{Opponents Mike Michaud & Eliot] Cutler both diverted attention from the standards, developed by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers, which have been adopted by all but a few states.
"I think teachers are sick of being pushed from pillar to post," Cutler said, advocating trying those standards for a number of years before tweaking them.
At least three states have repealed using the Common Core standards and in April 2013, the Republican National Committee adopted a resolution opposing the standards [including a possible repeal in Maine].
Meanwhile, Republican Gov. Paul LePage demurred on the questions.
A: Yes! I'm working with the Bangor Chinese School and the University of Maine at Farmington. They both want to bring to Maine a Confucius Institute, which is a Chinese-sponsored program that promotes language and culture.
Q: And are there lessons to take away from China as well?
A: Yes. It's a resource-constrained country of 1.3 billion people. Much of China is desert, and desertification is a big, growing problem. Beijing is a city of 18 million people, and it's going to go dry. But there's palpable confidence and excitement. Have you ever wished you had a time machine and could experience living in the US in the 1890s or 1920, when we were booming and growing? Here's an opportunity to see what it must have been like. Having a sense of that again and seeing how much difference that can make in people's lives, and in a country's life, is an important lesson to bring home.
Eliot Cutler was critical: "I can't believe he meant to do that because it's extraordinarily insulting to the thousands of Maine people who worked all their lives and are now retired & trying to make ends meet by relying on Social Security and Medicare, programs to which they--and for that matter, Gov. LePage--are entitled," Cutler said. "I understand that we have welfare challenges in Maine and we need reform. I just don't talk about it in the way he does. I want to talk about how we can fix the problem. He is simply demonizing people and now expanding the definition of welfare beyond any definition I've ever observed."
Cutler said he supports virtual charter schools in principle as a way to "apply new technologies to improve our kids' futures," and he praised the Maine Charter School Commission, saying it has rigorously vetted the companies that have applied.
"Along with other alternatives, virtual charter schools may improve outcomes for students and families for whom traditional instruction is not working and may add value to public education in Maine," Cutler said, adding that he read the Commission's report "carefully and with great concern."
"Both the commission and the Legislature are coming to grips with the question of how we make good cyber education alternatives available to as many Maine kids as possible," he said.
A Cutler spokeswoman issued a statement contrasting the independent's history supporting gay rights with Michaud's background on the issue:
"Eliot Cutler and his family have stood side by side with the LGBT community for decades as outspoken advocates and supporters. Mike Michaud's voting record in the Maine Legislature--19 consecutive votes against equal rights for the LGBT community--speaks for itself."
Michaud's campaign says Michaud, like many politicians, has evolved on the issues over time.
A: Many of those tax breaks were enacted years ago for purposes that seemed important at the time and that perhaps we could then afford. But for the most part, they've been on autopilot; most have never been closely evaluated to see if they're still working, still needed, and still accomplishing their goals (if they ever did). They should be identified in our budget as expenditures that we have chosen to make.
As for clawbacks, we need to make sound deals in the first place with companies that have a good track record, pay good wages, and take advantage of Maine's competitive advantages. Sound deals will contain remedies against companies that fail to live up to their responsibilities.
A: The next governor of Maine needs to acknowledge and begin to deal with the following facts about climate change, and the governor needs to lead Maine people in directions that will begin to limit and mitigate its impacts:
A: Our transportation goal should be moving more people and more goods at lower costs and with fewer environmental impacts. New bus services, dedicated lanes for high-occupancy vehicles and buses, bike routes, and sidewalks along existing roads can typically all be obtained for less than 1/10 of the cost of a typical road widening. The last decade has brought exciting success stories for rail transportation in Maine, notably the intermodal facility in Auburn and the return of passenger rail service to Maine. State investments in new or expanded transportation systems--whether roads, passenger or freight rail, buses or other modes--need to meet a cost-effectiveness test and need to be compared with alternatives where the analysis takes into account not only the economic costs and benefits of the alternatives, but also the environmental costs and benefits.
A: I oppose all efforts to restrict access to the ballot box, and have been appalled to see the changes taking place across the country, moving us away from increased citizen participation in our democracy. I also believe that greater voter participation is achieved by providing voters with a political process that belongs to all of us, not just the two political parties. Our electoral process should give us broad and good choices among candidates--choices that appeal not only to the few of us who stand on the left and right ends of the spectrum, but also to most of us who occupy the center. Voters can have the kind of choices that they want and deserve, and consensus at the end of the electoral process, if we have run-offs, open primaries, or ranked choice voting. Fewer and fewer Americans identify themselves as a Republic or Democrat these days and fewer people vote in party primaries.
A: I have always supported and will always protect the right of workers to form and to join unions, and I have witnessed the important contributions that unions have made for decades in scores of Maine communities. I will zealously guard against interference in the process through which workers are permitted to decide whether to organize or not.
My goal as Governor will be to create the conditions that will encourage investment and economic activity in our state, so that we can begin creating jobs again for all Maine workers, whether union or non-union. Our problem is not that we don't have clear rules for forming a union; our problem is that Maine's economy has been at a standstill for more than a decade
A: I absolutely support maintaining and strengthening the foundations for Social Security, Medicare, and MaineCare. I believe we should expand the access to MaineCare afforded by the ACA.
A: My priority is increasing net incomes across the board for all Maine people. We can do this by broad reforms in our tax structure (including reducing the burden of property taxes), by reforming health care, by investing in a serious and sustained way in education, our competitive advantages and our infrastructure, and by developing an umbrella Maine brand that can be an enduring economic driver even in challenging economic times. Picking out one element of tax reform as a symbolic exercise is no substitute for a vision, a plan and a strategy. A focused and strategic effort to leverage Maine's competitive advantages will generate jobs and increase incomes, and the members of Maine's unions ought to support a candidate for governor who has the experience, skills and independence to lead the way in that effort
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The above quotations are from 2014 Maine Gubernatorial debates and race coverage.
Click here for other excerpts from 2014 Maine Gubernatorial debates and race coverage. Click here for other excerpts by Eliot Cutler. Click here for other excerpts by other Governors.
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