(dramatic music) - Hello, and welcome to Maine Public's Your Vote 2018 Republican Gubernatorial Primary Debate.

I'm Jennifer Rooks, and for the next hour, we'll hear from the four candidates vying for their party's nomination in this year's race for the Blaine House.

First let's meet them, in alphabetical order.

Ken Fredette is an attorney who was elected to the Maine House of Representatives in 2010, where he is currently serving his fourth term and was elected as the House Republican leader.

Fredette earned a bachelor's from the University of Maine at Machias, a law degree from the University of Maine School of Law and a master's from the Harvard Kennedy School.

Garrett Mason was first elected to the Maine Senate in 2010.

He is currently serving his fourth term and is now the Senate majority leader.

Mason has worked for the Portland Sea Dogs, the city's AA baseball team, and for the Lewiston MAINEiacs hockey team as a business administrator.

He is currently a realtor with Keller Williams Realty in Portland.

Mason holds a bachelor's from Pensacola Christian College and did graduate work at Southern New Hampshire University and the Art Institute of Pittsburgh.

Mary Mayhew was a lobbyist for the Maine Hospital Association for about a decade before joining Governor Paul LePage's administration as a senior health policy advisor.

Shortly after that, Mayhew became the LePage administration's commissioner of the Department of Health and Human Services.

She remained in that post until May of 2017, when she resigned to run for governor.

Shawn Moody founded Moody's Collision Centers, a Maine chain of auto body repair shops.

In 2010, he unsuccessfully ran for governor as an unenrolled candidate.

He has recently served on the board of trustee of both the University of Maine System and the Maine Community College System.

Moody graduated from Gorham High School.

We will start off in alphabetical order with our first question, but in the interest of fairness we will reshuffle that order over the next 60 minutes.

In this opening segment of this debate we will attack some front-burner issues.

Each candidate will have a minute and a half, 90 seconds to respond.

First question to you, Ken Fredette.

Voters approved $15 million, excuse me.

That's the wrong question.

Despite low unemployment numbers, polls indicate that job creation and the health of Maine's economy are still priorities for Maine people.

As governor what would you do to grow Maine's economy?

- Well, thank you, Jennifer, and I want to thank NPVN, and I want to thank my colleagues for being here today.

Look, I think that we live in an unprecedented time in Maine history.

I've lived in Maine all my life.

I'm 54 years old, and I don't think we've ever seen a Maine economy like we are really seeing right now.

To give you an example of that, just in the month of April alone, this month that just went by, our revenues that came into the state were $55 million above projections.

I stopped at a lumber mill the other day.

They said they can't keep up with the amount of work out there, and so, what we see is our economy is on fire.

And why that's important is because that means that people, I think contrary to the past, have that opportunity now to be looking for jobs to stay in Maine.

Oftentimes, we see, the young people particularly, that have looked at going out of state in order to find jobs.

We now have those jobs in Maine.

We've gone from foreclosure signs being on lawns to help wanted signs being at businesses.

So, my daughter just graduated from Hudson University.

I'm very excited about that and pleased that she did very well.

But, she's now looking for a job in the state of Maine, which I think particularly back in 2010 when the economy was really, really bad, that she now can look for a job here in Maine.

So I think that's a big deal.

I think people should look at the work that we've done, in particularly me, as the house republican leader for the last six years, helping to rebuild that Maine economy so that young people, particularly in Maine, can make that choice.

- Garrett Mason, as governor, what would you do to grow Maine's economy and bring the right kind of jobs here?

- I think it's the old adage, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Eight years ago when I first came into office, Maine had high unemployment, we had low wages, and the state was not going in the right direction.

Now, after the work that republicans have done over the past eight years, we have a half a billion dollars in surplus over the last five years, and that was directly related to tax cuts for all Maine people, not just for the rich, not just for the poor, not just for the middle-class.

Republicans didn't play class warfare when it came to tax cuts.

We gave tax cuts to all Maine people.

And that resulted in the average weekly wage, which is the best economic indicator that any economist will tell you of predicting how well an economy is doing.

We saw Maine rise in that category to number five among the states, number three among the states, and then for two years we were number one.

So, we need to continue to reduce the income tax some day to zero percent so that the government can no longer take money out of your paycheck.

But we also have to make sure that we get more people in the state to fill the jobs that we have right now.

And that means that we have to go out, help businesses recruit from other states, and bring them here to fill the jobs that we have right now.

And then in the future, make sure that our children are prepared to take those jobs as they come available.

- All right.

Mary Mayhew, what would you do to grow Maine's economy?

Well, certainly the reason that I'm running for governor is because we actually have a legacy in this state to protect.

We didn't get to just come into office and snap our fingers and have improvement in Maine's economy.

We've worked really hard over the last seven years to take our state back.

In fact, for more than a decade, Maine was just reeling from one financial crisis to the next, because for far too long, the answer had been in Augusta to throw more taxpayer money at government programs at the direct expense of Maine's economy, of Maine families and Maine businesses.

Today we are so well positioned, and that is not true of a lot of other states around the country.

We have set a course by making tough decisions, by establishing clear priorities in government, the government cannot be all things to all people, and we have put at the front of our decision making protecting the taxpayer, supporting core priorities, and recognizing that what matters most for our kids, for families are the opportunities to find good paying jobs in this state.

