AUGUSTA — Gov. Paul LePage took the unusual step Wednesday of testifying at a legislative hearing to explain why he’s proposing major changes to the state’s retirement system.

He also fielded a tough question from a fellow Republican.

LePage signed up Wednesday morning to speak, along with dozens of current and retired state workers who came to testify against his plan. He testified 15th, starting just after noon.

He started his remarks with a number: 52,529.

“That’s the number of state workers or teachers who are on retirement or within retirement in the next 10 years,” he said. “These are long-serving state employees and teachers who are counting on Maine’s pension system to sustain their golden years.”

Without significant reform, LePage said, the system will not be able to support the retirees who need it.

The governor mostly read from a prepared statement, and came fairly close to staying within the three-minute limit imposed on everyone who testified.

As is tradition, he had already delivered a formal budget address to the Legislature last month.

Longtime State House observers said LePage became the first governor to appear before a legislative committee since Gov. John Reed, a Republican who served from 1959-1967. Reed testified in support of reclassifying a stream in Aroostook County to allow a sugar beet factory to open, said Paul Mills, a historian and attorney.

“Our fix is not easy, but it is honest, and it is essential,” LePage said in his testimony.

As LePage began to walk out of the Appropriations Committee room, Rep. Ken Fredette, R-Newport, a first-year lawmaker, said he wanted to ask the governor a question.

“I have a wife who’s a school teacher,” Fredette said. “Under your plan, she’ll pay another $1,000 (annually) in taxes, essentially, towards her pension over the next 20 years. That’s a cost to our family.

“My question is, how is that fair to her … versus that being spread across a greater spectrum of people?” he said. “This is a cost she’s going to pay simply because she chose to be a teacher.”

LePage responded that the problems with the pension system go back years, to when promises were made but the program was not adequately funded. He said the pension system must be stabilized so it does not cost taxpayers and businesses more money in the future.

And he promised pay raises for good teachers.

“We are trying to identify all the good teachers in the state of Maine and to make sure they are paid at a higher wage,” he said.

LePage said that during a recent trip to Washington, D.C., he learned that good teachers can be effective even if they have large classes.

He said teachers who “aren’t successful in the classroom” will be invited to “take on a new career.”

LePage said he will make a formal proposal in the coming weeks.

MaineToday Media State House Writer Susan Cover can be contacted at 620-7015 or at:

scover@mainetoday.com

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