FREEPORT

Gov. Paul LePage addressed an audience Tuesday night in Freeport, speaking on state issues he felt were “preventing Maine from going from poverty to prosperity.”

The small meeting space at Freeport Community Library overflowed with residents, many of whom stood by the doorway to listen.

LePage spoke on a range of different topics, from over-taxation to welfare reform.

He emphasized the importance of shifting the state to a consumption-driven economy, while not forgetting tourism.

“Some people believe you can build a great economy with tourism, and I believe that tourism is a great secondary economy — it helps people appreciate their state and visit their state,” he said. “Unfortunately, in our state, most of the people who appreciate our state are out-of-staters who come to visit Maine.”

This includes retired snowbirds who leave the state for the winter.

“The problem with that is the wealth, in my mind, is the cheapest thing that goes away because we lose their intellectual capacity to help the state move forward,” Le- Page said.

In an effort to also keep young residents from leaving the state, he suggested that the issue surrounding student loan debt should be tackled by allowing loans to be paid by employers who can later claim a tax credit.

“If you’re loaded down in debt, you’re not going to have a positive impact on the economy,” he said. “You can’t buy houses, you can’t buy cars, you can’t buy things that you’d like to see, and so you have to pay off your debt. I think we can do that. I think we can attract young people to come and live in Maine.”

Regarding the state’s heroin epidemic, LePage expressed the need for tougher laws aimed at drug dealers.

“Dealers is a different issue,” he said. “I believe people selling heroin in this state are murderers.

“I have a really hard time understanding how dealers can come up unabated, go all the way up to Aroostook County and kill people,” he added. “The dealers are not drug addicts; the dealers are business people that are making money on the hardship of others.”

He also addressed the high energy costs in Maine, but expressed some doubt with Solarize programs as it “will give you electricity only 14 percent of the time.”

“Just do the math — half the time it’s dark, half the time it’s like today,” he continued. “Whether you like it or not is not the issue. It’s intermittent. Wind is intermittent … and if it doesn’t blow at all, you get no electricity, or if it blows too much, you don’t get the electricity.”

“You store it,” a resident called out.

“If you can store it, good for you,” LePage said. “I don’t know long-term storage. I don’t know a commercial and viable situation that we can make megawatts, like 2500 megawatts, and put it into storage.”

Tuesday’s public forum was one of several the governor has been hosting in towns throughout the state since September.

dkim@timesrecord.com