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LePage served two terms as a Waterville city councilor before becoming mayor in 2003, retaining that post until taking office as governor in January 2011. During his time as mayor, LePage reorganized city hall, lowered taxes, and increased the city's rainy day fund balance from $1 million to $10 million. As he makes a comeback bid, former Maine Gov. Paul LePage is pushing “to phase out Maine’s income tax. He argues that the change is needed to keep wealthy residents from moving to Florida for just long enough each year to take advantage of the Sunshine State’s tax breaks,” the New York Times reports. Littlefield said the report was “obviously an opposition research dump from political opponents.” He did not answer questions from the Bangor Daily News on where the LePages filed income taxes since 2020.
On March 23, 2011, LePage sparked protests when he announced that he planned to remove a large mural depicting the history of the state's labor movement from the lobby of the Maine Department of Labor offices. Despite protests, on March 28 it was disclosed that the murals had been removed over the weekend. The Portland Museum of Art issued a statement that said LePage's decision has tarnished the state's reputation as a haven for artists.
Back from Florida, Paul LePage declares residency in Maine
Despite his re-election, LePage was generally unpopular for most of his second term. In 2016, his approval ratings registered at 38%, making him one of ten state executives with higher disapproval (58%). LePage was consistently ranked as one of the most unpopular governors in the United States, and he left office with an approval split of 39–53%.
The situation spurred statewide backlash including a federal investigation of the alleged intimidation, which concluded that LePage's administration improperly acted with "what could be perceived as a bias toward employers". LePage expressed an intent to reform welfare eligibility requirements, though he did not specify how he would do so. He also supports lifetime limits on welfare support, requiring recipients to perform work in the community, and a tiered payment system that gradually removes benefits as recipients earn more money working, rather than cutting them off entirely at a certain income level. He stated this view regarding the case of Ethan Henderson, a 10-week-old baby who was allegedly killed by his father. He also has expressed support for giving the death penalty to drug dealers whose drugs cause a fatal overdose.
Biden and House GOP to Start 2023 With Scant Ties
On March 21, 2013, LePage summoned a dozen state employees of the Bureau of Unemployment to the Blaine House for a luncheon to discuss the state's unemployment compensation hearing and appeals process. Although LePage described the meeting as "cordial", the workers described it as pressuring and used to intimidate them to give more rulings on unemployment claim appeals in favor of businesses, as well as to state that they were doing their jobs poorly. LePage called the accusation "outrageous" and said that David Webbert, the president of the Maine Employment Lawyers Association who made the allegation, was making it up.
By then, they had claimed a homestead exemption on that home, indicating it was at least the permanent residence of Ann LePage at a time when her husband was still Maine’s governor. A Florida tax lawyer told The New York Times this was possible under state law but “atypical” since spouses typically are in homes together. His final budget proposal in 2017 contained a tax overhaul that would have combined income tax cuts and sales tax expansion while limiting Maine’s homestead exemption to people over 65, although that the package was never seriously considered in a divided legislature. After leaving office in 2019 because of Maine’s prohibition on serving a third consecutive term, Mr. LePage obtained a Florida driver’s license and registered to vote in the state.
Former Portland city manager under fire at his current post in Florida
On May 23, 2013, LePage announced that he would move his office out of the Maine State Capitol and work from The Blaine House due to what he called efforts by majority Democrats in the Legislature to censor his speech. This included the refusal of the Appropriations Committee to allow him to address them on May 19, and later being asked to obtain permission from the Legislative Council to have a TV outside of his office displaying the number of days since his budget was proposed. The remark about Vaseline was heavily criticized by public figures on all sides, including Democratic House Speaker Mark Eves, who called the comment "obscene" and criticized its being on the evening news when children could hear it. LePage is known for his bombastic and off-the-cuff remarks that have, during his tenure as mayor of Waterville and governor of Maine, drawn domestic and national controversy as well as critical acclaim. He has cited the fact that French was his first language as a reason for his controversial statements.
He has said that coverage mandates for Maine insurance policies should be pared back because they make insurance policies too expensive. He believes that MaineCare, the state Medicaid program, has too many enrollees and is too easy to qualify for. He vetoed a bill to expand MaineCare under the Affordable Care Act on June 17, 2013, and has criticized efforts by the Legislature to write an expansion bill that will obtain enough votes to override a veto, stating that the Legislature has "no compassion". LePage has stated that the size of state government is likely too large and that he would probably seek to reduce the number of state employees. LePage has criticized wind power and in particular the large-scale expansion of installed capacity mandated by Maine's 2008 Wind Energy Act and wind energy's large role in the state's Renewable Portfolio Standard.