We know that Maine should, in fact, be competing with New Hampshire, with Tennessee, with Texas, with Florida.

As governor, I want to make sure that we stay the course, that we eliminate the income tax, that we get regulations out of the way, and that we promote a workforce, as we have done, that is ready, willing, and able to work.

- Shawn Moody, what would you do as governor to grow Maine's economy?

- Thank you, Jennifer, and thank Maine Public for putting this on, this broadcast across this great state.

I've been in the private sector for four decades, 40 years of executive experience, actually creating jobs and helping grow a successful Maine enterprise.

And we spot these trends, unlike, sometimes it's too close to the action in Augusta, you don't really see the trends as they're coming.

We knew this trend was coming three or four years ago, that we were gonna end up having a workforce shortage.

Especially in the trades.

I'm a blue-collar guy, that's my background.

So we need to really invest in our vocational and career tech ed programs, and to teach young people who aren't necessarily going to a four year program the skills and the training they need to go out and get into the trades and make a great living.

And the best step out of welfare is to get a good job that pays $50 or $60,000, and raise a family here in the state of Maine.

So in order to improve, to continue to grow Maine's economy, there's about 500,000 Mainers that have left the state in search of opportunity when we had almost double-digit unemployment.

Now that pendulum has swung the other way, so we need to do a strategic marketing campaign with incentives.

So, tuition reimbursement, college loan forgiveness, things that employers are willing to participate in.

We have employers right now in the state of Maine that will write a check for $5,000 as a hiring bonus.

So, private/public partnerships are key, to bring our former Mainers, revitalize our rural communities, revitalize our business, and continue to grow Maine's economy.

And at the same time, smart size government.

Reduce our costs so we can lower taxes.

- Question two, and Garrett Mason, this one will go to you first.

Maine voters two years ago approved a proposal to expand the state's Medicaid program, but it still has not been implemented.

Shouldn't the legislature enact a proposal approved by the people?

And what's the role of the next governor in that?

- I think when it comes to Medicaid expansion, I think fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.

We've been down this road before in 2001 when we expanded the last time and it ended up with a massive hospital debt and none of the promise that advocates made came true.

We were promised shorter wait lines in the emergency room.

That didn't happen, they got longer.

We were assured that people would have better access to healthcare.

It didn't happen, insurers left the state.

So here we are facing another Medicaid expansion again.

What I would do as governor is I would fight everyday to make sure that I could repeal that.

We've done it before.

We've reduced the number on these insurance programs before and I think we need to do it again.

But, what is the republican alternative to making sure that people have healthcare in this state?

Well, fortunately these things are on the books already.

What we did in the 125th legislature is we passed what was known as Public Law 90.

And what that did is it created a high-risk insurance pool that we saw premiums going down month by month until Obamacare was implemented and that law was no longer able to be used.

Republicans also passed this past year the right to shop.

The right to shop made sure that you were able to go to a hospital, find the cheapest price for something like an MRI, and pocket some of the difference, saving you money and saving your insurer money.

These are free market reforms that are working and that can work if we repeal the Affordable Care Act.

So, that would be my approach as governor.

- [Jennifer] All right, Mary Mayhew.

Same question to you.

Maine voters approved a proposal to expand Medicaid.

As governor, how do you address that?

- Well, I would certainly repeal it on day one.

I think the unfortunate part of the initiative process is that it is very difficult for voters to truly appreciate the magnitude of that question.

Two sentences that read like motherhood and apple pie.

Voters where not asked where do you want to cut to come up with $400 million over four years to fund it.

What taxes do you want to see increased?

And worst of all, what voters were not given the benefit of is what are we going to do to appropriately take care of the 85 year old grandmother who needs services in her home, who's been on a waiting list for services.

Certainly, because in large part, over the last 10 or 15 years, prior to the LePage administration, the state had been putting 25 year old able-bodied men onto Medicaid at the direct expense of our most vulnerable, our elderly, our disabled; the 40 year old with down syndrome, still on a waiting list for services.

The Medicaid program needs to focus on its core mission of taking care of our most vulnerable.

We know that when we expanded last time, as Garrett mentioned, we had a $750 million debt owed to Maine's hospitals.

Primary care physicians were closing shop to Medicaid patients.

We have so many providers today who still are not paid the appropriate cost of care.

We've got to take care of that fragile safety net and expand good paying jobs with health insurance benefits.

We just talked about the economy.

We can't grow government if we intend to provide a healthy, robust economy where people can find great paying jobs with health insurance benefits.

- Thank you.

Shawn Moody, voters approved Medicaid expansion.

As governor, do you do what they asked?

- I wasn't in favor of Medicaid expansion.

We just paid off the hospital debt, the $750 million and that built up over a number of years.

And now here we are, going down that same road.

We didn't learn from that first experience.

As governor, the governor does not appropriate funds.

That's the job of the legislature.

So I think the same legislators that kind of coerced and convinced the voters that Medicaid expansion was a good idea need to come forward with an appropriations proposal that we would have to look at as governor.

But I could tell you one thing, we would not rob the rainy day fund, nor would we increase taxes to pay for it.

