Today, Governor Janet Mills delivered remarks at the National Governors’ Association annual meeting. The meeting, hosted by Mills in Portland this year, is an opportunity for the nation’s governors to collaborate on and problem-solve about the biggest issues facing individual states and the nation as a whole.
Gov. Mills’ commitment not only to using the annual meeting to work across the aisle to solve problems, but to actually leading it, is a welcome change from her predecessor, Paul LePage. When LePage was governor, he hated the NGA—refusing to pay the organization’s dues and decrying the collaborative meetings for providing him with “no value.” This is perhaps unsurprising for a governor known best for letting petty spats with Democrats and Republicans alike get in the way of progress.
“It’s truly wonderful to have Maine playing host to the nation’s governors and to have a leader like Governor Mills who is trying to use that meeting to make progress for our state and our country,” said Drew Gattine, Chair of the Maine Democratic Party. “After a vacuum of leadership in the Blaine House for eight years under LePage, Mainers deserved a governor capable of collaborating across the aisle and getting things done. That’s who Janet Mills is, and we can’t afford to take it for granted.”