BANGOR, Maine - Paul LePage’s mission to unseat Democratic candidate Janet Mills, did not materialize following Tuesday’s Midterm Elections. What does a Republican-controlled House and a Democratic-run Senate mean for the next two years? Most likely a return to the gridlock and brinkmanshipthat have defined a divided federal government in recent years. President Biden, who had the best midterms of any president in 20 yearsas Democrats maintained a narrow hold on the Senate, feels buoyant after the results. But as he nears his 80th birthday, he confronts a decisionon whether to run again.
He was also critical of King for switching his 2014 gubernatorial election endorsement from independent candidate Eliot Cutler to Democratic nominee Mike Michaud. He ultimately announced on May 10, 2017, that he would not run, preferring to focus on being governor. With 94% of precincts reporting on the day after the election, the Bangor Daily News declared LePage the winner, carrying 38.1% of the votes. Independent Cutler was in second place with 36.7% of the votes , while Democrat Mitchell was a distant third with 19%. LePage was the first popularly elected, Franco-American governor of Maine and the first Republican since John R. McKernan Jr.'s re-election in 1990. In his victory speech, LePage promised he would shrink government, lower taxes, decrease business regulation, and put "Maine people ahead of politics".
On June 21, 2013, when asked if he was concerned about hurting his re-election campaign, he replied, "Who said I'm running?", and, that "everything was on the table"—including entering the race for Maine's Second Congressional District; retiring; or "going back to Marden's to stock shelves". At a fundraiser with former Florida governor Jeb Bush on July 2, he told supporters that he was indeed running for re-election. In the general election, LePage was backed by local Tea Party activists and faced Democratic state senator Libby Mitchell, and three independents – Eliot Cutler, Shawn Moody, and Kevin Scott. During the campaign, he told an audience that when he became governor, they could expect to see newspaper headlines stating, "LePage Tells Obama to Go to Hell". He was subsequently criticized by Libby Mitchell's campaign as being disrespectful towards the office of the president.
According to the New York Times, LePage has “benefitted from that state’s [Florida’s] tax laws while living in the Maine governor’s mansion, and again as he campaigns to return to the job.” The property tax breaks are “reserved for permanent Florida residents”. In his final months as governor, Mr. LePage told reporters in November 2018 that he had a home in Florida and planned to move there because the state had no income tax. But by that time, records show, he and his wife had already claimed a homestead exemption on their Ormond Beach property — indicating that Florida had been the primary residence of Maine’s governor and first lady since March 2018, when they bought the home. Although the tax issue does not appear to violate state laws or endanger Paul LePage’s Maine residency, it is emerging in the home stretch of the Republican campaign against Democratic Gov. Janet Mills. He registered to vote in Florida on his inauguration day before returning in mid-2020 to declare residency in Maine while planning his political comeback.
His father drank heavily and terrorized the children, and his mother was too intimidated to stop him. At age eleven, after his father beat him and broke his nose, he ran away from home and lived on the streets of Lewiston, where he at times stayed in horse stables and at a "strip joint". After spending roughly two years homeless, he began to earn a living shining shoes, washing dishes at a café, and hauling boxes for a truck driver.
The properties in question, both in Ormond Beach, Fla., are a home that the LePages bought in 2008 and sold in 2017, and another that they purchased in 2018 and still own. For both homes, the couple have sought and received what is called a homestead exemption, which is meant to apply only to primary residences in Florida. The controversial two-term governor, who left office a year ago, is registered to vote in Flagler County, Florida. LePage, 71, is registered to vote in Flagler County, Florida, where he and his wife, Ann, bought a house in 2018 in a gated golf course community in Ormond Beach. In a letter sent Monday to the LePages’ attorney, the property tax appraiser in Volusia County, Fla., said the investigation was closed and Ann LePage cleared of any violations because she fell under a seldom-used exception to Florida’s homestead tax law.
As soon as the interview was over, the station replayed a LePage interview taped after the 2020 elections when he stated that the 2020 election was stolen. To many people, myself included, the abortion issue is about freedom of choice. The LePages paid $360,000 in 2018 for a one-story home with a swimming pool in a golf community in Ormond Beach, the newspaper reported.
State law does not require a Maine driver's license to vote, and establishing residency for voting doesn't mean one has to pay any fees. Dunlap said LePage's remarks "inflame an atmosphere of doubt and fear among the voters." As governor, LePage attempted to roll back child labor laws, proposing a $5.25 subminimum wage. In a speech at the 73rd annual Maine Agricultural Trades Show, he stated his view supporting child labor adding “If the revenues go up, I can go golfing.
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