,” he said. “People just throw stuff around. And then, we enable them by bringing all these people in from outside the neighborhood to clean it up. We enable that and they are not going to do anything. It’s their responsibility to pick things up. Unfortunately, that’s what happens out there.”
Things like that focus negative attention on Lewiston, Macdonald said.
“People don’t realize other neighborhoods of Lewiston even exist,” he said. “We are defined by 1 percent of our land mass, and that’s not right.”
Macdonald derides Gilbert’s “Coffee with the Mayor” sessions — the monthly public appearances at local restaurants and coffee shops Gilbert hosted throughout his terms in office.
“I am out there constantly, every day, talking with people,” Macdonald said. “Want to have coffee with the mayor? You can find me two, three times a day, talking to people.”
LEWISTON — Mayor Robert Macdonald and challenger Laurent Gilbert will square off Thursday, Oct. 3, at a live public forum 6 to 7:30 p.m. in Callahan Hall, upstairs in the Lewiston Public Library. It is sponsored by the Sun Journal, the Lewiston Public Library and the Androscoggin County Chamber of Commerce.
Voters can email their questions to candidates@sunjournal.com, with “mayor debate” in the subject line, to have them included in the forum.
Sunjournal.com also will host a live online forum during the debate, www.sunjournal.com/election/2013/lewiston/mayoral/candidates, in which people can discuss events as they unfold. A live video feed of the debate will be shown and recorded for later viewing.
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