So I think it's in the legislature's hands to see what they come forward with, with an appropriations plan, and that we look at as governor.

- All right, same question to you, Ken Fredette.

Medicaid expansion, voters asked for it.

If you're governor, what do you do?

- Well, I think one of the things that you have to do as the chief executive of the state is actually lead.

I mean, it's really not an answer to the question, Shawn, to say that I want to wait for the legislature to come up with a plan.

I mean, one of the first things you need to do as a governor is to prepare a budget.

Now, one of the things you're gonna have to look at when you're preparing a two-year budget is: What are the things that we need to do?

We can't just make believe this didn't happen and I mean, Mary, we can't just say as the governor I'm gonna repeal it.

We have to have actually a legislature, and you actually have to have enough votes to, in fact, repeal it.

I don't think we have enough votes in the legislature to do that, so I mean, there's a certain amount of reality that we have to deal with.

But, look, as the chief executive, you actually have to have a plan.

And what that means is we're gonna have a court decision some time, I'm gonna suspect in the next 48 hours, that they brought against Governor LePage in regards to Medicaid expansion and I think it's gonna provide some guidance to the legislature, probably some guidance to the chief executive in terms of what, in fact, has to be done.

But what I would do is, in fact, do probably some version of Medicaid lite.

And what I mean by that is that you probably have to look at amending the law.

We just did that substantially with the marijuana law that also passed by referendum.

We substantially changed that law as the legislature.

Governor signed that bill, and I think we need to go in, probably fund those people at 100% below the poverty level and then look at a different way of funding the people that are somewhere in between 100 and 138%, with certain triggers in there that would go into effect if the economy were to take a dip, for example, so that we're not gonna get put in a position where we're taking money from the Department of Agriculture to fund more people on Medicaid.

- Okay, thank you, Ken.

Question three, and this will go first to you, Mary Mayhew.

Maine is among the top states with opioid-related overdose deaths, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

As Governor, what would you do to address the problem?

- Well certainly as commissioner I have already had an opportunity to invest in and support different pathways and provide options to improve access to effective substance abuse treatment.

One of the things that concerned me most is that we have had methadone clinics that have been operating more as in a siloed approach.

What we wanted to see was a more comprehensive approach to individuals through both their primary care to get access to effective substance abuse treatment.

That's why we launched the Opiate Health Homes to wrap around services.

But what we know, Jennifer, is that there are no silver bullet answers here.

This is a national crisis.

So we do need to look at other ways to effectively get people into treatment.

We know that there are some truly promising models, faith-based approaches here in Maine that have seen much improved outcomes, getting people into recovery.

But we also know that we are in a battle here with the heroin that is still coming up the 95 corridor.

We've got to make sure that our law enforcement resources are dedicated to going after the dealers, the traffickers, and we've got to make sure that we keep our foot on the gas pedal around prevention.

This is a deadly drug; deadly, addictive drug, and we've got to make sure that our kids understand the risks and consequences, and I am terribly concerned that we have a fear about an opiod epidemic and then turn around the next year and legalize another drug by legalizing marijuana.

- Thank you.

Shawn Moody, as governor what would you do about the opiod epidemic?

- Thank you, Jennifer.

It is tearing our families, our businesses, our communities apart.

We've lost well over 400 people with opiod addiction to death, last year alone.

Personally, we've got to step up our law enforcement efforts.

These are criminal organizations, coming in and targeting our most vulnerable populations.

The second thing is prevention and education.

We gotta start it young, you know, 5th, 6th grade.

We really gotta step up and refocus.

The best way to not get into drugs is to never use drugs.

And we really need to emphasize that.

The other area that we really need to focus on is treatment.

And I believe in peer-to-peer.

I really feel like the best way to find a pathway to sobriety is a former addict who's been there, rebuilt their life and got back into the workforce.

But let's look at the real issue across this country.

65 to 70% of the opiates is generated from prescription medications.

So I think someone needs to be bold across this country and do a class-action lawsuit against Big Pharma and the FDA.

The Food and Drug Administration takes years to approve these drugs for the market.

And, I don't know how we get the opiates into our population as deep as we have, but I feel, just like tobacco, when they went after R.J.

Reynolds and those folks, back in the '70s, '80s.

That's what we need to do to Big Pharma and the FDA.

We can't sit back and not look for an alternative to the opiates coming in the front end, 'cause that's 65% of the problem right there.

- All right, thank you, Shawn.

Ken Fredette, as governor, what do you do about the opiod epidemic in Maine?

- Well, I'm an attorney by trade and, Shawn, one of the things I don't think we do is begin a 10 year lawsuit against pharmaceutical companies, waiting for the pharmaceutical companies to do something about the problem.

I mean, what we are as governor is, in fact, you have to lead, and that means leading now.

418 people last year died of drug overdoses in the state of Maine.

We had more people in this country die from drug overdoses than died in the Vietnam War in one year.

We are at a crisis point.

We're not at a point where we can start lawsuits and wait for the court system to figure this out.

So what I would do as governor is, first and foremost is, is enforcement is key.

This is a supply and a demand issue.

It's just like everything else in the economy.

You have to stop the supply coming into the state.

