The Future Of Cannabis In The World: LePage on the 5 citizens' initiatives: 'No, no, no, no and no'

By Shawn P. Sullivan

SANFORD — Gov. Paul LePage held a town hall meeting at Sanford High School on Wednesday, Aug. 17, and detailed his opposition to five referendum questions on the state ballot this fall. LePage also took questions from the audience — and at one point got into a heated exchange with a state legislator.

The forum was the latest in a series LePage has been holding throughout the state. Superintendent of Schools David Theoharides welcomed LePage onto the stage of the high school's cafeteria and Deputy Mayor Maura Herlihy presented him with a gift bag filled with locally made goods.

LePage then took a seat and opened his remarks by saying that three things are holding Maine back: income tax, energy costs and over-regulation. He compared Maine with other states that are wealthier and have lower or no income tax and competitive energy rates. He said certain regulations — such as one calling for grandparents to be fingerprinted so that they can babysit their grandchildren — are overburdening the state and, in some cases are "(scaring) away people who could bring jobs."

Regarding income taxes, LePage noted that the state's rate is lower than in recent years at 7.15 percent but is still above the national state income tax average of 5.5 percent.

"We overtax Mainers," he said.

He added that 10 states do not have an income tax and then cited neighboring New Hampshire, which has no income or sales tax, as the closest example. He stated that New Hampshire's property tax rate is ranked seventh highest in the nation, whereas Maine's is ranked ninth. He added that New Hampshire's per capita income is higher than Maine's.

"We are two spots lower than New Hampshire (on property tax), but we collect a billion dollars in income tax and another several hundred million dollars in sales tax," LePage said. "Unbelievable. So the issue is this: do we have a tax problem? Yes. Does it revert back to a spending problem? Big time."

LePage discussed his views on five citizens' initiatives that will appear on the state ballot this fall. On Nov. 8, voters will decide the fates of initiatives seeking to legalize marijuana; to add a three-percent tax on individual Maine taxable income above $200,000 to create a state fund for supporting student learning in public grades K through 12; to require background checks before selling or transferring firearms between people not licensed as dealers; to raise the minimum hourly wage of $7.50 to $9 next year, with annual increases up to $12 in 2020 and annual cost-of-living increases afterward; and to allow voters to rank their choices of candidates in elections for U.S. Senator, Congress, Governor, State Senate and State House of Representatives, and to have ballots counted at the state level in multiple rounds in which last-place candidates are eliminated until one candidate wins by majority.

How does LePage think voters should vote on these matters? He told last week's audience he can keep his answer simple.

"No, no, no, no and no," he said to some applause from the audience.

LePage said he opposes the proposal to raise the minimum wage in part because it eliminates the tip credit, which lets employers, such as restaurant owners, to consider the tips that employees make to be a part of their wages. LePage said that of the roughly 14,500 Mainers making minimum wage, approximately 8,500 of them are in the service industry, earning tips — including his wife, First Lady Anne LePage, he noted. Among the remaining 6,000 workers, he said, many are on some form of disability, receiving assistance from federal programs, and are limited in how much they can make.

LePage also said he opposes the proposal because it would force business owners to raise the wages they pay no matter what kind of year they may be having, profit-wise.

"You could have another year, like 2008 or 2009, and you're still going to have to increase wages," he said. "You might be losing money, but your wages go up."

LePage said he opposes the addition of the 3.5 percent tax on those who make $200,000 or more because it would deter out-of-state companies from coming to Maine to do business. He added that the measure, if passed, also would make it difficult to attract such professionals as dentists, psychiatrists and others.

"Why would they come to Maine and pay 10.15 percent of their income when they could work in Boston, where they'd pay 5.5, or go to New Hampshire, where they'd pay zero?" LePage asked.

LePage said he is against legalizing marijuana because, as governor, he has taken an oath of office for the Maine Constitution and the Constitution of the United States. He added that if voters approve legalizing marijuana, then he'd be able to serve the state's Constitution but would be violating his oath to the U.S. one.

