SACO — Gov. Paul LePage previewed a series of town hall meetings he plans to give for the rest of his term at a meeting of the Biddeford-Saco Rotary Club on Wednesday, signaling a shift in his tactics in presenting his wide-ranging agenda directly to the public.

He spoke specifically about mitigating the supply of heroin and educating students about drug addiction in his prepared remarks, but also answered questions on a number of issues including the Efficiency Maine trust, the Land for Maine’s Future program, and his effort to lower the state’s income tax.

LePage began by addressing what he sees as a shortfall in resources for law enforcement to combat opioid trafficking. In the past, LePage’s efforts have courted controversy from Democrats, who suggest that his policies put law enforcement and incarceration ahead of treatment options. He noted that Maine has funded millions of dollars for treatment, while law enforcement and education have lagged behind.

“Every single day in Maine people (are) dying of drug overdoses, particularly heroin,” LePage said. “Three babies are born daily addicted or affected by drugs. … We need you, the public, to tell your legislators to please address the education of drugs and law enforcement of drugs. When I took office we were spending $57 million a year (on treatment); this past year we spent $76 million. We are twice the national average on GDP for drug treatment and four times as much as New Hampshire. When it’s coming in the boatload and pickup trucks full, there’s nothing we can do to stop it from being circulated.”

While the governor’s efforts focused on law enforcement, many of the questions he fielded from the Rotary Club members were about what the community could do.

Director Joe Morsehead, who helped arrange Gov. LePage’s presence at the event, asked if the governor had considered a Gloucester, Massachusetts program that fast-tracks addicts to treatment options with a combination of public and private money, rather than putting them through the criminal justice system.

Superintendent of Schools Jeremy Ray asked about support for the children of addicts. “Our children are living in homes where parents are addicted,” he said, “and that’s a whole other battle than saying no to drugs.”

The governor responded that Maine already makes an effort to prioritize treatment over incarceration – and said his efforts would focus on traffickers rather than the addicts themselves and that he has made an effort through DHHS to make sure children are in safe environments.

“Society through local communities has to get behind us. We need to understand and work at this problem,” LePage said.

William Kany, President of the Biddeford-Saco Rotary Club, said that the Rotary Club’s effort would be to pilot an effort to educate children about addiction on a local level. He added that the environment was a good setting for the governor to talk freely about the issues that mattered to him.

“It was good to hear him talk about (heroin intervention) … in a format like this,” Kany said.

LePage also put his sights on the Efficiency Maine trust, which he described as a “sacred cow” for the Legislature, and touched on his decision to withhold Land for Maine’s Future bonds.

“We’ve been trying to get them to look at more useful programs that will help,” LePage said of Efficiency Maine. The governor last week decided to withhold $2 million from the conservation program because the legislature has blocked his effort to use proceeds from timber harvesting on state lands to fund a program that would help rural Maine residents upgrade their heating systems.

“They go out and identify land they want to put into conservation. I agree with that. But once they identify it, they overpay for the properties … and they’re taking the property off the tax rolls and then they come to me and tell me to sell bonds to pay for it. You and I are paying for this,” LePage said, explaining that his decision to withhold the bonds comes after the Legislature has blocked his timber harvesting effort for three years straight.

In addition, LePage also made his case for a 5 percent income tax – saying it would put more money in the hands of taxpayers and grow the economy “twice as fast” – as well as his effort to leverage future liquor revenues against debt service.

When one audience member pointed out these efforts, LePage had a suggstion for the audience.

“It’s no big secret,” Gov. LePage said. “Just don’t read newspapers.”

Copy the Story Link

Comments are not available on this story.