2018 ME Governor's race: on Civil Rights

Betsy Sweet: Equal pay for women; plus commission on racial justice

• Support Equal Pay for Equal Work for women and minorities.
• Establish a Commission on Racial Justice and Equality to lead state government in analyzing policies, practices and procedures that result in income, health care, aspirational disparities. then institute the changes necessary for correction.
• Support the Civil Rights Team Project in our schools to take on the issues of fairness, respect, bullying and harassment in their day-to-day lives.

Paul LePage: Confederate monuments are about a war for land

"What was the war? If you really truly read and study the Civil War, it was turned into a battle for the slaves, but initially--7,600 Mainers fought for the Confederacy," LePage said in an interview with Maine radio station WVOM. "And they fought because, as farmers, they were concerned about their land. Their property. It was a property rights issue as it began. The President really made it about slavery to a great degree."

Slaves were considered property up to and during the Civil War. LePage also said that removing confederate monuments could lead to the removal of history books and monuments to the Oklahoma City bombing and the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

Two Civil War historians disputed LePage's assertions, noting that the Civil War "was rooted in racial slavery" where "slaves were the property at issue," not land.

Janet Mills: Decries proposal to eliminate Civil Rights Funding