March 29, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

Candidates for governor trade jabs in TV debate> Maine’s economic progress `fragile,’ King says

LEWISTON — The five candidates for governor traded jabs in a fast-paced televised debate Friday night, with Gov. Angus King often the favorite target.

While Republican James Longley Jr. railed against Maine’s tax burden and Democrat Tom Connolly deplored the economic disparity between northern and southern Maine, the independent incumbent defended his record.

But King said during the hourlong debate held at Bates College and carried on WMTW-TV and WVII-TV that the economic progress the state has made over the past three to four years was “fragile.”

“We’re not out of the woods,” King said. “There’s plenty of work left to do.”

One of the most pointed questions came from the audience, when a man asked King about his veto earlier this year of a bill that would have boosted Maine’s minimum wage by 25 cents over the federal level of $5.15 an hour.

“I vetoed that bill in order to help create more jobs so that the minimum wage would be irrelevant, and in most parts of southern Maine today, it is,” King said.

But Connolly said the veto meant minimum wage earners were now getting $520 a year less than they would have if the bill passed.

“That means you vetoed ($)520 to the working people of the state who work for their poverty, and those kids you directly hurt by that…,” Connolly said.

Independent Bill Clarke, who is representing the Maine Taxpayers Party, agreed with the veto. However, Clarke insisted at the beginning and end of the debate that he was the only true conservative candidate.

“I believe the governor was actually right to veto the minimum wage law,” Clarke said. “That would’ve have made Maine even worse than it is right now in terms of an environment to do business and grow business and prosper in Maine.”

Pat LaMarche, endorsed by the Maine Greens, disagreed.

“The best thing that could happen for Maine would be for the minimum wage to increase,” she said.

Longley used the question to repeat an argument he made repeatedly during the debate that “high-taxed states attract low-wage jobs.”

“I think Augusta has intervened too strongly into business,” Longley said. “Our taxes are much too high.”

During a period when the candidates had an opportunity to question each other, Connolly displayed a flash of wackiness when he asked LaMarche if she would work for him if he was elected governor.

LaMarche, taken aback, thought for a few moments before answering: “I’ll take that under advisement and I’ll get back to you, Tom.”


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