WESTBROOK – Gov. Paul Le-Page fielded wide-ranging questions from an agreeable crowd Friday in his first “Capitol for a Day” town hall meeting.

The 90-minute question-and-answer session touched on issues ranging from education to welfare and Maine’s business climate to transportation.

Additional Photos

Gov. Paul LePage is greeted by a standing ovation at the Portland Regional Chamber’s luncheon at the Eastland Hotel on Friday. Gordon Chibroski/Staff Photographer

Gov. Paul LePage, at right, and from left, Education Commissioner-nominee Steve Bowen, DEP Commissioner Darryl Brown, Economic Development Commissioner David Bernhardt and Transportation Commissioner Phil Congdon listen to a question as they hold a “Capitol for a Day” town hall meeting Friday at the Westbrook Performing Arts Center. John Patriquin/Staff Photographer

There were broad questions about how to limit the cost of health insurance and bring clean industries to the state, and specific ones about the state’s billboard ban and cameras on top of traffic lights.

The evening event drew more than 150 people to the Westbrook Performing Arts Center.

Earlier in the day, LePage visited Harbor Fish Market and Barber Foods in Portland and National Semiconductor in South Portland, and spoke at lunch to the Portland Regional Chamber.

In Westbrook, LePage took the stage with some of his Cabinet picks. Some of their responses to questions won applause or laughs.

Donna Little of Falmouth prefaced her question by telling the officials that she liked them all — and that she’s a Democrat.

“The very fact that you’re doing this community outreach warms my heart and gives me faith in you,” she said. “And basically we need to have faith in you because you’re working for us.”

LePage got the “Capitol for a Day” idea from former Gov. John McKernan, who visited communities with Cabinet members as a way to bring together the “two Maines.” LePage plans to attend monthly town hall meetings and visit businesses in each of the state’s 16 counties.

Little, who works in the lodging industry, said she worries that LePage’s plans to make Maine more business-friendly could hurt the environment. The governor said he sees a big difference between regulatory reform and environmental protection.

“The people way, way over on the left are trying to confuse the issue,” he said.

Regarding state funding for school buildings, LePage said he wants to shift away from the approach of administrations that favored funding new schools and toward renovating existing schools.

LePage also said he opposes penalizing any school districts that did not consolidate under the state law backed by Gov. John Baldacci.

In response to a question about his proposed budget, LePage said everyone will have to bear some of the burden.

“Everybody’s angry, and they have a right to be,” he said. “If everybody’s mad at you, we’re sharing the pain.”

Earlier in the day in Portland, LePage met with clients, service providers and local officials at Preble Street, a social service agency.

After the meeting, LePage’s spokesman Dan Demeritt said the governor doesn’t intend to limit Mainers to 30 days of General Assistance a year.

That provision is in LePage’s budget, but Demeritt said the budget, as drafted, did not capture the governor’s intention.

“It’s a process. That’s why it’s not the law the second it comes out.” Demeritt said.

“That’s probably the best thing that could have come out of it,” state Rep. Ben Chipman of Portland said of the meeting.

At lunch, the governor encountered a friendly crowd. He told about 100 members of the Portland Regional Chamber — who gave him several standing ovations — that he will stand firm on his pledge to sign only bond packages approved by Maine voters.

LePage said the state Constitution requires Maine voters to approve all bonding packages but the state has $12.7 billion in bond debt, of which only $500 million was passed by voters.

“This is a direct intent to violate the state of Maine’s Constitution. Frankly folks, not on my watch,” he said.

LePage said he has directed the state attorney general to look for loopholes in the federal Affordable Care Act to help Maine hospitals with Medicare and Medicaid costs. It’s an issue he said he intends to raise when he visits Washington next week.

LePage said he is modifying his proposal to abolish the state’s Land Use Regulatory Commission and put oversight of development projects in the hands of counties in the state’s townships and unorganized areas.

Instead, he said, he is thinking of retaining a single agency, with membership from counties, because some townships straddle more than one county.

An audience member asked why he has yet to schedule a meeting with Maine’s NAACP, following his infamous “kiss my butt” remark over the group’s Martin Luther King Day events, and how he intends to heal his divide with the group.

LePage said he has tried to meet with the NAACP but the group has been unable to schedule a meeting.

“It is not my monkey. It is their monkey,” he said.

He said the issue is not about civil rights but about the NAACP wanting press coverage.

Staff Writer Ann S. Kim can be contacted at 791-6383 or at:

akim@pressherald.com

Staff Writer Beth Quimby can be contacted at 791-6363 or at:

bquimby@pressherald.com

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