Augusta - Democratic leaders have been skeptical of the governor's proposal to repay Maine's hospital debt using future state liquor revenue. Democratic leaders have introduced their own plan on how to spend Maine's future liquor profits.
Democratic leaders have maintained they're fully committed to repaying Maine's hospitals.
But a video has surfaced of Maine Senate President Justin Alfond that casts some doubt on that.
The video was taken in 2008 when Alfond was a state senate candidate and was taking part in a televised debate.
He was asked how he would fill the $800 million budget hole the state faced at the time. In the video a younger Alfond suggested that one option was to stop paying hospitals. "I think we might have to stop paying the hospitals," Alfond says in the video. "There's a $102 million that we owe the hospitals. We would continue to make payments in the future but we've got an $800 million gorilla looking at us."
Wednesday, Alfond said the statements were five years old and he was only answering a question with a hypothetical response. "I was a candidate. Never stepped foot into the state Senate. I was talking about possibilities that we could put on the table, so again the Republicans are being incredibly inaccurate," Alfond said.
As a member of the Maine State Senate, Alfond voted in favor of one of the largest state debt payments to hospitals in Maine history. A Democratic spokesperson also pointed out that under Democratic leadership $3.2 billion has been paid to hospitals since 2002.
House Republican Assistant Minority Leader Alex Willette said the video shows where Democrats stand on paying the state's bills. "I thought the most concerning part was the Democrats have never really thought paying their debts is a priority," Willette said. "Even back then he just said nonchalantly maybe we won't be able to pay the hospitals."
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