 Good evening. We're on the air again with another edition of Patience on the news. I think it's 16 years every time we have this program I add a year, but I think it's 16 years that we've been doing it We've had a lot of people on tonight We're very very pleased to have the governor of Maine Janet Mills as our guest and Janet welcome Thank you. Harold's good to be here. So you know, I was thinking about this today when I was walking to the studio I think you are the 75th governor of Maine. I think I am and There was something that the other 74 in a row had in common Well, I'm the first governor from Franklin County You are the first guy from Franklin County. I want to be I hope we ship this program up to Farmington I hope so and let people know she's the first they probably know it and And the first woman governor it took us 75 tries to get a woman as governor 200 years 180 198 years. Yeah, to be exact. Yep to 2018 198 years So You're not the first Mills from Franklin County, and I guess it was one in Hancock County. Oh, yes You're not the first member of your family to be in politics. Is that right? correct My brother Peter was in the Senate He was a practicing trial lawyer in Western Maine for many years and still owns a practice there and a well-known Republican Well-known Republican. Yes. In fact, he ran for governor in a primary or two as a Republican And it was a Republican state senator for many years We practiced law together and in Skowhegan, Maine and during that time I also ran for the House of Representatives So at one point we were both in the house and other times I was in the house He was in the Senate and we were practicing law and earning a living So it was kind of interesting who your father would like that because he was a pretty well-known politician himself He was a Republican state senator another Republican definitely my I grew up in a family of Republicans and we grew up in Farmington Just down the road from Margaret Chase Smith and Skowhegan my other grandfather my father's father was a Republican state senator and state legislator from Stonington actually years ago, I mean a hundred and plus years ago, but then my grandmother brought them back to Farmington where he Worked my parents both my mother was an English teacher for 30 something 37 years or so And we lived in a small house in Farmington where the five of us grew up. We worked at a very early age We all had paper routes. I was like five or six years old when I was delivering papers up and down the main street of Farmington and But Margaret Chase Smith was a frequent visitor Fred Payne former governor from 1949 to 1950s These were all very prominent Republicans. Oh, yeah, you didn't have too many Democrats visiting your house growing up None probably zero. What about Severin Beliveau? Did he ever visit? Don't think so. I didn't know Severin until I met Cynthia. Yeah, the better half. I got to know first. So You you you have this long line of Republican politicians in your family But you have a sister who's a Democrat, right? She is I was the fur I was the I was the white sheep of the family the white to become Enrolled as a as a Democrat. Yeah, first one. Yes Others followed suit later on was your father alive when you did that He was alive. I didn't tell him right off What he was your father's I understand it was a very close friend of Margaret Chase Smith absolutely Yes, and she was a lovely lady I just went to the 40th anniversary of the Margaret Chase Smith library 40 years ago that library opened she was fully retired, of course, and I think Senator then Senator George Mitchell and I were probably the only Democrats at that Celebration at that opening. So I remember that following. She was a lovely lady I would stop in and visit her when I was working in Skowhegan and Commuting from Farmington have lunch with her from time to time and discuss the politics of the day interesting so Every politician and particularly Governors presidents people that lead large groups of people Have a style of governing Paul the page had a style of governor you have a style of governing Are you able this is probably a tough question. Are you able to describe your style of Managing the office of governor of Maine? Well, I don't know it's partly that's up to the observations of others who work with me a day-to-day and Legislators, but I will say what I try to do what I try to do is build bridges Bring people together You'll remember about three years ago. We had a slew of workers comp bills and they were all sort of all over the place and I Thought let's get people together and talk about what's going on in the workers comp world. We got John Rode the Executive director of the workers comp commission commission I got some of the Republicans from the Labor Committee some of the Democrats in the Labor Committee and some Stakeholders as it were some people who know something about workers comp and we sat at the table at the Blaine house I said, what is it? You think you want to do and let's explain what goes on now. Anyway after several days of Discussing discussing and negotiating we came up with a reform package that does a few specific things and That both sides there's consensus at the end. So I did that I did that on some other labor bills I took a paid leave bill and brought it down from 15 pages to a page and a half so that it was Succinct and meaningful in my view and that was touted by many people as the most progressive paid leave bill in the country And it applied only, you know, not to seasonal employees not to part-time things But to about 85% of the working people in Maine now have a form of paid leave Because of a bill that I wrote one weekend In other areas we've in the budget Look at this spring in April. We passed a budget. I signed into law a budget that was very much bipartisan unanimous committee report from the appropriations committee both sides and a Robust vote on both the Senate and the House side of things and what we presented as the budget Pretty much came out as the budget with some