Republican Peter Mills said he is running for governor because state government doesn’t count the things that really matter to people.

He said there’s a lack of accountability that produces a government that is more focused on perpetuating itself than in solving underlying problems.

That lack of accountability, and his desire to change it, compelled him to make his second run for governor, Mills told MaineToday Media’s editorial board Tuesday.

“We need meaningful accountability systems that demonstrate there is a value in human services, prison and education services, or reduce them,” said Mills, a 16-year veteran of the Legislature, who ran for governor in 2006 and was beaten in the GOP primary by Chandler Woodcock.

For example, he said, human service programs are geared to marketing dependency programs rather than helping people become independent of government services.

As governor, he said, his first step to improve education in Maine would be to adopt new testing techniques that can measure students’, schools’ and teachers’ performance throughout the school year.

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He said he opposes tax increases in general but would support an increase in the state fuel tax to pay for road improvements. He said that every 1-cent increase in the fuel tax would generate $7 million to $8 million for road improvements.

“We are a tourism state, and we need to be able to get people in and out of here,” he said.

Mills, a Skowhegan resident, is one of seven Republicans who are seeking their party’s nomination on June 8.

He said he would create jobs by reducing the capital gains tax and the tax on earnings, and by putting a small a portion of the $10 billion that’s in the state pension system into venture capital funds that invest in Maine.

He also said he would simplify state regulations to make it easier to do business.

“If the bill crosses your desk and you can’t read it, you veto it,” he said.

 

 


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