Maine news, sports, weather from Waterville Morning Sentinel

AMY CALDER: Saying goodbye to LePage

BY AMY CALDER, Columnist

It was a bit surreal, watching Mayor Paul LePage say good-bye to Waterville officials and residents at Tuesday night's City Council meeting.

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The next day, he was to be inaugurated Maine's governor.

I had covered LePage for many years, from the time he was a businessman attending Waterville Rotary Club meetings, to his election to the City Council and then eventually his bid for Maine governor.

As a reporter covering City Hall and watching the day-to-day happenings here in Waterville, I've had a good lesson in how someone goes from being a relatively unknown Maine businessman to securing the highest office in the state.

Over the years, I have interviewed LePage many, many times, both on the phone and in person.

From a reporter's perspective, there are a few things that stand out in my mind about LePage, who seemed often to draw either ire or admiration from city officials and residents.

He was always accessible: From the early years as a city councilor representing Ward 1 and later as mayor, he always took my calls and always returned calls, no matter how busy he was.

He was general manager of Marden's Surplus & Salvage, which has stores all over the state, and often was traveling from one to the other. If I called the Waterville Marden's in the early years (before cell phones were common) and asked for LePage and he wasn't there, an employee always told me which store or warehouse he was at so that I could call him there. My Rolodex has one whole page scribbled with numbers for LePage and for Marden's locations.

Eventually I called his car or cell phone; if he was not available, he always called back. As a reporter trying to get the news out to readers in a timely manner, his accessibility was important to me.

I typically was on a deadline and needed comments quickly; LePage understood the significance of the public's getting his perspective on city issues that affected them.

On election night in November before results had come in, a photographer and I drove to LePage's house unannounced, to ask for comments.

We had been at his election party at Champions and were getting nervous, as our deadline loomed and LePage had not yet appeared.

LePage's wife, Ann, welcomed us immediately into their home, where extended family had gathered, and LePage talked freely with us about the election.

On controversial issues, LePage never hesitated to speak out, when some others were more reserved. He typically had an opinion and stated it, sometimes in succinct, to-the-point language that often was colorful. Reporters never reject a colorful quote.

Quite frankly (two words he uses a lot), he could be quite blunt.

When I first met LePage at a Waterville Rotary Club meeting I covered long ago, I thought he was a bit intimidating. But I learned over the years that the person many perceived as gruff and bullish was actually just fervently expressing an opinion.

If I could identify one misconception people have about LePage (typically it is from those who do not know him), it is that he is a bully.

Those who know him best say he is kind-hearted. During his years in Waterville, he was particularly attentive to people with mental illnesses and those who are homeless. When he was a city councilor, he was co-chairman of the Mid-Maine Homeless Shelter here.

Having been homeless himself as a child, LePage understood intimately the issues surrounding homelessness. When he became mayor, he resigned his position at the shelter but remained committed to helping homeless people.

He also was a member of the Advisory Board for High Hopes Clubhouse, advocating for people with mental illnesses. He hired club members at Marden's under a program that allowed for a club staff member to fill in if he or she was unable to report to work on a certain day.

The philosophy behind High Hopes is that work helps a person to become more confident and develop an important sense of self-worth -- and ultimately become independent if possible.

LePage rarely missed meetings: He attended a lot of them -- council, budget, charter commission and others -- and I don't recall his being absent except maybe once or twice over the years, typically when he took a vacation and was out-of-state.

As surreal as it was seeing LePage leave Waterville Tuesday to become governor, it was even more so, attending his inauguration ceremony and celebration on Wednesday.

You never know who in your midst might rise to high office, but in retrospect, and taking into consideration the dogged way LePage pursues his passions, I am not at all surprised.

Amy Calder has been a Morning Sentinel reporter 23 years. Her column appears here Saturdays. She may be reached at acalder@centralmaine.com