AUBURN, Maine — Maine’s four gubernatorial candidates have released their rough economic roadmaps, with Republican Shawn Moody targeting “red tape” and Democrat Janet Mills leaning on a battery of grant and loan programs.
They are the frontrunners in the race to replace Gov. Paul LePage in the Nov. 6 election, but they’re running alongside two independents — State Treasurer Terry Hayes and consultant Alan Caron. The winner will take over a state facing plenty of economic hurdles, though the unemployment rate is on a record-low stretch, staying around 3 percent this year.
In August, the Maine Department of Labor forecast that the state would add fewer than 100 new jobs between 2016 and 2026. Over that period, it said the oldest state in the nation by median age would shed 22 percent of workers in their prime years — between ages 45 and 54.
The competing plans are often vague but fit the candidates. Moody, who founded a chain of collision centers, wants to streamline permitting and tighten spending. Mills, the attorney general, is heavier on grant, loan and financing targeted toward specific goals.
To read the rest of “How Maine’s gubernatorial candidates would manage the economy,” an article by contributing Bangor Daily News staff writer Michael Shepherd, please follow this link to the BDN online.
