ACTON — I worked with Democrat Mike Michaud in the Maine Legislature before he went to Congress. I always found him to be unobjectionable and easy to get along with. However, he comes up short when it comes to leading and getting things done. What you hear Mike say he will do, and what he actually does, are not the same.

I also worked with Gov. Paul LePage as an adviser to Republican legislators. At times, I found him to be a tough negotiator and perhaps a little difficult to get along with, even as a fellow Republican. However, at the end of the day, when it came to solving the state’s problems, Gov. LePage proved to be astonishingly effective.

If Mike Michaud and Paul LePage were facing off on “American Idol,” I could see myself voting for Michaud. But on Nov. 4, in the face-off that will determine such issues as jobs, the state budget, debt, education and welfare reform, I will be voting for LePage. And it’s not even close.

Rep. Michaud says in his campaign ads, “Unless you sit down and work together, you’re not going to get it done.” In his 12 years representing Maine in Congress, he must not have done much sitting down together, because he failed to get a single one of his 121 bills enacted into law. None of them even received a vote in the Senate. Compare that to Sen. Susan Collins, who has passed 16 bills.

Perhaps Michaud’s failure to get legislation passed is because he is so partisan, voting in lockstep with Nancy Pelosi and D.C. Democrats. Michaud has voted along party lines 93.3 percent of the time.

Or perhaps it’s because he hasn’t asserted himself. He was named to Roll Call Magazine’s “Obscure Caucus” and has presented very few original ideas.

Either way, it is becoming increasingly clear that Rep. Michaud is a follower, not a leader.

During Michaud’s 12 lost years in Congress, he earned roughly $2 million in taxpayer-funded salary and drove a government-funded car. And it wasn’t just any car. Michaud had the taxpayers lease him an $800-per-month luxury SUV from Lee Automotive, whose owners are major contributors to his campaign.

The “I Like Mike” persona that Michaud is trying to create is further dashed by his pattern of demonstrably deceptive ads and false statements. In 2012, Michaud’s attack ad against Kevin Raye was named one of the most misleading ads of the season by the Kennebec Journal. Last year, Michaud was forced to take down and correct an ad that used outdated jobs data to attack Gov. LePage.

Just a few weeks ago, he was caught dressing up a news release to look like a newspaper article in a campaign TV ad.

Lately, Michaud has been asserting the bipartisan tax relief package that Gov. LePage signed in 2011 “did those huge tax cuts outside the budget cycle” so that the governor “doesn’t have to pay for them until the budget comes due.”

I was the budget adviser to then-House Speaker Robert Nutting as we crafted that budget, and Michaud is absolutely wrong on that point. The tax cuts took effect well within the budget cycle, providing $160 million in much-needed tax relief to Maine families and businesses.

Love him or hate him, with Gov. LePage you always know where he stands, and he’s not afraid to take the lead. With two major issues in the past year – hospital debt and Medicaid expansion – he staked out the unpopular positions. He believed deep-down that paying off the debt was good and that expanding the program that created it was bad for the state’s budget and economy.

He then set about persuading the public and the Legislature to pay off the debt and avoid taking on more of it. Polls showed 60 percent to 70 percent of Mainers favoring Medicaid expansion a year or two ago. By this spring, however, it was a roughly even split after Mainers learned more about the governor’s point of view.

Maine needs a leader who will shape public policy and opinion, not be led by it. I like Mike, but I like having a strong leader in the Blaine House even better. That’s why I’m voting for Gov. LePage.

— Special to the Press Herald

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