changes in the committee But let me tell you what that has in it. It has two years of tuition free to the community colleges for all recent high school grads Two years free tuition. That's a first for Maine. That was a Republican and Democratic idea and independence. So That was a bipartisan absolutely bipartisan. It requires It offers free universal free food in the school system Universal free food so kids don't have to stand in one line or the other line or show their parents income in order to Get served a breakfast or a lunch at the school system at the school cafeteria It provides an income tax exemption for up to $35,000 of the of your first $35,000 of your retirement income That was a Republican and a Democratic 35,000 is shielded from tax. That's correct from the income tax so we reduced income taxes we reduced property taxes by enacting some property tax circuit breakers homestead exemptions and things of that sort and We fully funded revenue sharing to the town so that we fund police work firefighting Ambulance and trash removal and municipal services that people depend on and thereby reduce the burden on the tax property taxpayers And we fully funded for the first time in history The state's share of public education 55 percent state share of public education In addition to that this budget we just passed Provides for inflation relief monies to the people of Maine. I think most of that's gone out the door now But 850,000 people in Maine would have received we'll have received checks in the mail 850 dollars a piece $1,700 for two to family to working family person family To help fight inflation the least we could do right that was a bipartisan effort I was gonna say is that in the budget? That's in the budget. So the budget has to pass With both parties supporting it, right? Two-thirds to become an emergency measure So you had to have a lot of Republican votes for that We did and some of the ideas came from Republicans for sure Republican ideas Democratic ideas and then they came and Enacted a unanimous committee report and that's the budget that I signed into law. So as you travel I'm interested in the 850 dollar checks Your opponents criticize you for it. I think your opponent called it a campaign stunt and What do you say about that? Do you travel around the state you see people do they talk about the 850 dollar checks? And do they regard it as a stunt? I've got a stack of cards and letters in my office From people all over this state thanking me for checks that they received over this past summer $850 checks things that are pretty moving frankly a woman who said you know now I can pay my rent Now I can fix my pickup truck Now I can help my son with his college exams and and admissions Now I can fix you know things wrong with the house now I can put some oil in the tank and get ready for winter now I can gas at my car and pay for the groceries that have been putting off or the Prescription drugs that have been putting off buying those meaningful things. It wasn't for me to tell people what to do with the money Look, it's appropriate when you have a surplus as we and other states had But in our case to give back 60 percent of the surplus In the budget give it back to the taxpayers. Why not? It's their money And it's theirs to do with with what they show. It's the most generous inflation relief package in the country You know you read about charlie baker in massachusetts and the legislature there They're fighting over whether to give 250 dollar checks back to the taxpayers We've done it here and it was 850 and people I think appreciate it So when you campaign You go all over the state you're campaigning everywhere and even before the campaign as governor You travel to all the corners of the state so we have a You're talking about What you've done in four years and the bipartisan effort that's been made to get bills passed and changes made When you go to place I was up in Lincoln a couple of years ago And I saw nothing but trump flags trump signs trump everything And I saw Some anti mill signs I'm sorry I hope i'm not the first one to bring this news to you But I was shocked but in any event But you talk to those people up there, of course and and they're your constituents and so When they get an 850 dollar check that they say I I'm they not thank you Uh, I haven't talked to those specific people probably but um I've had a lot of people just come up to me on the street and say thank you for the check I really needed it And it's the people's money And I really believe that I think um, my opponent was quoted saying She shouldn't give those checks to to people. They'll only spend it It's they'll only spend they'll only spend it and um They should be able to save it or spend it as they choose So You read back to something you said earlier About these bills and you said you drafted a bill sure i've drafted bills You've done that your whole life, right? Yeah. Well the last couple last 20 years. Yeah Drafting bills. Look, I mean you and I know I've argued more than 100 cases in front of the main supreme court And oftentimes when you're arguing a case in the highest court Of the state you're talking about language in a bill, you know commas are misplaced or The word what what the words in a bill make a great deal of difference in the significance in the meeting of the bill Everybody comes to the legislature wanting to enact broad policies and that's great It's a laudable goal to enact a policy on health care education or climate change and we all want to do that But picking the right language and doing it the right way so that it has the effect that you want it to have Is an important thing. I've always thought that and I worked for that when I was in the legislature for six years too So that's unusual for a governor. I think at least in my experience to Um, actually read analyze the language make changes suggestions and so forth Well, I didn't catch all the typos. Yeah, but my mother was an english teacher So but but I think it's you know, there's some politicians who are