LePage uses veto message to call legislators stupid

Gov. LePage

Gov. LePage

As expected, today Gov. LePage vetoed the whole state budget.

His veto message, which came with a pamphlet that included photos and text, mostly recycles a number of his claims, but also included one not seen before (as far as I know).

LePage’s new argument is that the Legislature rejected his ideas because their minds are “too small;” that is, they are too dumb to understand it.

After saying that his plan would “restructure how Maine does business, the veto message goes on to say that this was “too big a concept for some of the small minds in the Legislature to grasp.” [source]

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Evidently the governor believes you have to be stupid or merely dense to disagree with a plan that would have:

  • Broadened and raised the sales tax,
  • Taxed nonprofits,
  • Lowered income taxes with big gains going to the top,
  • Zeroed out municipal revenue sharing and
  • Ended the homestead exemption for people under 65.

According to LePage, it couldn’t be that legislators disagreed because they didn’t think the plan was good for Maine.

This comes at a time when relations are more than strained between the Legislature and Gov. LePage.

As Prof. Mark Brewer was quoted in today’s New York Times article about Gov. LePage:

Right now, the Legislature is united in lock step and opposed to the governor. They view this as an institutional fight rather than a partisan fight.

Then — after all the needless vetoes, pig props and success in taking away a job Speaker of the House Mark Eves was hired for that would help support his family –Maine legislators receive a communication with the governor’s assessment that their minds are simply too small to grasp the brilliance of his tax and budget plan.

Amy Fried

About Amy Fried

Amy Fried loves Maine's sense of community and the wonderful mix of culture and outdoor recreation. She loves politics in three ways: as an analytical political scientist, a devoted political junkie and a citizen who believes politics matters for people's lives. Fried is Professor of Political Science at the University of Maine. Her views do not reflect those of her employer or any group to which she belongs.