TOPSHAM – Gov. Paul LePage’s Capitol for the Day event Friday attracted almost 200 people to Mount Ararat Middle School, capping off an afternoon of events in the midcoast.

LePage and his Cabinet took questions from the crowd for 90 minutes. He stressed that the state must get its fiscal house in order to compensate for high health care, energy and education costs and a relatively old population. Without changes in state priorities, Maine will not be able to attract new businesses, he said.

Additional Photos

Gov. Paul LePage waves goodbye to clients and staff of Tedford Housing, a shelter for homeless families in Brunswick, on Friday. John Ewing/Staff Photographer

“In order to have somebody sign the back of a paycheck, you need to have someone willing to sign the front of a paycheck,” he said, underscoring his administration’s emphasis on job creation.

The questions covered topics from education to the environment, social services and economic development.

Many in the audience supported the governor’s message, applauding loudly. Others were critical, asking pointed questions about proposed cuts contained in the governor’s budget, his support for legislation targeting organized labor and his proposal to have teachers pay more toward their retirement.

Asked about his administration’s efforts to reform state environmental review, LePage insisted the changes do not weaken environmental protection but make the permitting process faster and more predictable — something he said is essential in getting businesses to move to the state.

LePage said he wants to pay the best teachers accordingly, but that unions won’t let that happen. He said schools should do away with the No Child Left Behind mandates and paperwork and focus on teaching language, science, math and history.

One of those top teachers was in the audience. Sherri Gould, literacy teacher at Nokomis Regional High School in Newport, was Maine teacher of the year in 2005. She criticized the governor’s efforts to cut the value of teacher retirement plans and force teachers to pay more for them. She also criticized what she said is a lack of civility on his part.

“I want to retire with the pension I was promised,” she said before the meeting, standing with about a dozen protesters.

LePage said the state cannot sustain spending 50 percent of its budget on education and 30 percent on health and human services.

“We simply do not have enough resources because our people live in poverty for the most part,” he said, a theme he reiterated several times during the session.

Jack Wallace, a retired school teacher, asked why the state was preaching shared sacrifice, but asking teachers to increase their pension contributions 26 percent while the state was cutting its contribution 29 percent.

“I’m not going to sit here and tell you it’s a great deal. What I am going to tell you is I have a $4.3 billion shortfall,” LePage said.

State Treasurer Bruce Poliquin said the pension liability was created by promises made years ago, and that state taxpayers are sharing the sacrifice by contributing to a retirement system from which they won’t benefit.

Wallace said later that he believes the shortfall has been exaggerated because it was calculated when the stock market had hit a low point. The pension fund portfolio has since recovered, he said.

Asked about the benefits of merging the Maine Turnpike Authority with the Maine Department of Transportation, LePage said there could be some savings by consolidating administration.

But if the two are not merged, he said, the authority’s ability to issue bonds could allow it to finance major road projects, such as a turnpike spur to Sanford or an east-west highway, something the state can’t afford to address for at least 10 years.

Earlier in the afternoon, LePage met with midcoast businessmen at a closed reception held by the Southern Midcoast Maine Chamber.

The reception raised more than $3,000 for Tedford Housing and LePage visited the Brunswick nonprofit’s family shelter on Federal Street to present the check.

Staff Writer David Hench can be contacted at 791-6327 or at:

dhench@pressherald.com

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