New Governor of Maine Confronts Mainstream Media, Rises in Polls

By Brad Ford

The new Maine Gov. Paul LePage is making New Jersey’s Chris Christie look like a wimp. He isn’t afraid to say what he thinks. And, every time he opens his mouth his popularity goes up.
 
He brought down the house at his inauguration when he shook his fist toward the media box and said, “You’re on notice! I’ve inherited a  financially-troubled state to run. Observe…cover…but don’t whine  if I don’t waste time responding to your every whim for our  amusement.”
During the campaign he was talking to commercial fishermen who are struggling because of federal fisheries rules. They complained that President Obama brought his family to Bar Harbor & Acadia National Park for a long Labor Day holiday, found time to meet with union leaders but wouldn’t talk to them. LePage replied, “I’d tell him to go  to hell and get out of my state.” Media crucified him but he jumped 6 points in the pre-election poll!
 
 The Martin Luther King incident was a political sandbag which got
 national exposure. Media crucified him but word on the street is very
 positive.
 
 The NAACP specifically asked him to spend MLK Day visiting black
 inmates at the Maine State Prison. He replied if he visited the prison
 he would meet all inmates regardless of race. NAACP balked.
 
 They then put out a news release claiming falsely that he refused to
 participate in any MLK events. He read it in the paper for the first
 time next morning while being driven to an event and went ballistic (none
 of the reporters called him for comment before running the NAACP
 release).
 
 So he arrived at an event and said on TV camera that “…if they want
 to play the race card on me they can kiss my butt…” and reminded
 them that he has an adopted black son from Jamaica and that he
 attended the local MLK Breakfast every year he was mayor of Waterville
 (he started his morning there on MLK Day yesterday.)
 
 He then said there’s a right way and a wrong way to meet with the
 governor and he put all special interests on notice that press
 releases, media leaks and demonstrations are the wrong way. He said
 any other group which acts like the NAACP can expect to be on the
 bottom of the governor’s priority list!
 
 Then he did this which broke yesterday and, judging from local radio
 talk show callers, increased his popularity even more:
 
 The state employees union complained because he waited until 3 p.m.
 before closing state offices and facilities and sending non-emergency
 personnel home during the last blizzard. The prior governor would
 often close offices for the day with just a forecast before the first
 flakes. (Each time the state closes for snow, it costs the taxpayers
 about $1-million in wages for no work in return.)
 
 LePage was CEO of the Marden’s chain of discount family bargain retail
 stores before election as governor. He noted that state employees
 getting off work early could still find lots of retail stores open to
 shop. So, he put the state employees on notice by announcing: “If
 Marden’s is open, Maine is open!”
 
He told state employees: “We live in Maine in the winter, for heaven’s sake, and should know how to drive in it. Otherwise, apply for a state job in Florida !”

Refreshing politician!