That's why I have said repeatedly throughout this campaign: Number one, I would hire more state police officers.

Number two, I would hire more MDEA agents.

And number three, I would bring the Nation Guard into the fight; not with guns and bullets, but with a lot of the special expertise and tools and training that they have to join the fight today.

Every life that we lose today is a life that we've lost because of our inaction.

I think quite frankly, the governor and the legislature have failed in regards to the issue of this particular issue.

I think we need to be far more aggressive in it and I think we need to reallocate resources and begin a far more aggressive enforcement plan today.

- All right, Garrett Mason, what would you do as governor about the opiod epidemic?

- Well, I think the first thing that I would say about this, 'cause this is definitely one of the questions that I get asked the most on the campaign trail, and the first thing that I always tell people is that if you are looking for the government to solve the opiate crisis, once and for all, you're gonna be sorely disappointed.

An addict has to get to the point in their life where they are ready to face this problem head on, and we need to be there for them when they are ready to do that.

We haven't done enough in the legislature and the governor's office and the bureaucracy.

We have not done enough.

We've seen a 300% increase in opiate deaths since 2011.

That is unacceptable.

The approach has to be all of the above.

You have to start with law enforcement and make sure that they have the tools that they need out on the road to combat this crisis, not attack the people who are using 'cause they don't know any better or they can't get of it.

We have to make sure that we go after the traffickers, the dealers.

Those are the people we need to put behind bars.

Our county jails, we have underfunded our county jails and created a massive problem over the past decade with consolidation.

We have to fix our county jails so that they're not just used as dry out facilities.

We have to adequately fund them.

We have to make sure that we focus on rehabilitation and treatment.

And that means when the legislature passes money, the Department of Health and Human Services actually has to spend it on beds and on treatment when it's there.

We have money over there right now that's not being spent.

Education.

DARE program is great for kids.

DARE is still taught in school today.

We need to make sure we're doing things like that.

But we have had success in things like opiate tracking, with different doctors reporting into a database.

We have to continue good things that work like that.

Faith-based, peer-to-peer stuff, very successful.

65% success rate in some cases.

So, that's my answer.

- Thank you, Garrett.

Now onto some questions that have been designed for each candidate specifically.

These have been crafted by our news staff and each of you will have one minute to respond.

We're gonna start with Ken Fredette.

Voters approved $15 million in bonds to build affordable senior citizen housing in Maine, but last year the House Republicans joined with the governor to veto a bill aimed at releasing those bonds.

As governor, would you maintain that same position?

- No, I think the bonds need to be released.

The issue that was before the legislature was is should we have the ability to compel the governor to do something.

Look, we have three branches of government and everybody in civics classes know that each branch is a coequal branch of government.

So, I don't feel that we should be passing legislation and the legislature saying the governor must do this.

The governor, as the chief executive, and even the former democratic governor, John Baldacci, has even stated publicly on the radio that it is up to the chief executive to decide when and how to release bonds.

There are rules that need to be put in place.

There are certain parameters that need to be met.

And so I think the governor, in fact, should release those bonds.

I think it's an important part of our economy, particularly because it is seniors and I think that housing needs to be done.

But I think that is a chief executive decision.

But I think that certainly time has gone by enough that we should be able to release those bonds and get that money out into the economy.

- All right, thank you.

Garrett Mason.

The legislature adjourned without completing action on scores of issues, including money for the county jails, as was just mentioned, and direct care workers, and a bonding package that includes money for state road and bridge repairs.

Other legislative leaders were at the capitol, involved in the talks to address those issues, you were not.

How do answer your critics that you are not doing your job as one of the legislature's leaders?

- I guess that depends on when it was.

That's a lofty accusation because I have been there.

But as far as the adjournment goes, this boils down to a political problem that happened in the house, and the house republicans had to stand up and say something to the speaker who has ignored house republicans and not invited them to the table at which that they should be at.

Just yesterday, just yesterday house and senate republicans on the appropriations committee offered up six bills that would fund the things that you were just talking about, that there is universal agreement on.

But what did it come down to?

Leverage.

The democrats want leverage to pass other things that quite simply are not palatable to republicans.

So, what do I say?

We already know the job that needs to be done.

Republicans are ready to do it.

We're just waiting for the speaker to join us.

- Mary Mayhew, there were a number major problems during the time you were at the helm of the Department of Health and Human services, including an office of inspector general audit that found the Department violated several state and federal laws.

Why do you feel that should not affect your bid to win the nomination for governor?

- You know, Jennifer, I'm really proud of the work that I have done over the last seven years when I took the helm of that agency.

There wasn't a line forming of individuals who wanted to step forward and take on an agency that had been an unmitigated financial disaster, had been crisis-riddled for decades.

That is not an agency that in seven short years you can climb out of the hole that had been dug over 20 years.

There are many challenges that we have addressed.

For instance, and of course the media refuses to acknowledge the fact that every year there were banner headlines prior to the LePage administration of $100 million, $200 million shortfalls that completely distorted not only the core mission of that agency but distorted other priorities across state government, like roads and bridges, education.

We haven't had a shortfall in that agency now in over four years.

We've increased support for nursing homes, for home care agencies, for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

We have truly looked at prioritizing the needs of our most vulnerable and I am incredibly proud of that work.