lawyers You spent a lifetime as a lawyer. So I think that makes a difference probably I went to law school not right out of school. I mean, I worked as a waitress I worked as a secretary a receptionist a paralegal did a lot of other things too Did real work first? Of course I did real work. I was waiting tables when I was 16 years old Were you good at it? That's a matter of opinion So, um Let's talk a little bit about uh, one of the One of the things that you did that was a great contrast with your predecessor States as a result of federal legislation states were able to get significant grants from the federal government for Medicaid and expansion of Medicaid and in our case main care, which we which is medicaid We had a referendum in the state of Maine. Did we not on that same issue? Yes about six years ago. Okay, and the people said they wanted expanded and overwhelmingly overwhelmingly And it didn't get expanded because the your predecessor was against it So the first I think the first thing you did was expanded. Yes. I mean unfortunately my predecessor didn't believe Apparently didn't believe that health care was a thing that we should provide and or help provide for people So after the citizens enacted by initiative by referendum Main care expansion when the federal government was offering to pay for it by To the tune of 90 of the cost basically The legislature then enacted implementing legislation Five times that went to the governor's desk Five times it was vetoed Which I think is very unfortunate So one of the first things I did on day one in my administration was to issue an executive order in acting enabling The will of the people and expanding main care Now there are about 95,000 people on the main care expansion And thank god we got to do that before the pandemic Health insurance presumably did not have health insurance health covers before and many of them You know they and their parents wrote letters of of gratitude towards my staff and the legislature and to me and Um, I just in retrospect. I'm so glad we got to do that before the pandemic Hit the state of Maine as it did everywhere else and people those people had health covers that they wouldn't have Well, so what is the uh, what was the argument of your predecessor against Medicare? Be be you know, don't don't do just tell me what he said. I mean what And then we'll talk about that I'm not sure. I don't know his exact. I don't remember his exact words. He didn't issue detailed veto letters but Um, he did not think that health care was a right. I believe health care is a right Did he say are you sure he said it's not a right? Words to that effect, but he also, um, he didn't believe in taking money from the federal government Excuse me and Nearly two billion dollars estimated two billion dollars In federal funds were rejected by the previous administration For whatever for a lot of on a lot of things forest legacy money Um, uh cancer research monies Main care expansion, of course A lot of monies were rejected by the previous governor Because they didn't believe in taking federal money and my belief is It is tax money And if we don't accept it if we don't apply for and use this money to Benefit the people of Maine. It's only going to other states. It's going to other people in other states So why shouldn't we access this why shouldn't we access funds To help the great research that's going on at the university of Maine at orinno The habib dagger offshore wind cross laminate timber That a lot of that was funded by epa grants and whatnot and um Why shouldn't we access funds that are rightly ours for research and development and health care and education Title one funds for schools etc Of course, we want to do everything we can To expand opportunities for every family in Maine So as I understand the opposition and what republicans say about this sun not all They're against government basically they say big government They they haven't reduced it, but they say they're against Big government and they're against government programs and so they call You democrats the tax and spend democrats and that you're spenders And so I think the theory in rejecting all of this is we have to get off of this This habit of Taking money and spending it Well, then apparently they don't believe in medicare Apparently they don't believe in social security, which is partly funded by contributions, of course Apparently they don't believe in the defense department All of which are funded by the federal government And I think that the federal government was a was a significant partner during the pandemic especially Look at bipartisan legislation promoted by senator susan collins for instance created the ppp Which became a a loan to businesses to keep them afloat during the pandemic and then a forgivable loan over time We've we've gotten american rescue plan funds and we were we are the only state I think to use some of those funds for health care workforce development And we funded a lot of other programs agriculture forestry farming and fishing Putting that federal money towards one time significant expenditures to to increase Processing you know blueberry processing Fish and other agricultural processing We're doing those things to be able to make the main economy more sustainable in the long run so As governor Do you worry about government wasteful spending? Do you work? Do you? Concern yourself with you know, how can we Make sure that we don't overspend and how do you do that? I expect every one of my departments and sub departments To be accountable accountable for what they do what they produce for the end result of their work I've always expected that And every state employee has an expectation a goal of doing their job and doing it well for the people of maine whether they're plowing snow in the winter or building fish hatcheries in rural maine or whether they're um Doing hazmat investigations for de p or do t They I expect them to do the best job they can and I do trust state employees to do a good job And in the budget process I I assume