MAINE, USA — Republican gubernatorial candidate Paul LePage says Mills administration policies have contributed to a rise in crime and Maine's deadly opioid crisis.
LePage also reiterated his objections to the overdose reversal drug Naloxone being administered multiple times.
LePage told reporters, "I'm all into providing Narcan for a person who is on the ground, consciously dying, and bringing them back. But I'm not all in on doing it four and five times a week to the same person. And my problem is this — If you pay for your drugs, you've gotta start paying for Narcan after your first doses."
"The idea that the 9,000 people who overdosed and did not die because of Narcan, we're going to charge them money?" asked Democratic analyst Betsy Sweet. "It's an absurd thing."
She added, "I think it was not about policy. It was a political thing, and it's shameful that he would take the lives of our friends and neighbors and use them as political fodder."
But Republican analyst Phil Harriman believes Gov. Janet Mills could be vulnerable on this issue.
"Whether it's free syringes or crack pipes or whatever is out there if that's the public policy," incumbents like Mills are going to be held accountable for it.
LePage found himself in a couple of unexpected dustups this past week. He criticized dairy farmers questioning him at an agricultural forum, saying they are not productive enough and that prices are too high.
And he accused the Sportsman's Alliance of Maine, or SAM, of pressuring him to promise he would fund a project they support in exchange for a high grade in their voter guide. LePage withdrew his survey answers and got an 'incomplete.' Janet Mills got an A.
David Trahan and other SAM leaders said their conversation recording showed LePage is off base and picking an unnecessary fight.
Harriman thinks LePage was telling these groups "what they need to know, not what they want to hear."
And Harriman said the message to the Sportsman's Alliance was, "I'm listening to what you have to say, but I'm not going to commit now before I actually see a budget. He's willing to say that before the election. I think that's refreshing."
But Sweet said, "We're finding out is there is no 'Paul LePage 2.0'. I think this is the same Paul LePage we had for eight years."
The three candidates for Congress in Maine's second district were together for a NEWS CENTER Maine "Voice of the Voter" forum this past week. It was their only scheduled joint appearance of the campaign.
"I think in a statewide debate, you succeed if you do no harm," Harriman said. "Nobody did any harm to themselves."
He feels the incumbent Democratic U.S. Rep. Jared Golden "had a lot of explaining to do in terms of his votes." He said Republican challenger Bruce Poliquin "compared to the last campaign, actually answered your questions, and that was refreshing."
As for independent Tiffany Bond, Harriman said she "really didn't convince me why I should vote for her."
Sweet disagreed, saying, "I thought Tiffany actually did a great job." She wished Bond had been even more forceful in saying, "If you're sick of the system, I'm your no-risk candidate because of ranked-choice voting.'"
A few new public polls put Janet Mills up by double digits in her race against Paul LePage. Mills is up 12 points in an Emerson College poll and 14 in one from the University of New Hampshire Survey Center.
Sweet thinks this is dangerous for Mills.
"It makes Mills supporters complacent. And I think it energizes LePage voters. The internal tracking polls I've heard of show this race is almost too close to call," Sweet said.
Harriman argues a poll is simply a "snapshot in time."
"It's not like they're predicting the end of the movie. They're telling you at this part of the movie this is the picture you're looking at," Harriman said.
Our analysts also look at the prospects for the bipartisan effort to reform the Electoral College Act, a bill sponsored by Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, to protect election workers, and a guilty plea by a contractor who illegally funneled more than $200,000 to Republican Sen. Susan Collins' 2020 campaign and a PAC that supported her reelection.
Political Brew airs Sundays on NEWS CENTER Maine's Weekend Morning Report.