AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Republican Gov. Paul LePage pledged Wednesday to use his line-item veto power to strike out "several hundred" items in the $6.7 billion budget that lawmakers sent to his desk just after midnight, blasting Democrats and Republicans alike for securing money in the spending plan for their own pet projects instead of funding his priorities. Holding a pink rubber pen and standing in front a Christmas tree decorated with ornaments featuring the faces of lawmakers who secured funding for what he called "piggy projects," LePage criticized lawmakers for negotiating a budget deal behind closed doors and called on residents to "demand better of their elected officials." LePage's line-item veto of several items in the supplemental budget in 2012 was the first time that a Maine governor had exercised that power since voters approved a constitutional amendment authorizing it in 1995.