that The governor gets all gets proposals from cabinet members and then Reviews those proposals Yes And so you do you accept them all? Oh, we have some very hard conversations. Ask any one of my cabinet members And by the way, I'm just so proud of my cabinet 15 really good people nine of whom are women highest percentage of women in in the history of maine, but 15 really good people whom I trust and care for care about And I got a piece of advice from angus king when I first took office and he said among other things he said Hire people who are going to look at you and tell you what you need to know not just what you want to know basically You know because if you and I agree on everything one of us might not be necessary So I hired people some of whom I never knew before I didn't ask about their politics I got their history their experience in that their expertise in that particular area Melanie loyzen for instance the DEP commissioner is extremely bright And and conscientious and objective pat keller her kept on from the previous administration He worked for the page before he worked for the page. So did uh doug farnham cologne farnham. Um, what's he do? He's the he's the Veterans administration dv em head of the national guard as well and And head business regulation. I kept her on she's been through several different So there wasn't a wholesale change. You didn't fire everybody that he had hired. No, we didn't know three of them or they've stayed over stayed on And if you remember my predecessor had I think eight different education commissioners in eight years Well, my cabinet has stuck with me and stuck with the people of Maine through thick and thin And one thing we told we we decided early on in the pandemic Whatever happens we're going to tell the people of Maine the truth Good batter and different and we told them the truth and we had people like nirav Shah out front there telling everything In medical science and basing our recommendations and guidelines information on objective science on medical fact And we said If the people hear the truth, they will listen and they will cooperate and they did And that is probably one reason why today We have one of the highest vaccination rates COVID vaccination rates of any state in the country And one of the lowest death rates from COVID of any state in the country despite having a highest average age Coming down a little bit, but still highest average age And we've been given awards the commonwealth fund said hawaii and maine Had the best pandemic recovery of any states in the country We dealt with it the best of any states So hawaii and maine have the best COVID statistics and program that's interesting because Actually, that means we're the best because You can't drive to hawaii, but everybody drives from massachusetts in new york and brings their germs to maine And hawaii you can't do that. Why close the airports that close right down. Remember they did. Yeah, so Um But you were criticized. I mean you must have felt the pressure you were criticized a lot for Relatively strict regulations during the height of COVID And did you feel the heat? Well, there were demonstrations outside the blaine house on a regular basis and people had a lot of anger I understand that it was a very difficult time And we tried our very best to save lives and livelihoods of main people I will say that some of the republican governors who are friends of mine Issued stricter mandates or guidelines than I did My friend phil scott of vermont. He shut down manufacturing during the early days of COVID Manufacturing and construction. I never did that. I mean I wanted the economy to continue You were concerned about Overdoing it. Of course, of course, but people's livelihoods depended on that And so I also put together a group of about 40 people headed by josh broder and lawyla chance To look at economic recovery from the pandemic We have a 10-year economic plan that we issued Before the pandemic looking at three basic goals, but we took that plan And I talked to the federal reserve bank of boston the head of that bank Head of the federal reserve and I said, how do I plan to for the state to recover from this pandemic? first he said You can't have a healthy economy without healthy people So keeping people healthy is first and foremost and that was our goal We did that for the most part and we kept in line without you know, as opposed to many other states and then Put together the economic recovery group a group of really interesting people from diverse backgrounds Who came up with the economic recovery plan two years ago now? We then put that to the legislature And when the federal government provided the funds through the american rescue plan We had it all ready to go unlike most every other state didn't have a plan We have a plan. We had a plan. We're enacting it now We've been giving grants to child care workers and child care facilities We've been providing tuition-free community college We've been standing up agricultural and agricultural processing plants. We've been Paying stipends to child care workers Providing small business economic recovery grants so businesses can do what they have to do whether it's buying new equipment or Or moving a location One time funds to give them a boost to stay Stay in tune and and be sustainable so Economic recovery plan. So that's the state's plan in effect It's funded With help from the federal government, right? Sure like 50 million dollars of that is for housing And we worked with the legislature to parse out what what parts of federal money should go to what? what Measures and housing was a big one. So we're working on that too housing is a huge problem in main and every other state Yes, it is not alone in that but back to this economic recovery plan for a minute Child care That's in the economy. I think this is always interested Me because I've been around a long time and things evolve And I don't think 50 years ago people thought child care was important to the economy But today People do can you explain that