Independent candidate for governor Eliot Cutler came out swinging Monday against one of his opponents, Democrat Mike Michaud, saying the six-term congressman’s record has been “green-washed” by environmentalists.

“Governor LePage has demonstrated outright disregard for the environmental values that most Mainers share. But at least it can be said of Governor LePage that there is no pretension on his behalf,” Cutler said at a news conference in Portland. “He does not claim to be something he’s not.”

Michaud, on the other hand, has reinvented himself on environmental issues “in the guise of evolution,” Cutler said.

The independent, along with three supporters who spoke on his behalf, urged voters to take a closer look at Michaud’s environmental record, much of which goes back several decades.

The major point offered by the Cutler campaign was Michaud’s oft-repeated claim that he got involved in state politics to help clean up the Penobscot River, which was being polluted by the Great Northern Paper mill, where Michaud worked.

Cutler’s staff, however, produced a report from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 1980, months before Michaud was elected the first time, that indicated cleanup of the Penobscot had largely begun before Michaud’s election.

Advertisement

The Cutler campaign also pointed out that Michaud, in the mid-1980s, supported a dam project known as “Big A” that environmentalists opposed.

Michaud campaign spokeswoman Lizzy Reinholt said Cutler’s campaign is distorting Michaud’s policy positions that go back 30 years.

She said even though cleanup of the Penobscot River had begun at the federal level, Michaud still ran on the issue and worked to pass legislation that strengthened Maine laws beyond the federal laws, including the landmark River Reclassification Act of 1986, and a river color standards bill four years later.

As for his support of the dam project, Reinholt said Michaud disagreed with the environmentalists at the time and backed the project because it meant hundreds of jobs for the region.

Monday’s assault on Michaud was an apparent attempt by Cutler to seize control of an issue that has been mostly dormant during the 2014 governor’s race. It’s also a way to blunt Michaud’s endorsement by several environmental groups, including Environment Maine, the Sierra Club and Maine Conservation Voters.

Cutler said those groups, and many others that have endorsed Michaud, have become “an affiliate of the Democratic Party.”

Advertisement

Ned Muskie, son of the late U.S. Sen. Edmund Muskie, Cutler’s political mentor, spoke Monday on Cutler’s behalf and said his father would be outraged with the current political climate.

“For purely partisan reasons, some environmental groups have decided to support Mike Michaud, not because of his environmental record but in spite of it,” Muskie said.

The conservation groups each responded to Cutler’s attack on Michaud, and the LePage campaign said the governor has a record of “holding polluters accountable.”

“Mike Michaud is the candidate with the best track record to protect Maine’s environment,” said Environment Maine Director Emily Figdor. “He has a stellar voting record on the environment in Congress and a strong vision to protect Maine’s natural legacy and transition our state to clean energy.”

As for Cutler, Figdor said, “We’re concerned about his positions on several issues and have to take his word on what he’d do as a public official, whereas Mike has a long track record in the Maine Legislature and in Congress that we can look to and have great confidence in.”

Sierra Club Maine President Glen Brand said members looked closely at both Michaud’s and Cutler’s environmental records before endorsing Michaud.

Advertisement

“Unfortunately, Cutler’s floundering campaign may get just enough voters to re-elect Paul LePage, who has led an unprecedented assault on Maine’s environmental laws and policies,” Brand said.

Maureen Drouin, executive director of the Maine Conservation Voters Action Fund, said Michaud has been an environmental leader for decades.

“Mr. Cutler should focus his criticism where it belongs, on Governor LePage, who has taken a wrecking ball to our state,” she said. “LePage has vetoed bipartisan bills that would have kept pollution out of our lakes, protected our children from harmful chemicals, and invested in our clean energy economy. We can’t allow Paul LePage to drag Maine in the wrong direction for another four years.”

Cutler acknowledged that his environmental supporters were not household names and did not carry any organizational weight.

“I’m not depending on others to prop me up,” he said. “I’m not depending on organizations with names people recognize nor on millions and millions of dollars of outside money to come in here and prop up my candidacy and green-wash it.”

Reinholt accused Cutler of lashing out because he failed to win the endorsements of any environmental groups.

Advertisement

“Unfortunately, attacks like these only help Gov. LePage, whose failed environmental policies have threatened Maine and will only get worse if he is re-elected,” she said.

The LePage campaign issued a statement defending the governor’s environmental record.

“Governor LePage has a strong record of holding polluters accountable, including one of the largest environmental penalties in over two decades,” the statement said in part, referring to a fine against Chevron.

LePage spokesman Brent Littlefield pointed out that the energy giant paid the state a $900,000 settlement in 2011 on LePage’s watch for pollution in the Penobscot River, The Associated Press reported.

“A clean environment is critical to our tourism and natural resource-based economies, and most importantly keeping our citizens healthy,” the LePage campaign statement continued. “While Michael Michaud and Eliot Cutler fight over who got which special interest endorsement, Governor LePage has been working to hold polluters accountable.”

 


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.