Childhood & Early life
He was born on 9th October, 1948 in Lewiston, Maine. His mother, Theresa Gagnon and his father, Gerard LePage were both of French-Canadian decent. Thus, his mother tongue is French.
Throughout his childhood, Paul has struggled with poverty and an abusive father. In fact his first ever memory of his father is that of Gerard kicking him. His father was an alcoholic. He drank heavily on weekends and worked from Monday to Friday.
Paul had seventeen siblings. Many of his brothers died, he recalls having tripped over the dead body of his four year old brother one night. He loved his mother as she tried her best to keep the family going.
One unfaithful night, his father returned home in a drunken state, he beat up Paul, breaking his nose and jaw until a neighbor intervened. That night his father gave him 50 cents and told him to get his nose fixed at the local hospital.
Seizing the opportunity, he ran away from home with 50 cents in search of a better life, never to return to hell. He took up odd jobs such as washing dishes, helping truck drivers and paid for his own education.
As he grew bigger, he began working as a bartender, a short order cook and at a rubber company. He found education difficult as he wasn’t fluent in English since he has mainly studied French in his elementary school.
He was jointly adopted by the Collin and Myrick family, who saw to it that Paul attended schooling and maintained a disciplined life.
He managed to seek admission in Husson College in Bangor, with the aid of Olympia Snowe. His exam was taken in French to assess his reading and writing skills. He dedicated a lot of his time to his education and soon grasped the language.
He was made editor of the college newspaper as he soon became the best in English in his college. During this time he took keen interest in business and later went on to study finance and accounting and evendid his‘Masters of Business Administration’ under the University of Maine.
Continue Reading Below
Business
After completing his masters he worked at a private consultancy giving executive officer, financial officer and chief operating officer advice to startups and established companies, banks, aiding trustees and insurance companies mainly in Canada and Maine.
He then worked for his first wife’s lumber company in Canada for a period of 7 years, beginning from 1972. In 1979 he began working for Scott paper in Maine.
It was in the year 1996, when Paul was hired as general manager of Marden’s. He helped spread the business and Marden’s went from a meagre six to fifteen stores.
Around the same time he also established his own firm named ‘LePage & Kasevich Inc’. The company was built to assist in building new companies requiring financial and administrative advice.
City Councilor & Mayor
Paul established a sound career for himself, unlike his other siblings who couldn’t come out of their fear and poverty. He was made City Councilor of Waterville for two terms and the following third term was appointed as Mayor of Waterville in 2003.
He served Waterville as the mayor for eight years. During his office, he brought about major changes and improvement. He reduced annual taxes, supported local education strongly, he boosted the credit rating of the city and raised the city’s ‘Rainy Day Fund’ from one to ten million.
Governor of Maine: First Term
In 2009, Paul turned towards the nomination for Governor of Maine. He won the primary election with the “Three onlys” campaigning policy to assist him tell his story.
The “three onlys” referred to him being the only candidate with an inspirational life story. He is the only candidate to have been exceeding successful as a chief executive officer, and lastly the only candidate to run a thriving Maine business.
Votes rushed in for Paul at the gubernatorial elections, where he was supported by the local Tea Party activists and won Independent nominee, Cutler by 7500 votes.
Continue Reading Below
In 2011, he signed a bill to equate the education in Maine with the ‘Common Core’ education standards. However in 2013, he reverted the bill, stating fear of a federal takeover and interference in state education.
In 2013 he granted a sum of ten thousand dollars from the contingency fund to a Portland foundation taking initiative to teach English to immigrants. He also met Somali immigrants before he made the announcement.
Governor of Maine: Second Term
Paul registered for re-election and stood as incumbent governor for the 2014 gubernatorial elections. He won the elections over Democrat, Mike Michaud with 48.2 percent votes i.e. higher than his 2010’s 38 percent votes.
Paul occupied his seat once again after the election with his ‘pro-life’, anti-abortion, anti-homosexual marriages as well as opposing any common core system of education.
However, all went fine until he made a public announcement in January, 2016 that was considered racial by many. He stated that the main drug dealers in most parts of America were “blacks and Hispanics” with evidence from his binder.
After the controversial comment, a daily reporter informed LePage that his opponent Drew Gattine, a Democrat had titled Paul a racist. To which he made another ghastly mistake by verbally abusing Gattine over voicemail.
After the incident many democrats and a few republicans objected such unruly behavior on the part of a governor, with many suggesting he step down from his seat.
Fortunately, he was able to remain in office even after an impeachment was initiated in the State House of Representatives by Ben Chipman, as the impeachment process failed.
Major Works
As the Mayor of Waterville he contributed immensely to American politics. He raised the Rainy Day Fund, dropped taxes and build a city hall for celebrations.
Continue Reading Below
As the Governor of Maine, he initiated the biggest tax cut to ever be recorded in Maine. He bettered the state pension policy and financed medical projects. He has supported death penalty if a crime amounts to murder, especially in the case of children.
Awards & Achievements
Paul LePage received his first award in 2006 when he was titled ‘Mid-Maine Chamber of Commerce’s’ businessman of the year.
The following year, he was honored with the title of ‘Maine Business Champion’ by ‘National Federation of Independent Business’.
He also received a doctorate from Thomas College in 2012.
The ‘Maine Suicide Prevention Program’ awarded his efforts in 2003 in raising awareness about suicide.
Personal Life & Legacy
Paul LePage got married to Sharon Crabbe in 1971 and the couple welcomed their two daughters, Lisa and Lindsay, in 1975 and 1976. The marriage did not work for too long and Paul LePage and Sharon Crabbe divorced in 1980.
He got married for a second time in 1984 to Ann DeRosby. The couple has two children, Paul and Lauren. Ann works as a waitress in Boothbay to supplement the family income.
He also has an adopted son named Raymond, whom he adopted from Raymond’s biological father in Jamaica. However, there are no papers to support his adoption.
He and his wife bought a home in Boothbay for two hundred and fifteen thousand dollars and intend to reside there after Paul steps down from governorship.
Paul also underwent bariatric surgery to lose weight in the second week of January, 2017 as his doctor had warned him of a high risk of diabetes if the weight was not managed at the earliest.
