Democratic Congressman Mike Michaud leaves office next month after a dozen years in Washington - the consequence of his unsuccessful run for governor in Maine.
He spoke with MPBN’s Mal Leary about the campaign, his career in politics - and about his future plans.
Mike Michaud has a long political resume, serving in the Maine House of Representatives and the state Senate, including a stint as its president.
He won a hard-fought primary and general election campaign in 2002 to serve as Maine’s 2md District representative. He gave up his paper-making job in Millinocket and his part-time job as a state senator for the hyper-politicized world that is the nation’s capital.
"You know, the 12 years I spent in Congress, you know, I realized that Maine has been left behind in so many ways," Michaud says.
Michaud admits he may have been a bit unprepared for the reality of Washington, and how the actions by Congress didn't always match the rhetoric of its members.
"I was a little naive when I first went to Congress," he says. "I always thought veterans were taken care of. Whether you were a Republican or Democrat, you know, politicians always talk about taking care of veterans. That only was true until it came time to provide the funding to actually take care of them."
Michaud says throughout his time in Congress he worked to improve care for veterans, working his way up to become ranking member on the Veterans Affairs Committee. Among his accomplishments, he cites outreach centers across the state that have helped veterans get the care they deserve, and a measure he advocated that allows vets to be treated locally instead of driving hours to get to the Togus VA facility in Augusta.
He says the VA scandal over care at hospitals in other areas of the country was a disappointment, but he says legislation that he helped draft in the House Veterans Affairs Committee will address some of those problems.
"Under the legislation that we passed last August we have accountability and performance metrics," he says. "It didn’t go as far as I wanted it to go."
Michaud says his decision to leave Congress and run for governor was a difficult one. He says he ran because he felt he had proposals that could improve the economy and make Maine a better place to live.
Michaud says he made the right decision to run, but attributes his loss to the fact that some of his votes went to independent Eliot Cutler in the three-way race - and to what he believes was LePage's skillful hammering on social issues, including welfare reform, that voters care about.
"Another issue that came up two weeks before the election was the whole Ebola issue, and the governor played that like a fiddle," Michaud says. "You know, the governor is an excellent politician, and he knows the issues that really resonate with the voters - and he doesn’t care what he says, whether it is accurate or not. So, I don’t regret running for governor at all."
And Michaud says part of the reason he lost was because the news media failed to focus on issues, focusing instead on the latest polls and disputes over televised debates. He recalls the throng of reporters that showed up to hear LePage’s threat to boycott all debates if Michaud attended them.
"Every media person was there. Debating about the debates, versus debating about the issues," he says.
And Michaud says his announcement early in the campaign that he is gay certainly had an impact. But he does not think it was a deciding factor.
"I think it was a wash," he says. "You know, it probably had some effect with some folks, and I think it had some positive effects with other folks."
Michaud says there's no job lined up after he leaves office next month, but says he is scheduled to give several speeches to veteran groups around the country. As for politics, he is not ruling anything out.
"All options are on the table," he says. "I learned a long time ago you never close the door, or pretty much close the door, on anything."
In the meantime, Michaud says he plans to enjoy the holidays with family and friends.
