Act like a governor

Last week, during an interview on a Bangor radio station, LePage threatened to veto  every bill that comes across his desk – even his own – until Maine lawmakers pass his plan to pay back the state's debt to Maine hospitals.

The state does need to repay its $186 million Medicaid debt to Maine hospitals. Repaying that debt should be a top priority for lawmakers this session – we don't dispute that.

The Governor's plan to pay that debt, which relies on borrowing the money up front and paying back with the proceeds from a renegotiated wholesale state liquor contract might even be the best option.

But throwing a temper tantrum and making outrageous threats to obstruct all legislation unless lawmakers do things his way is embarrassing, cringe-worthy behavior.

We wonder if the Governor understands how childish his antics look to the rest of us – in his little permormance last week he resembled a five year-old who would rather break his own toys than allow anyone else to play with them.

We wish our Governor would grow up – we might be more willing to take him and his policies seriously if he acted like the top elected official in the state.

That's where LePage really doesn't get it – acting like a spoiled child only makes advancing his agenda, whether it is finding the money to pay back the state's hospitals or developing a responsible state budget, that much harder.

It also makes it very difficult to blame the opposition when he attracts all the negative publicity himself – we wonder if the Governor understands how easy he's making it for the Democrats, or how adult and responsible his antics make them seem in comparison.

We might be more inclined to take LePage's proposals seriously if he was willing to actually talk about them. But when he seems to prefer enraged sound bites to measured debate, it makes it hard to like him, his politics, or his agenda.