Republican Gov. Paul LePage is heading back into the public fray tonight when he resumes his series of town hall meetings in Biddeford.
LePage held dozens of similar meetings last year all over Maine, using the opportunities to advocate for the three-legged policy stool he has fought for through much of his tenure: Lower taxes, lower energy costs and welfare reform. Later in the series, LePage shifted to discussing his opposition to the five referendums on last year’s general election ballot.
Last year’s town hall series ended in August after one of LePage’s most notorious blow-ups: Leaving an obscene voicemail for a Democratic lawmaker, Rep. Drew Gattine of Westbrook, after he thought Gattine called him racist, and then urging the media to make the recording public.
LePage quickly scheduled his next town hall in Gattine’s hometown of Westbrook in an apparent attempt to face the controversy head-on, but then canceled that appearance — or had it canceled when the host organization declined — amid a wave of criticism. LePage hasn’t held a town hall meeting since then.
Some of LePage’s town halls resulted in controversy — such as when he made racially charged comments about drug dealers and “white girls” in Bridgton — but most of the time they were opportunities for LePage to tout his agenda and for attendees to ask questions. While the governor faced a few hecklers and tough questions, for the most part the audiences at the town halls are appreciative of the Republican governor.
LePage, who for the most part does not engage with the media other than in radio appearances, is well-known for relating well to the public and for being good at it. His tone at town halls so far has been in the vein of “you may not agree with everything I say, but here’s what I want to do and how I want to do it.”
However, LePage has been found to stretch or glaze over the truth at times. Last summer, the BDN published a transcript of a town hall LePage held in Richmond, along with annotations that fact-checked and provided context for his assertions. We found that he made a lot of inaccurate statements that went unchecked in the town hall format.
In his rejuvenated schedule of town hall appearances, LePage will focus on promoting his sweeping and ambitious biennial budget proposal and pressuring lawmakers to make changes to new citizen-initiated laws that increased the minimum wage and implemented a 3 percent surtax on income over $200,000 to bolster education funding.
Today’s event begins at 6 p.m. at Biddeford Middle School at 25 Tiger Way.
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