116 Facts About Paul LePage

Paul Richard LePage is an American businessman and politician who served as the 74th governor of Maine from 2011 to 2019.

Paul LePage ran for governor of Maine in the 2010 election, winning with 37 percent of the vote in a five-candidate race.

Paul LePage was re-elected with a stronger plurality, 48 percent of the vote, in a three-candidate election in 2014.

Paul LePage was criticized for making controversial remarks regarding abortion, the LGBTQ community, racial minorities, immigration, the death penalty, voting rights, gun control, campaign financing, the government and the environment that sparked widespread national criticism, leading to some calling for his impeachment.

Paul LePage was unable to seek a third consecutive term due to Maine's term limit laws and was succeeded by Democrat Janet Mills.

Paul LePage faced no primary opposition but lost to Mills by 13 percentage points in the 2022 general election.

Paul LePage was born in Lewiston, Maine, on October 9,1948.

The eldest son of eighteen children of Theresa and Gerard Paul LePage, both of French Canadian descent, he grew up speaking French in an impoverished home with an abusive father who was a mill worker.

Paul LePage's father drank heavily and terrorized the children, and his mother was too intimidated to stop him.

Paul LePage later worked at a rubber company and a meat-packing plant and was a short order cook and bartender.

Paul LePage was the only person among his parents and siblings to graduate from the 8th grade.

Paul LePage applied to Husson College in Bangor, but was rejected due to a poor verbal score on the SAT because English was his second language.

At Husson, Paul LePage honed and improved his English-language skills and became editor of the college newspaper.

Paul LePage graduated with a Bachelor of Science in business administration in finance and accounting and later earned a Master of Business Administration from the University of Maine.

Paul LePage worked for a lumber company in New Brunswick, Canada, that was owned by his first wife's family from 1972 to 1979, and later for Scott Paper in Winslow, Maine.

In 1996, Paul LePage became general manager of Marden's Surplus and Salvage, a Maine-based discount store chain.

Paul LePage was elected to the Waterville city council in 1997 and reelected in 1999.

Paul LePage won the general election with 40 percent of the vote.

Paul LePage officially became mayor on January 6,2004, succeeding Nelson Madore.

On several occasions, Paul LePage clashed with Democratic governor John Baldacci over issues such as illegal immigration and taxes.

Paul LePage was reelected in the 2008 mayoral election with 51 percent of the vote, defeating his Democratic rival Rosemary Winslow, who received 49 percent.

Paul LePage resigned his position as mayor before taking office as governor in January 2011.

On September 22,2009, Paul LePage announced that he would be seeking the 2010 Republican nomination for governor of Maine.

Paul LePage was criticized by Libby Mitchell's campaign as being disrespectful towards the office of the president.

On May 7,2013, Paul LePage stated that it was likely that he would seek re-election in 2014.

Paul LePage had already filed paperwork to form a campaign committee in August 2011 to be able to hold fundraisers to raise campaign funds.

Paul LePage proposed that children aged 12 and up should be able to work.

Paul LePage stated that he feels it is the only way he can "get the most representation that I can for the people of the state of Maine" and that Democrats had convinced Republicans to sponsor bills to get around his initial veto threat.

Paul LePage initially endorsed Chris Christie for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, but after Christie dropped out Paul LePage endorsed Donald Trump just hours after Christie in February 2016.

Paul LePage was critical of King for switching his 2014 gubernatorial election endorsement from independent candidate Eliot Cutler to Democratic nominee Mike Michaud.

Paul LePage ultimately announced on May 10,2017, that he would not run, preferring to focus on being governor.

Paul LePage has appeared at the annual anti-abortion Hands Around the Capitol rally at the Maine State House, first doing so at the 2011 event.

Paul LePage is opposed to the Maine Clean Elections Act, which provides funding for publicly-financed campaigns in Maine without prohibiting private campaign contributions.

Paul LePage stated this view regarding the case of Ethan Henderson, a 10-week-old baby who was allegedly killed by his father.

Paul LePage has expressed support for giving the death penalty to drug dealers whose drugs cause a fatal overdose.

Paul LePage has expressed opposition to the legalization of marijuana, seeing it as a gateway to more powerful drugs like heroin, but has said that if legalization were approved by referendum, he would honor it.

Paul LePage has called for additional Maine DEA agents, judges, and prosecutors to fight drugs.

Paul LePage further called for drug traffickers to be put in "super-max" facilities.

Paul LePage has said, "Everybody in Maine, we have constitutional carry, load up and get rid of the drug dealers," which he clarified meant that an environment should be created that will keep drug dealers away from Maine, not that people should engage in vigilantism.

Paul LePage has said that the permitting process to start a business in Maine is too cumbersome and expensive and he will look for ways to make it cheaper and easier.

