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Maine Governor Paul Lepage went after a Democratic legislator on Thursday morning, leaving him a voicemail saying “I am after you” and telling reporters he wished it were 1825 so he could challenge the lawmaker to a duel and point a gun between his eyes. Yes, this is an actual elected official.
LePage, a white Republican, was accused of making racially insensitive comments Wednesday at a town hall in North Berwick. He claimed that he had collected photos of drug dealers arrested in the state in a binder, and it showed that 90 percent of them “are black and Hispanic people from Waterbury, Connecticut; the Bronx; and Brooklyn.” Naturally that didn’t sit very well with most people. House and Senate Democrats, as well as the Maine Democratic Party, questioned LePage’s capacity to lead after the event.
LePage’s office didn’t immediately comment, but LePage seemed to get some ideas of his own. He became convinced that Rep. Drew Gattine of Westbrook, a Democrat, called him a racist. Gattine denies doing so, but LePage already decided to target him:
“Mr. Gattine, this is Gov. Paul Richard LePage. I would like to talk to you about your comments about my being a racist. You c*cksucker, I want to talk to you. I want you to prove that I’m a racist. I’ve spent by my life helping black people and, you little son of a b*tch socialist c*cksucker, I want you to record this and make it public because I am after you. Thank you.”
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Because this is exactly what we want our elected governors to be doing in their spare time. Totally reassuring that we’re in good hands.
Even crazier is that after he left the voicemail, LePage invited reporters to his mansion, confirming that he had left the message and said he wished he and Gattine could face off in a duel. “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,” LePage said, according to the Portland Press Herald. “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.”
It’s unclear whether there will be an investigation after a complaint about the voicemail was reported. Gattine, who is running for re-election, has clashed with LaPage on how to address welfare reform, drug addiction and eligibility for developmental disabilities programs. The legislator said he’s not concerned for his safety, but believes that LaPage’s voicemail is a distraction and that “The fact is he sits around fantasizing about having duels with legislators or obsessing over the race of people who are arrested for crimes.” Democratic U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree agreed, stating that it’s “embarrassing” that LePage is contributing to the “steady loss of civility in politics.”
LePage, in his second term as governor, has a history of drawing attention for his blunt remarks. In January, LePage said drug dealers with names like “D-Money, Smoothie, Shifty” are getting Maine’s white girls pregnant. He later apologized, saying he meant to say “Maine women” and not “white women.” Because that makes that statement okay. LePage supports Donald Trump, and has compared his political style to him. Yeah, we can believe that.
[H/T: Cosmopolitan]
