As the political season heats up, I have a news flash for the candidates: I am not on the ballot in November. You are not running against me.

Some candidates think that criticizing me is the pathway to victory. If they want to attack me, that’s fine. I’m used to it. But they should at least be honest about it.

I had to call out Attorney General Janet Mills for using false information to attack me in one of her TV ads. Like a true politician and the cagey lawyer she is, she only changed one word in the ad. It’s still misleading.

Now young Jared Golden from Lewiston is calling me out in one of his TV ads. Golden is running for a seat in the United States Congress, yet he is leading the ad with comments about me.

News flash: I am not running for Congress, and he is not running for governor.

His ad doesn’t illustrate his vision of how Maine will be better off with him in the House of Representatives in Washington. Golden criticizes me, instead of telling the people of Maine what he will do in Congress.

Golden says the Marines taught him to always get the job done. I have no doubt that he made a fine Marine, and I thank him for his service to our country.

But in Augusta, Golden has not gotten the job done – not by a long shot. As assistant majority leader in the House of Representatives, Golden has been part of Democratic leadership team that has failed the Maine people over and over again.

The Democrats failed to protect the elderly from getting thrown out of their homes, and they failed to give tax reductions to hard-working Maine families by refusing to conform to federal tax reforms.

This same failed leadership team shut down state government because they put socialist ideology over the best interests of the Maine people.

I’m on my way out of office, so candidates can waste their time attacking me all they want. But that doesn’t tell the voters what they will do if sent to Washington or Augusta.

Good policy is good politics. As Governor, my focus has always been on doing what is right for the people of Maine. I don’t shy away from making the tough choices, and I will stack my record of achievement against those of the candidates attacking me any day. My list of accomplishments is long, and the Maine people are better for it.

This political season, I encourage all candidates to do what really matters: spend their money and their air time explaining how they can truly improve the lives of the Maine people they hope to represent.

Focus on the future, not the past.

Thank you for listening.

Paul LePage

Governor