a little bit why child care was so important to the economy? And you know, I I you know that I married a widow. Well, you know, my husband I know you brought up four girls five five girls. You brought up five and Um, and you worked for we both worked full time. Oh, yes, like my parents worked full time before me, but um I'll go back to the pandemic for a moment because that really heightened The need for child care and early childhood quality affordable early childhood education And we saw a lot of women leaving the workforce during the pandemic particularly women leaving the workforce from service jobs different jobs in the service economy and we heard from them That they had to stay home especially when the schools some of the local schools went hybrid or went remote They didn't have any options. So we looked at that and we started began funding Child care in three different ways One to expand the physical plants so that there would be more slots available In child care centers in child care centers Yeah, family child care or more more commercial child care Two we gave stipends to child care workers commercial means businesses have their own Some businesses have their own child care centers not in your own home. Yeah, and So then we gave stipends To child care workers monthly stipends to give them an incentive to stay on the job and thirdly we Provided more training at the community colleges and the cte's we funded cte's And more training to to educate at the university to university main farmington has an excellent Early childhood education program. So we beefed that up. So we get better training More money for child care workers and more slots and that gets people back into the workforce It's a work in progress. It's not finished yet by any means But fathers and mothers parents of all sorts Need child care to be able to work even if they're working remotely for the most part as many people more people are now They still need care And the other the other piece the uh Free community college Explain that to me. Does that mean that beginning this year this month september Kids that wanted to go to a main community college as a freshman. They were graduated from high school in may or june Go for nothing Free tuition. That's correct Free tuition free tuition. But can we sustain that? We're trying it out And we'll check it out the end of this budget, you know budgets go for two years So it's not a permanent expenditure But we're trying it out and and towards the end of the two-year period We'll see how it's how it's worked Right now we're hearing from parents and students And the administrators and teachers at the community college system that it's really catching on catching on like wildfire I got a letter from one woman who's She didn't think her daughter was going to be able to go to college And then she found out she called the community college campus in her area She said I heard a rumor That it might be free free tuition They said it's not a rumor. It's true And she broke down in tears knowing that her daughter was going to be able to go to college It so I assume there's some other states where this is done or has been done Um, you know, are you aware of any? I'm not sure. Yeah, I didn't do that analysis We just knew that we could do it here and we wanted to do it Because it's my show I every time we have the show I get to pontificate about something So, okay, so, uh, I've never heard you do that I want to pontificate About what you're talking about in this free college I've I've always thought that there were limits to what government can do But the two central things that government can do That are central to everything is the common defense Not the states but the federal government the common defense to defend us all and And the other was to educate the populace and so in the 19th century we had You know beginning with Abraham Lincoln the idea of land grant colleges And creating across the country The federal government creating state universities Land grant universities to educate people for higher education four years beyond high school Now that was a hundred and some odd years ago And uh About 170 years ago 65 years ago A lot's changed and now Uh a lot more people in this economy in the technical economy Need to have a another four years. They need to have 16 years not 12 years not everybody Not everybody needs it, but if you're not going to be in a skilled trade If you're not going to be skilled in some Technical area if you're not going to be a plumber or electrician or whatever It's important to have that And but we've always resisted having the government Get involved in it. I mean look at uh Joe Biden gets severely criticized for uh, you know Writing off some of the some of the debt But the fact of the matter is it's the one most important thing besides common defense We can do is to have a highly educated populace And uh, there's resistance. Have you sensed the resistance against this? This two free years in community college I've heard so much so many positive things about it that no, I haven't heard resistance and it was a bipartisan effort Bipartisan you had republicans who worked with you on this. Oh, yes. Absolutely um No, and and the legislature thought it was a great idea too. So I think it's been very positive. Uh, and we'll see how it goes. I think you know And we're expanding the the scope of the curriculum. We know we need health care workers So we're training up phlebotomists surgical assistants nurses uh pharmaceutical technicians All a dozen or so types of health care workers We're training up Early childhood educators. We're training welders and plumbers and pipe fitters and electricians and automobile repair people and Mechanics and we're training people to install solar panels and we're training people to install heat pumps Right now. We're at I think we've installed 80,000 heat pumps Well towards our goal of installing a hundred thousand by 2024 So these are new trades as well as traditional trades and even the traditional trades Need different