"It should not be done state by state because it affects everybody," he said.

LePage also said he didn't believe anything that can be grown in one's backyard should be taxed.

LePage said he'd be confident that ranked-choice voting would get struck down by the courts if approved because the Constitution "says one person, one vote," whereas in ranked-choice voting, "you vote several times, and just rank them (the candidates)."

As for the citizen initiative requiring the background checks for guns, LePage maintained that Maine is one of the safest states in America and noted that cities such as New York City and Chicago that have the toughest gun laws actually have among the highest homicide rates. He stated that Maine's murders tend to be crimes of passion and that guns are not usually the primary weapon used. He added that families need to be able to protect themselves. He also noted that many families hunt as a necessity and need their guns to do so.

LePage spent the last half of his visit answering the audience's questions on such matters as border patrol, manufacturing jobs for northern Maine, the availability of assistance for the disabled and even the tax on bread. LePage also answered one audience member's question about the current heroin crisis in Maine. (For more information on his response, please see the story on the state's latest opiod statistics on the front page of this issue.)

On the subject of asylum seekers in Maine, LePage felt himself drawn into two quick arguments with members of the audience.

The first occurred when a man in the audience took issue with LePage's characterization of some asylum seekers as illegal aliens. The man interrupted LePage as he spoke and said that it "is a bedrock value to welcome people from all over the world to come to America." The man persisted, and local police officers escorted him out.

The second occurred with State Rep. Patricia Hymanson, who represents Ogunquit and parts of York, Sanford and Wells, and is running for reelection this fall. LePage said that he proposed removing 4,200 disabled, mentally ill or elderly people from the wait list for state services but that the legislature restored 3,000 names and used the funds that might have been used for those services for education in such cities as Portland and Lewiston-Auburn instead. Moments earlier, LePage had named both cities as examples of communities supporting refugees.

"No, it's because people were on multiple wait lists — that's why," Hymanson called out from the audience.

LePage's press secretary, Adrienne Bennett, asked Hymanson not to "shout out" and reiterated the evening's protocol for members of the audience asking the governor questions.

LePage countered that he never said there weren't multiple wait lists. Hymanson stated that she serves on the legislature's Health and Human Services Committee and is familiar with the situation.

"And that's the problem," LePage said. "You people are making decisions (and) you don't know what's going on."

Hymanson told the governor that she is a physician.

"That's even worse because you're emotional and not taking in the facts," LePage replied.

"I resent that," Hymanson said. "I resent that tremendously."

LePage asked that Hymanson be removed from the audience. Some members of the audience protested making the state legislator leave. Hymanson said she was going to stay seated.

"I'm an American," she said. "I'm not going to be harassed by you."

LePage stated that the forum had a protocol that members of the audience needed to follow.

"You were talking out of turn," he told Hyman. "That's disrespectful."

In his closing remarks, LePage said that he's not asking everyone to agree with him. He urged the audience to ask questions of this election season's candidates for the state legislature and to "hold their feet to the fire."

"The things that are keeping us down are fixable," he said. "The problem is that people keep sending the same legislators to Augusta."

After the town hall meeting, State Rep. Anne Marie Mastraccio, of Sanford, who is running for reelection against Republican challenger Gordon Frohloff, said she would like to see the governor be more transparent as to how his ideas — particularly his goals of lowering and eliminating the income tax, broadening the sales tax and doing away with revenue sharing — would impact residents in Sanford. On Tuesday afternoon, she elaborated.

"It's hard to sit there and listen to one sentence (that LePage says) when there's a myriad of issues around what he says," she said. "I'm willing to look at their facts, but they need to look at my facts too."

LePage's visit to Sanford last week was the first of two he had scheduled for the area. The governor was expected to hold a town hall-style meeting at Noble High School in North Berwick on Wednesday evening.