Morning Sentinel - Report on Jobs Faulted

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By Scott Monroe

Republican challenger Jason Levesque on Friday ratcheted up his criticism of Democratic U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud following the release of new unemployment data.

The nation last month shed a net total of 95,000 jobs and the unemployment rate stayed at 9.6 percent, according to the U.S. Labor Department.

Levesque, an Auburn businessman, called the latest jobless numbers "absurd" because the rate has stayed above 9 percent for 17 straight months. He blamed the stagnant economy on "job-killing" legislation Michaud has supported, such as cap-and-trade, the "failed" economic stimulus and health care reform.

"What they need to be doing is providing legislative and regulatory consistency in this country and state so the private sector can create jobs," Levesque said in an interview Friday. "Congressman Michaud believes that government creates jobs, not the private sector, and that's just plain wrong."

Michaud, 55, a former mill worker from East Millinocket, is seeking his fifth two-year term.

Levesque, 36, an Auburn businessman who owns the Argo Marketing Group, said he's not using the jobless numbers "as a political football," but "the facts are the facts" and the latest data "illustrates the point that the policies Congressman Michaud voted for and supported have failed."

In a statement on Friday, Michaud did not respond directly to Levesque's criticisms and instead said he was "frustrated as many Mainers are with the pace of the economic recovery."

"While the jobs report showed that the private sector has grown every month this year, far too many people are still out of work," Michaud. "Congress took an important step forward recently for our small businesses by passing a bill into law that will cut their taxes and provide them with access to affordable capital."

Michaud noted that the House also passed a bill he has pushed to crack down on China's currency manipulation, which could create between 700,000 and 1 million U.S. jobs and cut the trade deficit. Michaud also said legislative action against unfairly subsidized paper imports from China and Indonesia has led to the rehiring of 100 workers at the New Page mill in Rumford.

Levesque has been hammering away at Michaud over the economy for months now, but his latest critique comes less than a month before the November election.

His reaction to the jobs report appeared to be part of message being promoted nationwide by Republicans who are hoping to retake control of Congress from Democrats. In a statement issued Friday morning, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele touched on the very same points raised by Levesque, saying the job losses provide "further evidence that (the Democrats') agenda of more spending, higher taxes and bigger government is only fueling more economic uncertainty and making it harder to put Americans back to work."

Even so, it's unclear whether Levesque's latest strike will gain any new traction with voters, said Mark Brewer, a political science professor at the University of Maine at Orono.

"It's certainly understandable Levesque wants to seize on tying Michaud to the poorly performing economy and make his case based on that," Brewer said. "I think he's been trying to do that for the bulk of his campaign. Whether he'll have increased success, I'm not so sure. It's not an entirely negative (jobs) report; it's more of a mixed bag."

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