Portland Press Herald Reminds Mainers of Paul LePage’s “Antics, Anger and Often Fact-Free Approach to Governing”

A new editorial from the Portland Press Herald editorial board highlights how Paul LePage hasn’t changed since his disastrous past terms as governor of Maine — while Gov. Janet Mills has led Maine forward.

“We know who he is. But even if you’ve forgotten how often his antics, anger and often fact-free approach to governing got in the way of helping people, this past week offered not-so-gentle reminders,” the editorial board wrote.

Here are some highlights from LePage’s bad week:

• A report found Maine had the nation’s largest decline in the percentage of residents without health insurance from 2019-2021, largely thanks to Gov. Mills’ expansion of Medicaid. LePage’s years of refusal had cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding and denied health coverage to tens of thousands of Mainers.

• The Bangor Daily News reported that as governor, LePage refused a request from Marine Patrol officers to carry the overdose-reversing drug naloxone, even as a record number of Mainers died from drug overdoses. Gov. Mills “has done the exact opposite,” expanding access to naloxone to help reduce overdose fatalities.

• Finally, LePage picked a fight with the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine and accused them of being corrupt.

“LePage’s wrongheaded opposition kept initiatives important to the people of Maine from being put in place. His whims kept Mainers from getting the resources they had coming to them and their communities from growing,” the column reads. “LePage wants people to think he’s changed. After the last week or so, it’s not hard to see why.”

Read the full editorial here.

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