WATERVILLE — Gov. Paul LePage warned Thursday that the November elections will be critical to improving the business climate in Maine.

LePage addressed a crowd at the Mid-Maine Chamber of Commerce Business to Business Expo briefly before the event wrapped up at 6 p.m., saying he only had “one thing I wanted to relay.”

Gov. Paul LePage has a selfie taken Thursday with Trusty, the Skowhegan Savings Bank mascot, and Fawn Wentworth at the 2016 Business-to-Business Showcase at Colby College in Waterville. Michael G. Seamans/Morning Sentinel

“This year is an election year and it’s an important year in the state of Maine. If you appreciate having good jobs and growing your business, you need to be really attentive to who you vote for, because right now (it) is not kind in Augusta for businesses,” LePage said.

The business expo, in its 10th year, drew 140 businesses from central Maine and about 2,000 people to the Harold Alfond Athletic Center Field House at Colby College.

LePage reiterated the vision for Maine that he has been discussing at town hall-style meetings across the state over the past six months. Highlights included reining in student debt, lowering energy costs and taxes, and reforming welfare. On Tuesday he held a meeting in Mexico and another is planned for Madison next Wednesday.

LePage has attended the Waterville event before. He said he fears rising energy costs and a ballot initiative calling for a $12-an-hour minimum wage could be harmful to Maine businesses.

“I’m pleased with what I am seeing here and I hope I see the same businesses next year, because the socialists in Augusta are destroying our state,” LePage said in an interview with the Morning Sentinel before addressing the gathering.

With Madison Paper Industries announcing last week that it would close in May, LePage said the Legislature is not addressing the issues that make it difficult for these businesses to prosper in Maine.

“In the last six months we lost two paper mills,” LePage said. “And the Legislature refuses to address the issues, which are high energy costs and over-regulation.”

LePage warned against passage of a solar bill that he said would increase electricity costs to 22 cents per kilowatt hour. He also spoke against the minimum wage referendum, which he said is “going to destroy the small business in Maine.”

On Thursday, Democrats in the Maine House blocked an attempt to place a competing measure on the ballot. The proposal, which had Republican backing, called for a $10-an-hour minimum wage.

LePage urged the crowd to vote in November for candidates who share his agenda for business growth.

“This state could be more than just a beautiful state. It could be a prosperous state, but in order to get there, we need all of you to do your fair share, which is to elect the right people, like-minded people that care about Maine business,” LePage said.

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