Editor’s note: This is the second in a series of profiles about Maine’s gubernatorial candidates, their views on the issues and how their plans will impact York County.
BIDDEFORD — Eliot Cutler, independent candidate for Governor, said he has the experience and skills developed over a lifetime necessary for the job, and a plan and vision for the state.
“I’m not hostage to any ideology,” he said in an interview at the Journal Tribune office Tuesday.
Cutler, 68, a lawyer and entrepreneur from Cape Elizabeth, is married with two grown children.
He said he doesn’t take any money from special interest groups.
“I am unbossed and unbought,” he said.
Cutler ran for governor unsuccessfully in 2010. Working with Sen. Ed Muskie in the 1960s and ’70s, he helped write the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act. He served under President Jimmy Carter as associate director of the Office of Management and Budget. In 2012, he served as co-chairman for Angus King’s campaign for the U.S. Senate.
“Our workforce in Maine is shrinking. … We can’t turn the economy around without fixing that problem,” he said.
Cutler said there’s “a real emergency” with high property taxes driving people out of their homes. Cutler has a property tax relief plan that includes increasing the homestead exemption from $10,000 to $50,000, he said.
To pay for this tax relief, as well as increase funding to education, Cutler has proposed steps that would raise $185 million. He said the state could raise the 5.5 percent sales tax to 6 percent.
Another option would be to increase the sales tax seasonally ”“ to 7 percent from May through October, bringing it down to 5 percent for the rest of the year. Also in this option, sales tax would be extended to include recreational and amusement activities, and the state would seek tax revenues from online purchases.
Cutler said about 85 percent of Maine high school students graduate, ranking it about 10th to 12th in the nation, but it’s about 34th in the nation for high school graduates going on to college after high school.
He said the cost of education is a prohibiting factor for many young people who wish to go on to college.
“Aspiration is not the problem,” he said. “We’ve got to knock down the barriers that keep kid from going on (to college).”
Cutler is proposing a “pay it forward, pay it back” approach to pay for students public secondary education, modeled after a system used in Australia. Under the proposal, a tuition fund would be created for Maine high school graduates who go on to attend a state public college, and then graduates would pay back the fund by giving 3 percent of their income over 20 years.
Cutler said to help decrease the cost of higher education in Maine, the university system and the community college systems should be merged.
Cutler said he believes there needs to be universal funding for early childhood education, better pay to attract better teachers, and more money to school districts with high poverty rates, so that students have the same opportunities as students in other districts.
“I don’t think kids’ opportunities in the state should be based on their zip code,” he said.
Cutler said, if elected, he would increase efforts toward renewable energy such as solar and offshore wind power and build more natural gas pipelines. He would also establish the Maine Energy Finance Authority to provide low-cost capital to projects that make energy more affordable.
“We run the state of Maine like a 5-year-old runs a lemonade stand,” said Cutler. “We don’t have an energy plan and strategy.”
Cutler issued a statement Wednesday that though he was still in the race, he encouraged supporters who worry that he can’t win and “are compelled by their fears or their conscience” to vote for Mike Michaud or Paul LePage, to do so.
— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 325 or egotthelf@journaltribune.com.
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