FREEPORT — One candidate promised to be a bold leader.

One promised to be a uniter.

One was not there.

Two of Maine’s three candidates for governor addressed a crowd of more than 100 entrepreneurs and innovation leaders gathered Friday for an annual summit sponsored by Envision Maine. The goal of the summit was to gather and share ideas to build Maine’s economy.

“I would focus on recruiting people to come to Maine,” said independent Eliot Cutler. “Not big companies, like Boeing, but people; people with ideas; people who are going to come here and take risks and grow business.”

Democrat Mike Michaud said his top priority would be to bring a sense of certainty and dependability to state government.

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“When businesses invest, they want to see stability,” he said.

The summit was billed as a chance for all three candidates to address some of Maine’s top innovators, but Gov. Paul LePage did not attend.

Alex Willette, LePage’s campaign spokesman, said the governor had other campaign events scheduled. He said it had nothing to do with whether the other candidates would be there, even though LePage has repeatedly said recently that he will not share a stage with Michaud.

Alan Caron, Envision Maine’s president, said he and his staff tried to work with LePage’s timing constraints, but his campaign could not make it work.

Cutler spoke first on Friday, answering questions from Kristina Egan of Envision Maine. Michaud followed, answering the same questions. The candidates’ time did not overlap.

Cutler spent a good deal of time talking about a community meeting he held Friday morning in Millinocket with townspeople affected by the recent bankruptcy of Great Northern Paper.

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“They are in desperate, desperate shape,” Cutler said. “It’s a crisis of enormous proportions. The great irony, of course, is that the region has a collection of natural resources that put it in the best position of any in the state.”

Michaud, who worked for Great Northern for 29 years, did not address the Sept. 21 bankruptcy or the troubles facing the Katahdin region. He said despite Maine’s collective economic struggles, “there is a lot of hope out there.”

“One of our greatest resources is our people,” he said. “Our people are energized. They want positive change and they want to work together. I’m the only candidate in this race who has been willing to work together to get things done.”

In many areas, including renewable energy, Cutler and Michaud were in agreement, and they both criticized LePage for turning off business development with his coarse governing style.

“Maine has a basket of renewables – rivers, tidal, solar, wind – probably the broadest basket of any state in the Northeast,” Cutler said. “You’d think we would be investing in those things, but we’re not. We have a governor right now who can’t see beyond the end of his nose.”

Michaud said Maine needs to reduce its dependence on oil and build on its strengths, such as solar power and wind.

Like Cutler, Michaud went after LePage for his controversial, brusque demeanor.

“It’s something I’ve heard over and over again,” he said. “Maine deserves better than that.”


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