I just finished watching a rerun of the WCSH/WLBZ-TV debate among the candidates for Maine’s 2nd Congressional District seat and I have a question:

Can Bruce Poliquin make himself any more unlikable?

I’m not saying Poliquin isn’t smart. He is.

And it’s not that he isn’t a cagey political animal. He’s that and then some.

But unless you’re among those who cheer Poliquin on because he’s a master at pushing all of your red-hot conservative buttons, it’s hard to watch this guy in action for a half-hour and not come away with one overriding impression:

When it’s all said and done, the man’s a jerk.

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Thursday evening’s debate, hosted by the intrepid Pat Callaghan, was a case in point.

At issue, as it has been throughout Poliquin’s battle with Democratic state Sen. Emily Cain of Orono and independent Blaine Richardson of Belfast, was the oft-told story of Poliquin’s oceanfront property in Georgetown – you know, where he “no longer lives” because it’s not in the 2nd District – and how for years he paid next to nothing in property taxes on his 10-acre woodlot by enrolling it in Maine’s Tree Growth Tax Program.

Established way back in 1972, the program is designed “to help Maine landowners maintain their property as productive woodlands, and to broadly support Maine’s wood products industry,” explains the Maine Forest Service on its website.

Problem is, when then-state Treasurer Poliquin’s use of the loophole came to light in 2012, inquiring minds quickly discovered that a deed restriction on his property largely prohibited any timber harvesting or other forestry activities the Tree Growth program was designed to encourage.

Feeling the political heat during his unsuccessful primary run for the U.S. Senate in 2012, Poliquin next applied for and received permission to flip the woodlot from Tree Growth to Maine’s Open Space Program. That meant he still got a tax break on it, although it wasn’t as sweet as the $21 tax bill he’d paid on the land – valued at nearly a million dollars at the time – back in 2010.

So back to the debate. After bending over backward to concede that Poliquin had done nothing illegal by all but eliminating his property tax bill on the woodlot, moderator Callaghan asked: “Was it ethical? Was it the right thing to do to take that exemption?”

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Poliquin: “This is a good example of Emily Cain simply not telling the truth. I’m in the real estate investment business. I have properties in different parts of the state. I have always paid all of my taxes in full all the time. And the attacks she’s leveling on me …”

Callaghan (cutting in): “But the question is was it ethical? It was legal – what you did was legal. Was it the right thing to do?”

Poliquin: “I have always paid my taxes, all the time, Pat, in full. I have investment properties throughout the state. I have never done anything but obey the regulations.”

Later, when asked directly by Poliquin why she felt the need to “attack my hard work and success,” Cain hit the nail squarely on the head.

“The problem isn’t that you’ve been successful in business,” Cain told her opponent. “The problem is that now you want to make it harder for our people in our state, for hard-working families. Families like mine …”

Here’s what I would have added:

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“Bruce, let me explain to you how Maine’s property tax system works.

“People who own relatively inexpensive property pay relatively little in property taxes. People who own big, expensive property, on the other hand, pay a lot more in property taxes.

“Now Bruce, you own a big, expensive property. But here’s the problem: You paid very, very little in property taxes. In other words, you didn’t pay your fair share. And many Mainers – no, make that most Mainers – have grown increasingly sick and tired of rich guys like you finding ways to avoid paying your fair share of taxes, especially when the average Joe struggles to make ends meet with a near-empty checking account and a roll of duct tape.

“Now, I know these tax dodges play well down on Wall Street where you made your fortune. But, Bruce, the last time I checked, you’re not running to represent Wall Street. Or are you?”

What makes Poliquin’s property-tax two-step so galling is that he could easily have afforded to pay full freight on the woodlot all along. But if there’s one thing we’ve learned about him since he elbowed his way onto the public stage four years ago, it’s that Poliquin lives by two sets of rules – those that apply to him and those that apply to anyone unfortunate enough not to be him.

He demands answers to his questions, but refuses to answer ours. Seven times during the debate, Poliquin repeated some variation of “I’ve always paid my taxes,” without once opining on whether he thinks he paid enough.

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He attacks his opponents incessantly, yet cries foul whenever anyone directs so much as a whisper of criticism at him. “Why are you continuing to attack me personally?” he asked Cain after spending almost the entire debate taking potshots – many of them personal – at her.

And irritating? Honest to God, the guy’s like a cross between Jiminy Cricket and Darth Vader.

Little wonder, then, that today’s Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram poll reveals an unfavorability rating for Poliquin that has climbed from 22 percent in September to 37 percent with Election Day now looming. Heck, even 26 percent of the registered Republicans told our pollsters that their impression of Poliquin is, shall we say, less than positive.

I know, I know. I’m attacking poor Bruce personally here. That’s because the more I’ve watched this guy over the past four years, the more I’ve grown to dislike him. Personally. And I know I’m far from alone.

I also concede that as a resident of the 1st Congressional District, I won’t be casting a ballot in this contest. But I have a message for those who will:

If you truly believe Bruce Poliquin when he says he’ll go down to Washington and get things done, as opposed to going to Washington and ticking off anyone and everyone who dares get in his way, then I have a woodlot to sell you.

Tax-free.


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