BANGOR, Maine – Former Gov. Paul LePage joined Maine’s Morning News on WVOM Wednesday morning, telling host Ric Tyler that Maine’s welfare fraud problem is “even worse” than he previously believed.
https://www.wvomfm.com/episode/rewind-05-20-paul-lepage-for-congress-945
LePage, a Republican candidate for Congress and one of Maine’s most consequential conservative political figures in recent history, served two terms as governor from 2011 to 2019. During his time in the Blaine House, LePage made welfare reform, Medicaid oversight, tax cuts, and fiscal restraint central pieces of his administration.
Those same issues were front and center again Wednesday.
LePage said he met with Vice President JD Vance during Vance’s recent visit to Bangor, where fraud and government accountability were central themes.
“He’s just a great guy,” LePage said of Vance.
LePage said Vance’s message echoed warnings he raised years ago as governor about Maine’s handling of taxpayer-funded programs.
“We gave the Attorney General at the time, the current governor, about 180 alleged fraud cases, and she refused to prosecute any of them,” LePage said.
LePage said Gateway was among those cases.
He also accused Mills of blocking funding that would have allowed his administration to hire attorneys to pursue fraud cases, saying she urged Democratic lawmakers to vote against the request.
The former governor’s criticism comes as Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services, Medicaid-funded services, nonprofit contractors, and refugee-serving organizations have come under renewed scrutiny following reporting by The Maine Wire and national outlets, like NewsNation.
LePage praised The Maine Wire for its work, saying Editor-in-Chief Steve Robinson and his team have done “a marvelous job” exposing problems that legacy media long ignored.
He said the concerns are not limited to one agency or one provider.
“The state auditor should be auditing the Department of Health and Human Services,” LePage said, specifically pointing to group homes and autism-related services as areas where he believes taxpayer money is disappearing.
LePage also warned that fraud is not the only crisis facing Maine. He raised concerns about illegal marijuana grow operations, human trafficking, and cartel activity, saying properties tied to those operations should be seized, cleaned up, and returned to the market as affordable housing.
The comments fit with LePage’s long-standing political brand. As governor, he frequently clashed with Democrats, the media, and the state bureaucracy while arguing that Augusta had become too comfortable spending taxpayer money without demanding results. His supporters credit him with forcing hard conversations about welfare abuse, debt, taxes, energy costs, and state finances. His critics have long accused him of being combative, but LePage has remained a dominant voice among Maine Republicans.
Asked what the next governor should do first to get Maine back on track, LePage did not hesitate.
“Go to DHHS and clean house,” he said.
LePage said he warned before leaving office that expanding Medicaid would place new strain on Maine’s rural hospitals and return the state to fiscal trouble. He argued Wednesday that those warnings have proven accurate.
LePage also used the interview to call for structural changes in state government. He said Maine should consider creating a lieutenant governor position, with the governor and lieutenant governor running as a ticket. He also said Maine should change how the attorney general is selected, arguing the position should either be elected statewide or appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Legislature.
Those reforms, LePage argued, would make state government more accountable to voters.
LePage is now seeking to return to elected office as a Republican candidate for Congress, positioning himself as a fiscal watchdog and a counterweight to what he described as years of failed Democratic leadership in Augusta.
Maine wake up call, hello hello
Pray that LePage wins his race .
Maine needs a victory .