equipment, which is why we funded capital expenditures in the cte's this year to upgrade their equipment So is there any provision to you know after you go through the first year to have an assessment? How did it work? What did we do? Because things will go wrong and Things are always Capable of being improved. What do you do with do you just continue the program or do you look at it and analyze it and change it? No, I mean we want to be accountable for every program we start every program we continue and uh education is Along the same lines We want to see what the results are and let's see if certain curriculum Certain courses weren't as popular as we thought they might be and that's the job of dave dagler at the community colleges and Chancellor malloy at the university system and the and the board of trustees too to see what's working. What's not working? Let me go to another subject Climate change and I'll just pontificate for 10 seconds here I'm one of these people that excuse me think because i'm old Looks at this and says this is the most serious problem confronting the world the planet And it's serious And we've debated for a long time whether it's serious or it's a hoax It's serious How do you look at climate change in terms of It's importance to people who are responsible for governing We know what the united nations Scientists said that it's code red for humanity I believe that Every um reputable scientist in the world has said climate change is real Danger is imminent We're seeing huge forest fires in the west. We're seeing weather events that we've never seen before record number of vicious violent hurricanes in the south Storms and rising seas you ask the fishermen in the gulf of main Is the ocean warming? Yes, it is. Is the atlantic ocean rising? Yes, it is and the gulf of main Is right is is warming More than or at a faster rate than 99 of the world's body of water bodies That's a scary thing. It is affecting our fisheries. It's affecting our forests. It's affecting our agriculture It's affecting the ticks that are coming north And we all get warnings about going out into the fields and woods and not wearing long pants because the ticks are out there now Things like that. Well, it's affecting so much And it's going to affect a lot more if we don't take significant steps to arrest it and in main we have set a goal of Becoming carbon neutral By 2045 and we are on our way to achieving that goal What I did when I took office the first year in office I established a climate council That climate council issued a plan an action climate action plan and we're Moving towards every one of those goals right now We lost eight years on climate action. Honestly, we did My predecessor signed a moratorium on wind power didn't believe in wind power onshore offshore My predecessor signed up, you know, signed onto a coalition of gulf states That want to drill for oil off the coast of Maine. That's not my idea And I withdrew from that coalition Instead we engaged with the people across Maine and said how can we help weather eyes Our very old housing stock in Maine How can we wean ourselves off of fossil fuels? Which is our main source of residential heating source Four or five billion dollars a year that goes out of state to pay your heating bill to pay your oil bill to companies that Fire away from here. We need to get ourselves off of that. So we're working on that We're not taking anything away from anybody else. We're providing options and alternatives safer and more climate issued climate related Options look the net energy billing for solar power There's solar power solar farms of various sizes all across the state. We're putting solar panels on schools and landfills and And all with the ultimate goal of weaning ourselves off of dangerous fossil fuels that commit that emit Carbon and sometimes methane, you know Some of the people Watching this program probably like me and don't hear these terms a lot But don't know where they fit into Diminishing the threat of of climate change Carbon neutral. What's that mean? you know The the uptake of carbon dioxide in the air is what's causing Well, ultimately causing the ice icebergs and parts of Greenland and Iceland to melt and then that causes the rising seas and warming seas ultimately to Decrease in the pH of oceans is caused by ocean acidification is caused by all of this uptake of co2 So when we emit co2 We're causing dangerous Effects in the atmosphere of our earth That result in melting ice and other other actions other things so The danger is real The danger of the atmosphere causing The horrible forest fires was seeing out west and the horrible storms have seen down south and elsewhere tornadoes across kentucky Just a few months ago and warming oceans rising seas. So we're also trying to Help preserve our sense of place here in Maine preserve our communities Putting our assets towards community resilience Whether you live on the ocean or on a lake or in the middle of a forest being aware and being prepared for the effects of climate Change is important for individuals and for whole communities. So that's why we were going out of the community and talking about building up that The riprap along your ocean pier and Increasing the level of your your your dock things are you doing that as the state doing urging people to do that We are i'm going to tell you a story. I live on the ocean and uh I've lived in my house for 42 years And i'm losing the front yard To a rising ocean it occurs in storms in the winter storms in the winter never ate away at the front lawn and they have the last few years and i'm losing things And I called a guy. I have a guy over there began today Talk about riprap putting riprap down and I said to him I came I visited my son in chapaquitica At marthas vineyard and they have these bluffs a lot of houses are on bluffs and everywhere you see riprap and a lot of Stuff construction going on to try to save these places from the rising ocean And the guy that's doing mine does it in main? He said I cannot keep up