In one of his last of a series of regular appearances on the WVOM radio morning show, Governor Paul LePage attacked other leading politicians in the Maine Republican Party, blaming them for widespread election losses last month.
“You go back eight years ago and this state was solidly red – House, Senate, Blaine house,” prompted show host Ric Tyler, who asked LePage why the state’s political pendulum had swung so dramatically.
“If you take a look at what really happened, we had the President of the Senate, the Minority Leader in the House, the Majority Leader in the Senate, they all ran and we had some of the other leadership run for other offices in Maine, and when they lost in the primaries nobody showed up,” said LePage.
Senate President Mike Thibodeau, Senate Majority Leader Garrett Mason and House Minority Leader Ken Fredette all ran in the Republican primary for governor, as did former LePage administration Health and Human Services Commissioner Mary Mayhew. Thibodeau quit the race before the election and the rest were solidly defeated by auto repair magnate Shawn Moody, widely seen as LePage’s preferred candidate.
“In 2010, the day after I won the primary, at eight o’clock the next morning the first person to be at the office to say ‘let’s win this thing’ was Bruce Poliquin,” said LePage. “This time what happened was after the primary was over, they all went home and they didn’t talk to anybody, they didn’t come out for the election. And shame on them. And now I’m hearing some of them want to become – they want to run the party. Shame on them.”
Maine Republicans are currently maneuvering, mostly behind the scenes, in anticipation of next month’s election for state GOP Chair.
(Gov. LePage official photo)
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