- All right.

Shawn Moody, when you ran for governor in 2010 as an independent candidate, you said then that education was your top priority, especially deterring high school dropouts, training students for in emerging job markets, and lowering the cost of higher education.

Do these remain your top priority goals, and if so, how does Maine achieve them?

- Well, thank you, Jennifer.

I took action on those beliefs.

Governor LePage appointed me to the University of Maine system and the Community College system board of trustees; the only person in state's history to serve on both.

And we've been able to take those two systems that were siloed, they hadn't worked together, to get them to collaborate.

We can transfer credits now.

So if you go to the community college to get your associate's degree, you can seamlessly transfer credits and get your bachelor's degree, a two plus two program, and have that happen.

We've cut $80 million of unnecessary overhead and administration in the back office, and that's on a year to year basis from the University of Maine's system.

We've got great workforce development programs going on at the Community College system.

But I'd like to take it to the next level.

As your next governor, career tech and vocational education.

Again, I will pledge to the Maine people we will have the best vocational career tech ed programs in the country.

- All right.

Now we offer the chance for candidates to ask questions of each other.

Candidates will have one minute to respond, and the questioner will have a chance to follow up if he or she wishes.

Earlier we had each candidate draw the name of another from a hat, and we will go in alphabetical order again.

Ken Fredette what is your question for Shawn Moody?

- Well, Shawn, I drew your name, so here we go.

I'm trying to figure out a question, but I think it's a pretty basic question and it's actually a question I've asked before.

Back in 2010 you ran as an independent for governor, and on your website back then you specifically put on your website, "I'm not a conservative and I'm not a liberal," and today you're running a campaign that you've been a lifelong conservative.

And so, I find it hard to kind of make those two things mesh together.

So, if you could explain to the voters how one day you can say you're not a conservative on your own website and today you're campaigning as a conservative for governor in this party.

- That's great, thank you, Ken.

It is a great question and I'd love the chance to explain.

When I look at, you know, fiscal, I'm looking at fiscal, conservative or liberal, I'm the guy that shuts the light off when I leave a room.

That's how fiscally conservative that I am.

But yet I'll be the guy, we just purchased the property across the street from my shop; $1.2 million.

And we wrote a check for it because we have zero debt in our operations.

So, when I look at being a liberal, is that liberally spending?

No, it's investing.

So I don't look through the lens of social issues or politics.

I look at through the lens of fiscal responsibility and fiscal conservatism.

Remember, I started that business at 17.

I took out a loan for $6,000.

Within two years I had paid that loan off and we had zero debt.

So our company today is worth tens of millions of dollars.

Moody's, and we have zero debt.

So when I talk about being a fiscal conservative, there's nobody here that can come close to what we've been able to achieve.

In terms of being liberal, is that liberal spending money wisely, investing money to get a return on your investment?

That's what I mean when I say I'll be the one, if it makes sense, fiscally.

- All right, Garrett Mason, what is your question for Ken Fredette?

- Sure, Ken, you and I served together in the legislature for eight years now.

And some on this stage would discount that experience and say that legislative experience is worthless and if you've been a politician before, you shouldn't be in the Blaine House.

Could you talk a little bit about why legislative experience matters, and some of the things that the legislature has accomplished that an executive couldn't do on their own?

- Well, I think that it's important to recognize that number one, people like Paul LePage came to the chief executive position after being a mayor for three years.

Bruce Poliquin, having been elected to congress after serving two years as state treasurer.

So I think these sorts of leaders in the state of Maine that have been elected, in fact, have had political experience.

And I think the sorts of things that republicans have done and are running on right now are the things that we've done working together with Paul LePage and the legislature.

In this business, as the governor you can only propose.

And it's the legislature that, in fact, disposes.

So much of the tax cuts, all that work was done in the legislature.

Putting money in the rainy day fund was done by the legislature.

Defining and deciding how to pay back the $750 million owed to the hospitals, was done by the legislature.

And so when some people wanna say they wanna just show up and be the chief executive, with no experience, I think they need to be careful what voters might be getting in that.

- All right.

Mary Mayhew, what is your question for Garrett Mason?

- You know, Garrett, I think we've all been on the campaign trail now for quite some time and I think we share a lot of the same concerns.

What troubles you most, given all that we've accomplished over the last seven years, as you look ahead to 2019, given who may be the next governor?

What troubles you the most as you think about the future of our state and the challenges that we face?

- I think what troubles me the most is that we would turn over our state to the policies that we've been fighting against for eight years.

I'm concerned that all of the ground that we have made in reducing taxes and making sure that people have more choice in their education and making sure that we have lower cost energy, all of the things, welfare reform, which both you and I know a lot about, making sure that those things are stable and that they stay in place and we improve on them.

So I think that that's what keeps me up at night as hopefully as the next governor of the state of Maine, that I would be able to stop that liberal flow from happening.

- Shawn Moody, what is your question for Mary Mayhew?

- Mary, you've been the department head of DHHS for a number of years, and my question to you is: Out of the important initiatives that you've been able to implement, name one that wasn't Governor LePage's idea.

- (laughs) That's a great question, Shawn.

