AUGUSTA — Local lawmakers had a mixed reaction to Gov. Paul LePage’s State of the State address that focused on some policy initiatives that are currently under debate and several others that remain light on specifics.

The governor spent much of his approximately 50-minute speech focusing on his proposed cuts to the Department of Health Human Services. LePage said the proposal, which is sharply opposed by Democrats, is difficult but necessary.

Local Republicans agreed.

Rep. Dale Crafts, R-Lisbon Falls, said the governor was “right on track.”

“We have our challenges with the welfare,” Crafts said. “But I think he’s right when he says we have to get closer the national average (in terms of eligibility standards.”

Crafts added, “That’s a huge challenge. Certainly have to get this body to come together and that’s a tough one.”

The governor urged lawmakers to end the “gridlock” on his DHHS proposal, but local Democrats said the governor was still peddling rhetoric that oversimplified the problem the state faces.

In fact, some said, the governor’s proposed Medicaid cuts also threatened the one initiative that he and the Democrats can unite behind: Domestic violence.

LePage spoke passionately about the need for lawmakers to end domestic violence. He drew upon his own experience while growing up in an impoverished home with an abusive father.

“I am sad to say that my childhood memories are ravaged with domestic violence,” he said.

The governor said the Legislature needed to end abuse at home. Rep. Peggy Rotundo, D-Lewiston, said she was heartened by the governor’s comments. However, she said, his DHHS proposal could undercut his efforts to end domestic violence because the budget eliminates programs that help people in need.

“One of the things I was painfully aware of is that many of the programs he’s proposed to cut have a direct impact on families that have experienced abuse,” Rotundo said. “So there’s an inconsistency there.”

Rep. Teresea Hayes, D-Buckfield, hoped the governor’s domestic violence proposal wouldn’t focus too heavily on punishment.

“I’m just hoping it’s not all focused on punishment because by the time we get to punishment we have a victim,” Hayes said. “The whole key around domestic violence is prevention.”

Republicans gave the governor high marks for his comments about education. Some of LePage’s initiatives have yet to be unveiled. However, the governor hinted that legislation that would create teacher performance standards was forthcoming.

Sen. Garrett Mason, R-Lisbon Falls, said LePage “nailed it out of the park” with his remarks about education.

“Everything we need to do here has to center around the child,” said Mason, who earned a shout-out from the governor for sponsoring last year’s bill that created a charter school law in Maine. “We’re going to focus every ounce of policy, and everything the department does, on the child.”

Mason said that teacher performance was a smart policy.

“Any job in this country, any profession is measured for performance and I think it’s a good thing,” Mason said. “I think that teachers will relish the chance to measure their performance against the year before.”

He added, “We want our teachers to teach effectively and I think our teachers want to do that, too.”

Rep. Richard Wagner, D-Lewiston, said he, too, supported teacher performance, but that the governor may not realize that establishing a fair evaluation standard is more difficult than it seems.

Hayes agreed. She added that it was important to realize that most teachers are trying to improve on their own.

“I think most teachers are lifelong learners,” Hayes said.

LePage also raised the state’s tax burden, adding that Mainers and lawmakers should be “outraged” that Maine has a higher tax rate than its neighbors, New Hampshire and Massachusetts, which the LePage called “Taxachusetts.”

Rep. Lance Harvell, R-Farmington, said the governor was correct in seeking to lower the state’s tax burden.

“You look around the country and there are veritable revolutions being led, and they’re being led at the state level,” Harvell said. “Washington has gridlocked, they can’t get anything done … this governor, and other governors, these guys are all stepping up to the plate.”

The governor discussed energy, but offered few details beyond what he’s discussed in recent public appearances. However, LePage did highlight the state’s need to tap its tidal and hydro power potential.

Harvell agreed.

“You look at how this state was built and it was built on hydro power,” he said.

The governor discussed his proposal to merge the state’s Agriculture and Conservation departments. Rep. Justin Timberlake, R-Turner, said there had been reluctance among some farmers about the proposal. However, he said, LePage was smart to fold the two bureaucracies into one agency.

“If you look at the dynamics of the two departments … there’s a real advantage to merge the two together,” Timberlake said. “They’re both quite similar. They’re both stewards of the land.”

Timberlake said merging the agencies would also mirror the bureaucracy at the federal level.

Overall, Democrats said they were pleased with the governor’s tone — a focus they highlighted during a preemptive press conference on Monday.

Rep. Mike Carey, D-Lewiston, said the governor’s speech made him hopeful that LePage realized that “the work that can done is the work we do together.”

Nonetheless, Carey said, there elements of the speech that were off-putting.

“We also heard some of the tired rhetoric around out-of-state solutions that don’t really work for Maine,” he said. “But we really need to do is look beyond the rhetoric and find solutions that are going to help Mainers.”

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