Paul LePage has proposed allowing businesses to pay child workers a training wage of $5.25 an hour, loosening time-based requirements for children working during the school year, and streamlining the process for children to obtain a work permit by removing school superintendents from the process in the summer, all of which did not pass the Legislature.

Paul LePage opposes the expansion of casino gambling in Maine, believing that any economic benefit to additional casinos would come at the expense of Maine's existing casinos.

Paul LePage has said that if he was sent a bill to abolish the Maine State Lottery, he would sign it, saying it "absolutely" targets the poor.

Paul LePage has vetoed at least one bill for increasing Maine's minimum wage, believing that wages should be increased by creating an environment for higher-paying jobs in Maine through lowering energy costs and lowering taxes.

Paul LePage has supported preventing municipalities like Portland from having local minimum wages higher than the state's.

Paul LePage supported a school voucher system and structuring pay to reward teachers for performance.

Paul LePage has stated that curriculum should be determined by local school boards.

Paul LePage signed a bill to bring Maine in alignment with the Common Core State Standards Initiative on April 1,2011, making the state the 42nd to do so.

On November 18,2013, Paul LePage pledged $10,000 from his official contingency account to a program run by Portland-based LearningWorks for helping new immigrants learn the English language.

Paul LePage met with Somali immigrants in Lewiston to make the announcement, and discussed other difficulties immigrants had in obtaining education and employment, which Paul LePage related to given his life with French as his first language.

Paul LePage rejects the overwhelming scientific consensus on climate change, which states that climate change is dangerous and primarily human-caused.

Paul LePage opposes efforts to ban the baiting and trapping of bears in Maine, including a 2014 referendum to do so which did not succeed.

Paul 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.

Paul LePage believes that government policies should consider the effect of greenhouse gases, but opposes regulations.

Paul LePage has said he would support shallow-water offshore drilling in Maine waters, but not deep-water drilling, which he considers more hazardous.

Paul LePage has stated that some requirements for environmental impact studies should be reduced or weakened because they frequently impose undue burden on economic activity.

In June 2012, Paul LePage criticized the removal of the Great Works dam on the Penobscot River in Old Town to enhance the migration of fish in the river, despite the project leading to no loss of electricity generation, calling the removal of hydroelectric dams in general "irresponsible".

Paul 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.

Paul LePage has called for the abolition of term limits for Maine legislators, who are limited to four consecutive two-year terms, saying that they have resulted in a legislature full of young people with "firm agendas" who pass bills that hurt Maine in the long term.

Paul LePage cited former longtime Democratic House Speaker John Martin as an example of how an experienced legislator would be beneficial for Maine.

Paul LePage has been critical of Maine's citizen initiative process, by which citizens can put an issue to referendum, stating that the process should be reformed to return to a "representative government" and that Mainers don't understand what they are voting for on referendum questions.

Paul LePage has expressed support for requiring petition signatures to be gathered in each Maine county and for requiring a greater total number of signatures to qualify an issue for the ballot.

Paul LePage was opposed to efforts to change Maine's voting system from plurality voting to ranked choice voting, even though it was ruled unconstitutional with regards to elections to state offices.

Paul LePage called for repeal of the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, saying he believes it is unconstitutional, and had encouraged Maine's attorney general William Schneider to join the federal lawsuit by other state attorneys general challenging the bill.

Paul LePage has compared the ACA with Canada's health care system, stating that Canada rations care and that many Canadians come to the US to get treatment because of it, and that similar rationing here would result in deaths.

Paul LePage has said that coverage mandates for Maine insurance policies should be pared back because they make insurance policies too expensive.

Paul LePage believes that MaineCare, the state Medicaid program, has too many enrollees and is too easy to qualify for.

Paul LePage 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".

On July 3,2013, Paul LePage pledged $50,000 of his emergency fund to a drug treatment center in Ellsworth.

In March 2014, Paul LePage drew national attention related to his opposition to a bill that would allow caregivers, health care professionals and more emergency responders to administer naloxone, a drug which has been used for many years as an antidote for drug overdoses, saying it could raise Medicaid costs and encourage drug addiction.

Paul LePage has said he would rather go to jail than implement the expansion without a funding mechanism that meets his criteria.

Paul LePage was critical of the Maine Education Associations' support of the 2012 same-sex marriage initiative, believing the union's taking of political positions hurts the education of Maine students.

Paul LePage advocates eliminating Maine's income tax, believing it to be an impediment to economic growth for the state.

Paul LePage stated that his goal was to do so before the end of his second term, and he proposed a constitutional amendment to do so, though he expected the legislature to reject it.

Paul LePage has said he will "spend the rest of my days" fighting opponents of his tax proposals, especially in the legislative election year of 2016.