Look, I, for six and a half years led an agency that had a $3.5 billion budget, over 3,600 employees.

The day-to-day operations of that agency were my responsibility.

I took charge of developing that budget.

When we went forward and did zero-base budgeting, I was responsible for bringing my executive team and staff from all of the various programs to evaluate every single program so that the budget that we submitted was actually coming in less than what we had spent in previous years, by creating important priorities.

Unlike the University of Maine System that you served on, which came in asking for a 10% budget increase, I took seriously the charge that the governor laid out of getting our financial house in order, prioritizing the needs of our most vulnerable.

But that meant running that agency, not from behind a desk, but being engaged, day in and day out, and having the executive experience to make sure that our state is moving in the right direction.

- Thank you.

And we will be right back with more of the Republican Primary Debate.

Welcome back to the Your Vote 2018 Republican Gubernatorial Primary Debate.

I'm Jennifer Rooks.

Now back to some bigger policy questions.

The candidates will have 60 seconds to respond.

Question one: Mass shootings have brought gun control to the center of a national conversation.

Do you support any changes to Maine's gun laws, and if so, what would those be?

Shawn Moody.

- No.

I'm a staunch supporter of the 2nd Amendment.

Whoever becomes governor is gonna uphold, not only the US Constitution, but our Maine State Constitution.

Here's what we need to do, I'm talking about school safety.

We need to have a school resource officer in every single high school across this state.

And let's get serious about that and what they can bring for value, day to day in that school.

Secondly, I will tackle the stigma associated with mental health here in the state.

My mom struggled in her younger years.

I became her legal medical guardian in 1994.

So we need to reconstruct our mental health system here in the state of Maine.

Which we went from institutions, back in the '60s and '70s, to outpatient clinics and it's not working.

Our jails are dealing with it, our law enforcement is dealing it, our school teachers, our classrooms are dealing with it.

Law enforcement.

So I will pledge to the Maine people that we will tackle and break the stigma associated with mental health, 'cause that's the root cause of a lot of our societal problems and we need to fix it.

- Ken Fredette, do you support any changes to Maine's gun laws and if so, what would those be?

- Well, I wouldn't and we should recognize that during the last eight years of the Maine legislature, democrats and republicans working together, in fact, pass concealed carry in the state.

And so what that meant was, in a bipartisan fashion, people in the legislature have recognized the importance of responsible gun ownership in this state.

And look, let's recognize that we have, in fact, a history of responsible gun ownership in this state.

Back, I think it was 25 years ago, more or less, and we, in fact, passed a constitutional amendment that, in fact, strengthened our right to bear arms here in the state of Maine.

And so, I think people understand sort of where we're at on this issue.

I think if we're concerned about school safety, of course, I am, I'd like to support a bond, in fact, where we could continue to harden schools where they can put in lock systems so that people can't enter into the school system without any sort of permission or whatnot.

And so, I think they're separate issues, but no, I would not change the right to bear arms here in the state of Maine.

- Garrett Mason, would you support any changes to Maine's gun laws, and if so, what would they be?

- No, because I respect Article I, Section 16 of the state constitution which says that the right to keep and bear arms shall never even be questioned.

It's even stronger than the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution.

But, a couple of things that I would do to make schools safer: The first thing is that I would let locals decide what's best for them and their school.

Shawn just mentioned that he'd like to put a school resource officer in every school.

That is a promise that can't be fulfilled.

We have many, many positions open at the Maine State Police that we can't fill right now.

They would need a similar type of training to carry a weapon at a school.

And so we need to let each community decide what is best for them.

For another community it might be that teachers can take the same training and carry a weapon with them at school.

So I'd let them make that decision.

Ken just talked recently about bonds.

$25 million revolving loan fund to let schools who aren't on the list to have a new school any time soon to be able to make safety upgrades, like bulletproof glass and barricade doors, which were in the schools at Parkland which made the massacre not as bad as it could've been.

- All right, Mary Mayhew.

Do you support any changes to Maine's gun laws, and if so, what would they be?

- No, I do not.

Again, the constitution is crystal clear.

We need to protect everyone's right to own and have a gun.

As commissioner, I certainly experienced death threats.

When I asked the State Police about any criminal charges about a death threat, I was told that's not a crime.

So, I was glad that I had my own gun to protect myself and to protect my family.

We are all concerned about school safety.

We need to look at a variety of opportunities.

I do believe we need to prioritize school resource officers.

I've had many retired law enforcement, retired military coming up to me and talking about opportunities to engage those individuals in and around efforts to put school resource officers in our schools.

We also need to look at the state's responsibility in prioritizing funding to beef up other aspects of physical security with our school buildings.

Today at the State House, we have metal detectors and law enforcement.

We need to be providing similar protections to our schools.

- All right.

Question two, Ken Fredette, this will go to you first.

Are Maine's local school districts adequately funded?

And if not, what needs to be changed?

- Well, if they're not, we really have a funding problem at the state of Maine because in this last budget that we just passed, we put in an additional $160 million into school funding.

I mean, that's a big deal.

It's a lot of money.

Now look, I think that we have some issues at the local level, but first and foremost, I think there's this game that gets played in Augusta that says the state should be funding 55% of education.

