DEBATE: Mills can’t defend terrible record

Photo credit: Robert F. Bukaty, AP

In tonight’s Maine gubernatorial debate, Paul LePage offered a clear vision for increasing parental involvement and improving public education curriculum, solving the homeless crisis, and protecting good-paying jobs. Meanwhile, Janet Mills struggled to defend her failing record. 

WATCH: Janet Mills on her curriculum that teaches kindergartners about transgender activism.

Moderator: Governor Mills this question is for you, during this campaign voters are seeing a lot of messaging from the Maine Republican party, outside groups, and Governor Lepage himself, that public schools are indoctrinating kids in so called “woke” teaching about race and LGBTQ issue, we haven’t heard from you directly about this, about these allegations. I guess now is as good a time as any to hear what you have to say about them.

Mills: Thanks, you know I think that whole effort is a sort of attempt to deflect from his record on education.

WATCH: LePage on teaching kids how to think independently, instead of what to think.

LePage: I honestly and truthfully believe that we should be going back to reading, writing, math, civics, and we should teach our children how to think independently and critically, not what to think. And if anybody in this audience believes that our schools right now are not being indoctrinated, I’m sorry…

WATCH: Janet Mills puts her radical environmental agenda before good paying heritage jobs in Maine.

LePage: The problem I’m having right now is penalizing Maine people for actions of other countries and other states. We are one of the cleaner states but, however, we are punishing our citizens with high energy costs. We have gone from 11th to 4th highest energy costs in the country. We are now losing our logging industry and our forest industry. Matter of fact in another decade or so we’re gonna be having major forest fires because we’re not cutting the annual growth of our forests. That’s really important; we have to pay attention to the entire environment. 

WATCH: Janet Mills passed out crack pipes that fueled Maine’s homeless 

epidemic.

LePage:  A major part of the homelessness problem has to do with drugs, it has to do with mental illness. In fact… We have lost, this year, we are going to double the amount of people dying from opioids and we have a Governor that is providing crack pipes.