The Legislature may have suspended meetings and hearings Tuesday, but Gov. Paul LePage kept his regular Tuesday appearance on WVOM. Here is a roundup of the issues covered:
LePage: Portland is breaking the law and should pay for helping ‘illegal immigrants’
Updated 10:43 a.m.: Gov. Paul LePage is arguing the state shouldn’t help “illegal immigrants” by funding cash benefits for legal immigrants seeking political asylum.
LePage has long railed against the General Assistance program and his two-year budget proposal calls for $12 million in cuts to the program, which targets the poor and those in financial distress.
LePage told WVOM-FM on Tuesday that Portland is “the leader” of breaking laws about giving “illegal immigrants” General Assistance.
He said communities, not the state, should fund “illegal immigrants.”
The Portland Press Herald reported the city’s moved to only use local funding for benefits to immigrants who haven’t applied for asylum yet.
General Assistance recipients must work if they’re physically able and face a two-year cap on cash benefits for basics like food and rent.
— The Associated Press
LePage: Casino effort motivated by ‘just greed’
Updated 9:26 a.m.: Gov. Paul LePage explained his opposition to a proposed York County casino that will be on Maine’s November 2017 ballot after signatures were validated Monday.
The referendum will ask Maine voters to approve a casino with 1,500 slot machines in York County that also would be subject to municipal approval. But the people who would qualify for a license under the law are Virgin Islands developer Shawn Scott and associates.
His sister, Lisa Scott, has already given $4.2 million to the effort and ballot access came after backers had to gather more signatures in light of a judge’s April decision to uphold the state’s rejection of most signatures submitted in early 2016.
Shawn Scott is familiar to many in Maine after companies linked to him bankrolled a 2003 referendum in Maine to allow slot machines at the Bangor Raceway, which he owned.
After a report from the Maine Harness Racing Commission dinged Shawn Scott for sloppy financial practices and lawsuits, he sold the rights to what became Hollywood Casino for a $51 million windfall.
LePage has been mostly silent on the casino issue over the past year. But he has been generally opposed to adding Maine casinos that would compete with those in Oxford and Bangor. He opposed legislative efforts in 2015 to allow a new southern Maine casino.
LePage repeated past arguments on Tuesday, saying Maine doesn’t have “the critical mass” for another casino. But LePage also took a shot at the Scotts, saying, “They are not interested in good public policy, just greed.”
That’s not what casino backers want you to think: On Monday, Lisa Scott released her first statement of the campaign, promising hundreds of jobs and touting the revenues it would bring in.
But with LePage lining up early against them, it promises to be a loud and potentially tough race to win in November.
— Michael Shepherd, Bangor Daily News
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