In December 2011, citing a budget shortfall, Paul LePage proposed sweeping changes to MaineCare.

Paul LePage expressed an intent to reform welfare eligibility requirements, though he did not specify how he would do so.

Paul LePage wants to better prohibit their use to purchase alcohol or cigarettes.

Paul LePage has stated that such fraud is a large problem and he will devote resources to investigating it and generating further proposals to combat it.

Paul LePage has suggested that he would be willing to shut down the entire EBT program if the federal government will not allow Maine to take measures to combat fraud.

Paul LePage is opposed to the distribution of General Assistance welfare funds to illegal immigrants by municipalities.

Paul LePage has threatened to cut off all state reimbursement of such funds unless municipalities stop doing so, citing federal laws which don't allow welfare funds to go to illegal immigrants unless a state passes a law to specifically allow it.

Paul LePage responded to that criticism by stating he found it "inexcusable" that the state's top law enforcement official would advocate violating federal law, and adding that he believes Congress passing the federal laws in question meets the requirement for legislative involvement.

Governor Paul LePage is opposed to offering a home for asylum seekers in Maine.

Paul LePage unsuccessfully ran for a third non-consecutive term in 2022.

Paul LePage had previously indicated his interest in the 2022 election based on whether Governor Janet Mills could implement Maine's Medicaid expansion referendum in what he believes to be a sustainable way.

Paul LePage was later endorsed by Maine's Republican US Senator, Susan Collins.

Paul LePage has cited the fact that French was his first language as a reason for his controversial statements.

Public opinion for Paul LePage has been wide-ranging during his entire tenure as governor, due to his comments regarding women, African Americans, Native Americans, the poor, local colleges and universities, and government activities.

Paul LePage's actions were called "astonishing and troubling" by civil rights group leaders and local newspapers.

Paul LePage refused to sign the bill, but it became law without his signature.

On March 23,2011, Paul 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.

The Portland Museum of Art issued a statement that said Paul LePage's decision has tarnished the state's reputation as a haven for artists.

Paul LePage's actions sparked furthered backlash, and lawsuits were brought forward regarding the murals.

Paul LePage later drew negative publicity for urging any commission members who were not up to meeting the state's expectations to resign.

Paul LePage's proposals were criticized by the Maine Education Association, Maine Democrats, and many college students attending school out of state who stated they did not experience the poor treatment LePage purported.

On July 8,2012, Paul LePage said, while discussing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, that the Internal Revenue Service was "the new Gestapo" due to their role in enforcing the law.

On March 21,2013, Paul 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.

Paul 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.

On May 23,2013, Paul 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.

Nine days after the US federal government shutdown on October 1,2013, Paul LePage declared a civil emergency in Maine ending 17 days later.

Paul LePage said that the declaration was necessary in order to cope with the loss of federally funded positions during the shutdown, such as by transferring state-funded personnel to functions originally carried out by the federally funded personnel to minimize layoffs.

Paul LePage's move to do so was met with widespread negative criticism, and was labeled as an unnecessary "overreach of power".

On June 30,2014, the website Talking Points Memo reported that Paul LePage had met eight times with members of the sovereign citizen movement between January and September 2013.

Paul LePage set up a meeting between Kennebec County sheriff Randall Liberty and the sovereign citizens group and asked Liberty to take the group's concerns to the state attorney general.

Paul LePage threatened to withhold $500,000 of state funding for the school if they hired Eves, due to his voting record against charter schools in Maine.

Paul LePage generated national headlines by stating at a January 6,2016, town hall meeting in Bridgton regarding drug dealers:.

The comment was condemned as racist by some Republicans and Democrats, as well as the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton, though a spokesman for Paul LePage denied the comment had anything to do with race.

Paul LePage responded by calling Gattine and leaving him a voicemail message:.

Paul LePage later invited reporters from the Portland Press Herald and WMTW to an interview to explain the comments, saying that.

Paul LePage's comments were widely condemned by Democrats and some Republicans, including US Senator Susan Collins, State Senate President Michael Thibodeau, State House Minority Leader Kenneth Fredette, State Senator Roger Katz, and State Senator David Woodsome.

In 1971 Paul LePage married Sharon Crabbe, whose family owned a lumber business in New Brunswick, where Paul LePage worked as treasurer and general manager.

Paul LePage has two children with his second wife, Ann DeRosby, whom he married in 1984.

Paul LePage did return to Maine in June 2019 to take a job as a bartender at McSeagulls Restaurant in Boothbay, where Ann already had a job as a server while he was governor.

The restaurant owner stated hiring Paul LePage was not a publicity stunt, citing the difficulty of hiring new workers.

Paul LePage is a self-described "French Catholic" who believes in God.