That's a continuing moving target that we're never gonna be able to meet.

Oftentimes we have school committees making decisions at the local level that are raising costs that we can't keep up with.

We have uncontrollable costs, such as kids that need special ed services that continues to significantly increase the cost of education locally and in the state.

So I think we need to have a collaborative conversation about how do we make our schools more efficient.

I think we just have begun to do that, but I think what we've done with the Department of Health and Human Services over the last eight years, we need to now begin to do with the Department of Education, in terms of reform.

- All right, Garrett Mason.

Are Maine's local school districts adequately funded?

And if not, what needs to change?

- Absolutely.

Like Ken just said, we put 160 plus million dollars into the education system.

One of the biggest increases in education funding in state history, actually, I think it is the single biggest increase.

For the past eight years, republicans, there has been no better friend to funding of education than the republican party.

We have sent more money to local schools and local districts than any other administration, any other party before us.

The law says 55%.

We're way above that.

So, I think what we need to look at now is how do we better deliver education in a cost-efficient way.

I think a really good example of that is what's going on at the new high school in Sanford, the Regional Tech Center and High School.

They have planned out what the next 20 years look like in that school, and how to deliver an education that both has a liberal arts element and a CTE element as well.

So, I think those are the kind of models we need to look at going towards the future in education.

- All right, Mary Mayhew.

Are Maine's local school districts adequately funded?

And if not, what needs to change?

- We all recognize how critically important education is.

We want to see our kids have the best access to quality education so that we can have greater outcomes, that kids can pursue career paths, have success as adults.

But what we need is greater transparency around accountability.

Today, Maine is in the top-tier of states, in terms of what we spend per student.

But we don't have the kind of laser beam focus around our outcomes.

How are we doing on our math scores, our reading scores, our science scores, and our graduation rates?

How do we help to ensure that the dollars being spent today, the taxpayer money being spent today, is supporting high-quality educational outcomes for our students?

That's where we need to make sure.

Before we start throwing any more money, let's make sure that the money being spent is supporting great outcomes for our kids.

- All right, Shawn Moody.

That question to you as well.

Are Maine's local school districts adequately funded?

And if not, what needs to change?

- Yes, I'm passionate about education.

Again, I've invested the last four years traveling throughout the state to 14 campuses in the University System and the Community College System.

Community College System has the lowest tuition in New England and the University System kept tuition flat, six out of seven years.

This is significant.

We have to keep tuition affordable.

We have to provide higher ed that's accessible.

Change the delivery model.

So, we've done great things at the University and Community College level to get those systems to collaborate.

Now it's time, K-12.

We need a K-12, a K-16, or a K-20 solution to really collaborate these systems, so these seniors, when they're coming out of high school are work ready or they're college ready.

And we're meeting neither of those goals currently.

I would really advocate one example in the career tech field, we would make it a requirement that every single career tech ed or vocs instructor spends two weeks a year at a best-in-class business in their respective trade.

So that way they're teaching real-world principles and skills and products to the students that are coming out into the workforce.

- All right.

Now to our lightning round.

In this segment we're going to ask the candidates for brief, very brief, one or two, maybe three word responses.

And I'll start on your end, Shawn Moody.

Is health care a right?

- (laughs) No, it's America.

You work for it, you earn it.

- [Jennifer] Mary?

- No.

- Garrett?

- No.

- Ken?

- No.

- Ken, would you support raising fuel taxes to support road and bridge repairs and improvements?

- No.

- Garrett?

- No.

- No.

- Shawn?

- No.

Would merge the MTA and the DOD.

- Shawn, do you support proficiency-based diplomas?

- No.

- Mary?

- No.

- Garrett?

- It needs to be modified.

- [Jennifer] Ken?

- I think it's up to the local school districts.

- Okay.

Ken, do you support conservation of public lands, under the Land for Maine's Future Program?

- Well, I think, in fact, there was a bond that I voted for early on in my legislative career.

So, I think it's important to have very specific areas that we do, in fact, say yes.

- Okay.

Garret?

- Important but needs adjustments.

- [Jennifer] Mary?

- Balanced against other priorities.

- Shawn?

- Yes.

- Shawn, do you support easing development restrictions in Unorganized Territories?

- This is a huge problem because we're putting land in preservation-- - In two or three.

Do you support easing development restrictions in Unorganized Territories?

- Yes.

- Mary?

- Yes.

- [Jennifer] Garrett?

- If you're talking about wind, no.

- And Ken?

- And yes.

And LURC should be part of that decision making.

- Ken, do you support expansion of renewable energy, including solar power, in Maine?

- Only if it can prove that it's cost effective.

- Garrett?

- How much does it cost?

- [Jennifer] Mary?

- Not at the expense of rate payers.

- And Shawn?

- All of the above, yes.

- Shawn, do you support CMP's proposed transmission line project to bring Hydro power from Canada to Massachusetts through Maine?

- Yes.

- Mary?

- Yes.

- Garrett?

- Whole-heartedly.

- And Ken?

- Yes.

- Maine Government has contracted over the past eight years, as you all have mentioned.

Some departments have been eliminated or consolidated.

Is there one department you would expand?

Ken?

- Our police force.

- [Jennifer] Garrett?

