Eliot is socially progressive, scally conservative and independent, just like Maine. Eliot doesnt have a party, an ideology or ties to special interests. Eliot is unbought, unbossed and ready to solve Maines problems with new ideas, not the same old politics. Michaud has taken an average of $1,000/day in special interest PAC money every day for his 12 years in Congress from Big Tobacco, the NRA, National Right to Life, Monsanto and other special interests. Michaud is tied to an ideology that failed to solve Maines problems. LePage is ideologically aligned with the most conservative elements of his party. His difcult temperament and strict adherence to the Tea Party ideology has prevented him from working with members of either party in the legislature to solve Maines problems. Eliot has started eight successful businesses, opened new markets for Maine products, created jobs for Maine people and managed complex organizations with billion-dollar budgets. Read Eliots book A State of Opportunity, to learn more about his plan to create jobs and opportunity for Maine people. Michaud has broken his promise to Maine people by failing to create jobs or bring economic development to our state. Maines economy has declined every year that he has served in Congress. Michaud has never started, built or managed an enterprise, nor has he managed large budgets. LePage has presided over the slowest growing economy in New England. Maine ranks third in GDP growth and has only recovered 58% of jobs lost since the Great Recession, while New England has recovered 124% of jobs. Maine is falling further behind under LePage. Eliot has a plan to cut property taxes by 20-40% for Maine homeowners, and a way to pay for it. Eliots commitment to comprehensive tax reform starts with property tax relief. Michaud opposes Eliots property tax relief plan and has failed to put forward his own tax reform proposal. LePage cut income taxes for wealthy Mainers and paid for it by sharply reducing state aid to towns and cities, resulting in increased property taxes. Eliot supports universal access to preventive health care for all Mainers and wants to reward providers for better performance, not more procedures. As governor, one of Eliots rst priorities would be legislation to insure 70,000 uninsured Mainers and create our own health exchange. Michaud voted for the Affordable Care Act as a Member of Congress. Now Michaud says he has concerns about the law, but he has offered no legislation to x problems within the law. LePage rejected $150 million in federal money and refused to set-up a Maine- based health exchange under the Affordable Care Act. LePage paid down the states hospital debt by reselling its liquor contract, a temporary x that now has Maine back in the red. LePage has no long-term plan to manage the hospital debt. Eliot has a plan to provide quality education for all children regardless of zip code or family income. Eliot has proposed to expand early childhood education, improve student performance and reward effective educators. Eliot has identied a way to pay for his education proposals. Michaud supports taking away education policy decisions from elected school boards and making them subject to collective bargaining with teachers unions. Michaud has failed to tell voters how he intends to pay for any of his education proposals. LePage has implemented a system of letter grades for schools. Not surprisingly, schools with the poorest grades struggle with the highest rates of poverty. Eliot has a 21-point plan to rebuild our roads and bridges and to expand broadband and cellular service. He wants to reduce waste in state infrastructure projects with smarter approaches like a dig once policy for transportation and communications improvements. Michaud has failed to produce a plan to x our roads and bridges. LePage has failed to take advantage of the lowest interest rates in modern history to x our infrastructure. LePage has failed to release bonds approved by voters. Issue AUTHORIZED BY THE CANDIDATE AND PAID FOR BY CUTLER FOR MAINE 2014 Gubernatorial Candidate Comparison P o l i t i c a l
I n d e p e n d e n c e J o b s
&
T h e
E c o n o m y T a x
R e f o r m H e a l t h
C a r e E d u c a t i o n I n f r a s t r u c t u r e Eliot helped Senator Ed Muskie write the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts. Eliot founded and built the second largest environmental and land use law rm in the world. Eliot understands a prosperous economy depends on the vigorous protection of our air and water quality, coastal resources and wildlife habitats. Michaud received an abysmal 55% score on environmental issues during his 20 years in the State Legislature. Michaud advocated for damming the Penobscot River and he voted against Right to Know legislation, against energy efciency standards, against wetlands protection and against GMO labeling. LePage put an oil industry lobbyist in charge of Maines Department of Environmental Protection and vetoed a bill giving Maine people the Right to Know if toxic chemicals are present in childrens food and beverage containers. Eliot has a comprehensive energy plan to increase efciency and lower energy costs by investing in alternatives like natural gas and renewables. Michaud has proposed a new government program to expand solar energy, but refuses to tell voters how he would pay for it. LePage drove away a $2.5 billion investment in offshore wind by one of the worlds largest energy companies. Eliot supports strong labeling laws and believes that Maine consumers have a Right to Know whether the food they consume contains GMOs or articial hormones. Michaud took thousands of dollars in contributions from Monsanto and voted for a Monsanto-backed bill that would have overturned Maines food labeling laws. LePage has vetoed bills to protect consumers, such as the phase out of toxic chemicals in childrens toys and to require BPA warnings on childrens food packaging. Eliot has a plan to cut red tape, reduce property taxes and bring down energy costs. Eliot supports the reforms that have made Maines system of workers compensation less litigious, less costly and more predictable, and he will veto any attempt to reverse those hard-won victories. Michaud received a 0% rating from the Chamber of Commerce on his workers compensation votes in the state legislature. Michaud sponsored failed legislation that would have cost businesses over $30 million annually in workers compensation premium increases. LePage has offered no substantive proposals to lower the cost of doing business in Maine, only publicity stunts and highly publicized red tape audits. Eliot has a plan to develop a permanent, iconic, umbrella Maine brand, and a way to pay for it. Michaud has no comprehensive plan for building the Maine brand. LePage has damaged the Maine brand with his repeated outbursts and ideologically driven policies. Eliot has a plan to move people from welfare to work. Eliots plan reduces fraud, xes the cliff effect, provides incentives for job training and requires former welfare recipients to pay back a small percentage of their income to invest in education and childcare. Michaud has proposed creating a costly new bureaucracy, the Ofce of Inspector General, to audit DHHS for welfare fraud at a cost of $578,000 to taxpayers. LePage has failed to x the problems with Maine's welfare system. Instead, he has scapegoated the poor and used this issue to drive a wedge between Maine people. Eliot is the only candidate for governor who has always been unequivocally pro-choice, regardless of ability to pay. Eliot has testied in support of buffer zones around health clinics that offer abortion services. Michaud has voted against codifying Roe v. Wade, against including abortion coverage in the Affordable Care Act and to prevent MaineCare recipients and women in the military from accessing abortion services. LePage has consistently opposed a womans right to choose. Eliot supports the 2nd Amendment and Maines strong tradition of responsible gun ownership, but he is the only candidate for governor who supports legislation requiring universal background checks on the sale and transfer of rearms. Michaud has taken $27,900 in contributions and has boasted his A lifetime rating from the NRA. Michaud is the only member of Maines delegation who has failed to co-sponsor or vote in favor of universal background checks. Michaud had openly touted his support from the NRA until he decided to run for governor. LePage is opposed to any gun safety legislation and has an A rating from the NRA. Eliot Cutler (I) Mike Michaud (D) Paul LePage (R) Issue AUTHORIZED BY THE CANDIDATE AND PAID FOR BY CUTLER FOR MAINE Learn more: eliotcutler.com/issues E n v i r o n m e n t E n e r g y F o o d
S a f e t y B u s i n e s s B r a n d i n g W e l f a r e