Maine Governor Paul LePage called up a political opponent who allegedly claimed he was racist, and then dared him to go public with an explicit voicemail message.
“I would like to talk to you about your comments about my being a racist, you c—-sucker,” Mr. LePage said in a message to Gattine. “I want to talk to you. I want you to prove that I’m a racist. I spent my life helping black people and you little son of a bitch, socialist c—-sucker — I want you to make this public because I am after you.”
The governor’s comments came after Democrat Rep. Drew Gattine allegedly called him a racist, the Portland Herald reported Friday. Mr. Gattine denies the charges.
Mr. LePage came under fire from lawmakers on Wednesday after saying that 90 percent of the mugshots in a binder he has of drug dealers are black and Hispanic men from Waterbury, Connecticut, the Bronx, and Brooklyn.
“When a snot-nosed little guy from Westbrook calls me a racist, now I’d like him to come up here because, tell you right now, I wish it were 1825,” Mr. LePage told the newspaper. “And we would have a duel, that’s how angry I am, and I would not put my gun in the air, I guarantee you, I would not be [Alexander] Hamilton. I would point it right between his eyes, because he is a snot-nosed little runt and he has not done a damn thing since he’s been in this Legislature to help move the state forward.”
The governor released a statement Friday apologizing to the people of Maine, but said he makes “no apology for trying to end the drug epidemic that is ravaging our state.”
“[My comment on dueling] was simply a metaphor and I meant no physical harm to Gattine. But I am calling him out to stop giving inflammatory sound bites and get to work to end this crisis that is killing Mainers, destroying families and creating drug-addicted babies, all so the drug dealers Gattine is protecting can make a profit,” the governor wrote.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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