I cannot keep up so So What is the secret more more renewable energy? less fossil fuel absolutely that's a priority and you know The co2 is emitted from burning fossil fuels as you know And so if we burn fewer fossil fuels Then we don't emit as much carbon dioxide in the air causing this extensive damage And harm to the atmosphere and ultimately the the earth so the environment um So weaning ourselves off of fossil fuels is important Whether it's exercising the option to buy an electric vehicle and efficiency main trust is issuing rebates and and uh Incentives to buy or release electric vehicles keep your pickup truck keep your car, but have the option of a buy an electric vehicle We also have incentives and more robust rebates for Heat pumps are really heat and cooling heat and cooling. Yeah, I have those Yeah, and then generation of electricity through renewables as opposed to through fossil fuels is huge too I think we're not going to have to worry the people that Uh that worry about big government and not going to have to worry too much about the government Uh Forcing them to an electric car. I think the manufacturers are going to do that for us They see the handwriting on the wall and pretty soon no matter what your state says no matter what your governor says You're not going to be able to have a car a gasoline engine car In time the manufacturers are just going to make electric vehicles And we're all going to have to we'll have one if we want a car Well, I think the demand has come is is rising Uh, it hasn't caught on as quickly as it has in other states in may I think it's about 6 000 or something that have been sold in last year But um, again people like their pickup truck and I want them to have their pickup truck I like pickup trucks and I like when you're a country girl to begin with I need a pickup truck your franklin county girl move stuff But at the same time uh the demand for electric vehicles will be increasing is increasing For a right of reasons efficiency and cost look at the cost of gasoline Up and then down. I mean gosh, you know, you can't you can't depend on it being stable. So So what about uh drug prices? I'm sensitive to that because I'm old so I take a lot of prescription drugs to keep me alive and um Everybody says are they too expensive and then I know that there's a lot of pushback in congress. I mean I I don't want to get Red and blue, you know Yankees and red sox here, but for some reason and I've never understood it the republicans in congress are opposed to controls On pharmaceuticals on drug prices. I and I'll never understand it. Maybe I'll have somebody on the program and ask them about that but do you have a did you have a An effort to Do do something here in maine to control drug prices We passed a couple bills. There were like there were four bills coming out of the state senate a year and a half ago Uh regarding prescription drug prices But more importantly just recently the federal government did do something congress actually acted and the what's called the inflation reduction act also called climate change act also called prescription Negotiating bill. Whatever you call it. Yeah, we negotiate for Medicare. Thank god. That's right And they could always do that, but they would always stop the republicans did not want the pharmacies The pharmaceutical companies to have to deal with the government on these places. It's a heavy lobby there It's a heavy lobby the pharmaceutical companies, but But congress passed that that's being phased in so that the federal government on our behalf Will be able to negotiate on medical on pharmaceutical prices prescription drug prices for Medicare recipients We used to have people going from here for maine on buses to to canada I think people are still doing that very quietly sometimes going across the border now the border's reopened Um to get their prescriptions filled a lot cheaper in canada. Absolutely Isn't that amazing just a few miles? It is sad. It is it is indeed Sad and I think the federal government. I think the congress also capped insulin prices over time actual Yes flat sort of a flat fee for insulin monthly fee and uh, susan collins has Sponsored a bill in congress. I think it's it's stuck right now To a federal bill to control insulin prices. Okay. Yeah, so so I think that's still Pending but we don't know where it's whether it's going to go anywhere. So all right, so you've got uh If you you you've got this desire to spend four more years leading our state. Well, I do Yeah I think look it's a good job well It doesn't pay that great, but I'm not complaining. We'll always pay governors in the country, but for goddess of that It's been really challenging these last few years and The main people have been through an awful lot. We've been through an awful lot together And I want to get us back on track. We're getting back on track I want to continue the progress that we started over the last four years fully funding education addressing climate change health care issues And keeping our economy back on track broadening it Addressing our workforce issues and housing issues which we're doing now. We're addressing them And uh making Maine a better place. Look, I have grandkids like you do My five grandchildren are all in Maine My two little girls the three-year-old six-year-old I love them to pieces And when I sit and talk with them, they're talking about You know, will that tooth grow back in sometime soon or have I lost it for good? Uh, what am I going to wear at a kindergarten? Or uh Am I learning to tie my shoes, right? You know and I think when I sit and listen to them Will they have the same opportunities I've had? What opportunities what will the world look like for them 10 years from now 20 years from now 30 years from now when lord knows I'll be gone I want to make sure they have a a better world and the best world and best opportunities They can have I want to help provide that for my grandchildren For your grandchildren for the families across Maine who work so hard to make a better life