Fiery, feisty LePage to his opponents: 'Bring it on'

First Lady Ann LePage looks on as Gov. LePage delivers a rousing speech to conclude the state's Republican Convention held at the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor, Maine, on Saturday afternoon. (Courtesy photo)

BANGOR - Maine Gov. Paul LePage on Saturday made a fiery and passionate pledge to continue the battle to lower taxes, cut down on welfare fraud and make Maine a more business-friendly state on the final day of a Republican Convention that lacked any of the divisiveness and drama of two years ago.

LePage said he became governor four years ago to right the ship of state laid waste by four decades of Democratic leadership, and that the “ship was turning” but the turnaround is by no means complete and continues to be threatened by spendthrift Democrats who would like nothing more than to undo the accomplishments he has achieved.

Among his proudest achievements was paying off $750 million dollars in Medicaid debt to Maine hospitals. He said Democrats told him to just offer the hospitals 25 cents on the dollar, but he said no, a debt is a debt.

“Democrats don’t pay their debts,” he said in a booming voice. “Republicans do.”

He said he was also proud that under his administration the unemployment rate of Maine had dropped from 8 percent to 5.9 and that 18,000 jobs had been added.

LePage, whose rousing 35-minute speech was preceded by speeches from presidential contender U.S. Sen Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, and Maine’s own Republican Sen. Susan Collins, told exuberant supporters on the floor of the convention that his upcoming campaigns against Democratic U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud and independent Eliot Cutler will be as dirty as they get.

He said heavily financed unions had picked him as Public Enemy No. 2 because of his backing of Right to Work, which would forbid union shops from forcing employees to join the union. The Michigan governor who was able to pass Right to Work in his heavily unionized states took the top spot.

LePage also said he was proud of his implementation of the largest tax cut in Maine history, about $403 million, which generated a return of $77 million in new revenue. He compared that to tax and spend Democrats who upped the sales tax, which generated just $3 million in new money.

“While I’ve been ... putting money back into your pockets, I assure you, Mike Michaud and Eliot Cutler will pick your pockets,” LePage said. “Neither will hesitate to increase taxes, to raise spending, whether we need it or not.”

Prior to LePage’s taking the floor, a short video detailed intimate details of his early life when his alcoholic and abusive father beat him up then offered him 50 cents to tell hospital staff he got the injuries by falling. That’s when LePage decided at the age of 11 to run away from home.

He literally lived on the streets of Lewiston for a period of time in the 1950s until he was taken in by a kind family for whom he worked in their small business.

LePage, who strongly believes welfare fraud is costing taxpayers millions of dollars and is a detriment to Mainers achieving the American dream, said he resented Democrats who cast him as waging a “war against the poor,” especially in light of his own impoverished upbringing.

“Until those guys walk in these shoes, they have no business talking,” he said of sniping Democrats at the Statehouse.

Before LePage spoke, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, son of the former presidential candidate and Libertarian Party favorite Ron Paul, lashed out at federal waste. He also caused the audience’s most massive groan of the day offering the possible scenario of a Hillary Clinton presidency.

He called Secretary of State Clinton's handling of the Benghazi debacle almost criminal and said she should be barred from holding higher office.

He said waste in Washington had reached epic limits and had staff walk up on stage with products of scientific research paid for by our tax dollars, including a gasoline powered alarm clock and an electronic feather duster.

He also talked about a large federal grant to find out what would be a good food menu item on the planet Mars. The grant sent a group of college students to Hawaii where they stayed for several weeks brainstorming the challenge on taxpayer money. After a collaborative effort of almost a month they came up with the answer: pizza.

The fiscal boondoggle that drew most laughter, meanwhile, was a $3 million federally funded TV ad in which the image of a water-skiing squirrel named Twiggy touts American-grown walnuts to people in Spain.

Remarkably, in a bipartisan vote, 320 House members voted to continue to pay for Twiggy.

After the laughter died, Rand challenged delegates how are we going to make tough decisions about Social Security and Medicare whose programs are headed for a fiscal cliff when we can’t even eliminate a waterskiing squirrel?

Rand also sounded a challenge to Republicans, exhorting the party rank and file and its leaders to reach out to the poor, African-Americans and Hispanics, or risk losing the party’s ability to win elections.

We have to walk into their neighborhoods and be positive and upbeat about their future and what we can do to help them, said Paul, who won the convention’s straw poll as the party nominee for president.

Collins, who this year represents the top of the Maine political ticket, spoke before Rand and did a scathing one-woman roast of President Obama.

She said his overreach of the separation of powers between Congress, the presidency and the Supreme Court was unprecedented and dangerous.

She told delegates that Obama was naming “recess” appointments to the federal bench when the Senate remained in session, adding the president was trying to redefine “recess.”

She also blasted the Obama administration’s misuse of the IRS to target conservative groups and runaway spending patterns.