Less than a week before Election Day, Portland Mayor Michael Brennan is increasingly wielding Gov. Paul LePage as a weapon against his well-financed rival, Ethan Strimling.
Brennan has publicly clashed with LePage over everything from state funding to social service programs. Strimling, a former state senator, often criticizes LePage in media commentary, yet he also has earned the governor’s support for LearningWorks, an educational nonprofit run by Strimling that helps low-income families, immigrants and at-risk kids.
Brennan’s campaign has been ramping up statements tying Strimling, a fellow Democrat with similar policy goals for the city, to LePage, even going so far as to suggest Strimling is in “lockstep” with the controversial Republican governor. Brennan also has underlined his own conflicts with Maine’s top executive, who is deeply unpopular in the state’s largest and most liberal city.
The third mayoral candidate, Green Party leader Tom MacMillan, piled onto that narrative at a televised debate Tuesday, suggesting that the “big money donors” to Strimling’s campaign are also those who gave money to the governor.
The line of attack suggests that Strimling may be the front-runner in the race. He has won a string of endorsements from a wide range of union and business groups, as well as 11 of the city’s 17 sitting City Councilors and School Board members. Perhaps as a result, he found himself in the cross hairs of both opponents during a televised debate Tuesday.
Strimling campaign manager Stephanie Clifford called Brennan’s efforts to link Strimling to LePage “ludicrous” and “almost to the point of absurdity.”
“It’s a desperate attempt from (Brennan) to divert attention from the fact that practically everyone in Portland is asking for a change in leadership,” Clifford said. “It’s absurdity and a distraction.”
Brennan’s campaign has been laying the groundwork for the LePage narrative since early in the campaign. In September, the campaign conducted a phone poll that asked people if they’d still support Strimling if they knew he was LePage’s top choice. Brennan has repeatedly stressed in public forums and interviews that voters can trust him – implying that voters cannot trust the others.
Marc Malon, Brennan’s campaign manager, said the LePage narrative is “absolutely not” a sign of desperation by the incumbent, who appears to be taking an underdog approach. Not only is the mayor on the attack, he’s trailing in fundraising and endorsements.
Malon said the campaign expects to amplify the trust message – as well as Brennan’s record – in the days before the election, which he described as “very fluid.”
“We think Ethan has been trying too hard to be all things to all people in this campaign,” Malon said. “He’s putting out this false notion that somehow a mayor can bridge the divide between the city and Paul LePage without significantly compromising on core values. That deserves to be called out as disingenuous.”
It may seem odd that Strimling, who was considered one of the most liberal members of the Legislature when he served from 2002 to 2008, could be cast as a pro-LePage candidate. But Strimling’s own actions, together with the pattern of his campaign donations, help to create the perception he has a relationship with LePage.
‘ETHAN BY A LONG SHOT’
When LePage appeared on WGAN news radio June 4, Strimling reportedly sent a message to the hosts of the “Ken & Mike” show, pitching a question about who would make a better mayor, him or Brennan. At the time Strimling had not announced whether he would challenge Brennan, who beat him in 2011.
After everyone laughed at the question on air, LePage responded.
“Ethan by a long shot,” Le- Page said. “I will tell you, in all due respect, Ethan Strimling and I (are) from different sides of the aisle, but I have enormous respect for what he has done at LearningWorks. In fact, I was there yesterday. He is doing for the kids of Maine today what I wish was there when I was growing up.”
Several prominent Republicans have donated to Strimling’s campaign, including strategist Roy Lenardson, who contributed $500, Cianbro CEO Peter Vigue, who gave $775, former Republican gubernatorial candidate Peter Mills, who gave $100, and Eric Cianchette, who developed a new Department of Health and Human Services office near the Portland International Jetport, donated $775.
“That shows the breadth and strength of this coalition. I think that’s a positive,” Clifford said.
Strimling has repeatedly distanced himself from LePage by saying, “I don’t agree with the governor on the time of day.” But Strimling also is saying that he might be able to help restore the city’s relationship with the Blaine House and show LePage some of the good work being done in the city.
Strimling has criticized Brennan’s response to an audit that found Portland was spending General Assistance funds, provided by the state, on shelter beds for chronically homeless people who had as much as $92,500 in the bank. Brennan waited days to respond, accusing the LePage administration of unfairly attacking mentally ill people in the city’s shelters.
Strimling also has called for more accountability in the city’s social service programs by putting more emphasis on getting people back to work.
‘IT’S A LITTLE BIT LAUGHABLE’
On Tuesday, the Brennan campaign repeated an attack made during another televised debate. Brennan was upset that Strimling attended a house party whose hosts advertised the need to have a “shared vision between City Hall and the Governor’s Office.” Rep. Mark Dion, D-Portland, also referred to a shared vision when he endorsed Strimling.
Brennan then re-emphasized his conflicts with LePage, saying that he absolutely could not work with the governor, who has three years left in his term. He maintained that Strimling “naively believes he could change that.”
“Paul LePage has proven that he can’t work with anybody,” Brennan said. “I think the values of the city of Portland are fundamentally different than Gov. LePage’s and it worries me that we could have a mayor of Portland that will compromise our values with the governor.”
In previous debates, Brennan has accused Strimling of being in “lockstep” with the governor, and being the governor’s preferred candidate.
On Tuesday, Strimling laughed off the attack, while emphasizing that as a media commentator on politics, he has been a critic of LePage.
“It’s a little bit laughable,” Strimling said of Brennan’s attacks. “Just like at LearningWorks, if you are Chellie Pingree, Paul LePage, Angus King, John Baldacci, whoever you are, if you want to help us do good work with at-risk kids, I will work with you and figure out how to do that on behalf of the city of Portland. And if you don’t want to help, I have no interest.”
Meanwhile, MacMillan, the Green mayoral candidate, has acknowledged that LePage doesn’t like Portland, but the mayor has an obligation to at least try to work with him.
“As mayor we’re forced to work with whomever is in power,” he said during a televised debate Tuesday. “As someone who is neither a Democrat nor a Republican, I’m going to be able to work with him, because I’m outside of the partisan fray.”
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