here I want us to be a welcoming safe state for everybody with opportunity for all And don't you think there are republicans that you deal with that you know well In a legislature that share the that desire of yours. I'm sure there are um The The criticism of you. I've tried I've tried in preparation for this. I I tried to Figure out what they're criticizing what your opponents are criticizing you for You probably know better than me. You're probably aware of the criticism. I can't think of one No, you can't think of any bad criticism I was being accused of causing gas prices to increase but now they come down. So I should take credit Uh, I've probably been accused of creating the baby formula Empty shelves a baby formula. I don't know who knows but they're kind of national worldwide issues that you're accused for Is it my correct? I mean they cut the economy. They said the economy. Well You can only do so much. I mean if you're one in 50 states And in a country that's one of 220 countries in the world Uh inflation is a worldwide issue to worldwide issue. No matter what you do in Maine You're not going to affect worldwide inflation, right? And that's why we chose to to issue those checks this summer It's the least we could do if not maybe one of the very few things we could do at the state level Give people money back to put in their pockets to save or to pay for the groceries the prices that are increased Put gas in their car oil in their tank their furnace Do what they can to uh to get by You talk to a lot of people in this state. I mean you're everywhere in the state You're going to a restaurant somebody wants to come and tell you what their problems are and they write you letters and so forth Uh, just back to the guess to many people Say what are you going to do about the high gas prices? Well the price of gas is coming down so not so much Yeah, I know you just took credit for we've done a great job and and you you you you've done a great job and Work to make sure that the russians don't drive the price up. You you your foreign policy is excellent Thank you, but uh The people i'm just curious to somebody say what are you going to do about the gas prices? I'm sick and tired of You know $4 a gallon. Yeah, and and um, there was some talk By some people in the legislature about suspending the gas tax a state portion of the gas taxes the federal tax and state tax and we did the analysis they kind of backed off because First of all it would take all that money out of the highway budget And second of all I wouldn't put money back in people's pockets to do any significant way to any significant degree They might save like a hundred something dollars over a year So it didn't seem to be worthwhile and instead we put money back in people's pockets I don't think you can do anything It's a it's a worldwide market. I could call Putin and you could call put and say stop this war Yeah, you see what it's done to gas prices here and yeah, and He wouldn't take my car. He won't take your car. So you got it. You got to forget that So, um elections coming up in November What in the next two months? Is it mostly on the road a lot? Oh, sure a lot of on the road. I mean I'm a full-time governor as well as on top of campaigning and running the office um But listening to people going out and hearing from people on the road How how I value was that what listening to people does that tell me make the connection for me does that help you govern? Yeah, absolutely. I mean I heard of um Was that an agc meeting recently and then I heard from a legislator about a proposal to um Require sprinklers in every single family home and I thought I don't think we're ready for that So i'm addressing that with powers. I think that's too invasive. I think so so We're following I'm following up on that. What do you do? So you had a couple legislators that want to put Pass a law to put Require everybody to put sprinkler in their house. What do you talk to the legislator? I'm not sure about this. Oh, sure. We do we do all the time and What I want to do better in the coming years is to get in at the ground level with legislators Especially new legislators because every two years a third of the legislature are brand new to the process so Now that we're sort of off zoom. We're doing in person. They'll be doing in person hearings In legislative sessions Get to know them better at the at the very first stages and talk with them about their ideas And see if we can work with them If an idea seems like a good one hasn't been Debated, you know many many times before and rejected then we work with them and get things done for the people. How do you get to know them? I have more for breakfast um during the pandemic I had zoom breakfasts breakfast With a variety of legislators always always bipartisan some senate some house members and Just who are you have and so now you're in more in person. Yeah, you have Republican legislators over to the Blaine house, of course for meals and stuff. Yeah And they like it They seem to the food's good. They show up. Yeah. Well, if you remember, I think when Joe Brennan was governor When Joe Sewell and Linwood Palmer they got into a Stale mate over the budget he'd bring them over to the Blaine house and shoot a little pool There was a lot of that. That's how they do you still have a pool table in the Blaine? There is a pool table and it still has some scars, but yeah You do, huh? Yeah, so uh You know, it's uh, we got about a minute left here. Okay, and uh, it's a pleasure to have you My it's interesting to get some insights on The issues that you confront and how you going to deal with them And if you're reelected the next four years in what you intend to Accomplish, I hope That you'll speak with your fellow governors. Maybe you already have a governor's Group on climate change. Yes, we do. You do. Yeah. Are you in it? Yes Good get them going. All right. We are we are we will thank you Thank you for having me Harold. It was always good to see you again Thank you for coming governor. We appreciate it