- Department of Economic and Community Development.

- Okay, Mary?

- No.

- Shawn?

- No.

- All right.

Shawn, what is one issue on which you share common ground with democrats?

- I'm passionate about education.

We really need to focus on performance-based pay in education.

Across the board pay raises just breed mediocrity.

- All right.

Mary Mayhew, what is one issue on which you share common ground with democrats?

- That's a tough one.

I guess I probably share with Shawn, it think we share a desire for great outcomes in education.

- [Jennifer] All right, Garrett?

- After the passage of their recent party platform, there's not much left of your father's democratic party.

- [Jennifer] All right, and Ken?

- I would say strategic and infrastructure improvements.

- All right.

Ken, does the next legislature need to be addressing autonomous vehicles?

- Look, I think these sort of new emerging issues that come into the process, that we probably need to take a look at it.

- [Jennifer] All right, Garrett?

- Yes, because they're coming whether we like it or not.

- [Jennifer] All right, Mary?

- Worth evaluating.

- Shawn Moody?

- I think in our business, our industry, we're on top of the autonomous vehicle development.

So, yes.

- All right, so, Shawn Moody, what's your favorite place in Maine?

- Gorham, my hometown.

- [Jennifer] Mary Mayhew.

- Oh my goodness.

Pittsfield, Maine.

- Come on, this is all the same.

But, my answer will be too.

Moxie capital of the world, Lisbon Falls, Maine.

- Newport, Houlton, and Danforth.

- Okay, so I'm gonna change the question, Ken.

Other than your hometown, what's your favorite, if you have a day free and you wanna go do something fun, where are you gonna head, in Maine?

- I enjoy the Brunswick area.

- [Jennifer] All right, Garrett?

- There's a beautiful, little town called Winter Harbor.

- [Jennifer] All right, Mary?

- Hanging out with my boys in Portland.

- [Jennifer] Okay, and Shawn?

- We've been going up to the Greenville/Rockwood area for the last 40 years.

We love it.

- All right.

Well now it's time for our closing statements.

Each candidate will have one minute, and the order was determined earlier by random drawing.

The first is Shawn Moody.

- You've got an important decision to make on June 12th.

I'm the only candidate here that has 40 years of executive experience.

I'm a job creator, hiring people, and actually growing a successful enterprise.

You say you can't run the state like a business, I say we can't afford not to.

You look at Governor LePage, outsider businessman, Congressman Poliquin, outsider businessman, President Trump, outsider businessman.

Now is not the time to turn Augusta back over to the politicians.

I need your vote on June 12th.

Let's put a successful businessman back in the Blaine House.

- All right, the second is Ken Fredette.

- Hi and thank you, Jennifer.

I think as we look forward to this election, it's very important that the voters look carefully at each of the candidates.

I think it's important to recognize what the republicans have done in the legislature and in the governor's office over the last eight years; bringing us basically full employment in the state for the first time in a half a century.

We paid back the hospitals, we got money in the rainy day fund.

That didn't happen by itself.

It happened with people like me in the legislature leading forward.

Looks, it's not the truth to say that Paul LePage was an outsider.

He was an executive in a city council before he became governor.

Bruce Poliquin was, in fact, the treasurer before he became a congressman.

So this is about knowing how to do the job.

I've proven that we can work together with republicans, with the chief executive, to get things done.

We have the best economy in Maine's history in the last half century.

Let's keep it moving forward, and that's why I think people should vote for me.

- All right, Mary Mayhew, it is your turn for your closing statement.

- Well, thank you, Jennifer, and I am so proud of the work that we've accomplished over the last seven years.

I am running for governor because we have a legacy to protect in this state, and to aggressively move our great state forward.

As a mother, I have two sons.

And like so many families in this state, I want my kids to be able to stay in this state, to find great opportunities.

And what I know is that the answer is not to grow government, it is to grow our economy; that government will never be a parent, it will never be a church or a grandparent or a Rotary Club, and we should never be spending money in Augusta as though government can replace any of those things, and that was happening far too often.

Today, we are well positioned to have a much brighter economic future for our great state and I am prepared to lead our state forward, and I'm asking for your support in this primary election.

- And, Garrett Mason.

- Well, thank you, Jennifer, and thank you to NPBN for hosting this debate.

So here we are, eight long months after the start of this campaign.

The money's been raised, the ads have been cut.

We've knocked on your door and you've gotten a lot of mail.

Now it's time for you to make a decision.

I believe that I am the best candidate to carry our party's banner into the November election.

Because long after my eight years in the Blaine House are over, me, my fiance, and hopefully our kids will be in the same future that we helped build together over the next eight years.

I promise you that no one will work harder to make sure that my future's secure and yours, than me.

Ladies and gentlemen, I love this state.

I love everything about it and I promise I will fight to make it the best place to live, raise a family, and do business.

I'd ask for your vote on June 12th.

- And that is the final word.

Thank you for joining us for this Your Vote 2018 Republican Gubernatorial Primary Debate.

If you missed any part of the program, you can see it in its entirety on demand at Maine Public.org/YourVote.

You can also find our easy-to-use issues grid, which breaks down all the candidates' positions on the major issues.

I'm Jennifer Rooks, thank you for joining us.