Maine governor leaves obscene tirade on lawmaker’s voicemail
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Maine Gov. Paul LePage attended a June 7 opioid abuse conference in Boston. LePage is being accused again of making racially insensitive comments, this time by saying photos he’s collected in a binder of drug dealers arrested in the state show more than 90 percent of them are black or Hispanic.
PORTLAND, Maine » Republican Gov. Paul LePage has unleashed an obscene tirade on a Democratic legislator, leaving him a voicemail message that said “I am after you” and telling reporters he wished it were 1825 so he could challenge the legislator to a duel and point a gun between his eyes.
LePage said in the Thursday morning voicemail that he wanted to talk with Rep. Drew Gattine of Westbrook about the legislator calling him a racist. Gattine has denied calling LePage a racist.
“I want you to prove that I’m a racist,” LePage said, adding that he had spent his life helping black people.
LePage was accused of making racially insensitive comments Wednesday at a town hall in North Berwick, where he said photos he had collected in a three-ring binder of drug dealers arrested in the state showed that more than 90 percent of them are black or Hispanic.
House and Senate Democrats and the Maine Democratic Party today questioned LePage’s capacity to lead. LePage’s office didn’t immediately comment.
After leaving the voicemail, LePage later invited reporters to the governor’s mansion, where he confirmed 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.”
Gattine, who is running for re-election, has clashed with the governor on how to address welfare reform, drug addiction and eligibility for developmental disabilities programs.
Gattine said he wasn’t concerned about his safety, but he called the voicemail a distraction and the latest of LePage’s personal vendettas against lawmakers. Gattine shared the voicemail’s audio with the Press Herald.
“The fact is he sits around fantasizing about having duels with legislators or obsessing over the race of people who are arrested for crimes,” Gattine said.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree said in a statement that it’s “embarrassing” that LePage is contributing to the “steady loss of civility in politics.”
LePage has a history of drawing attention for his blunt remarks. In January, Paul 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.”
LePage has compared his style to that of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, whom he supports, though he recently said Trump was his third choice for president after Chris Christie and Jeb Bush.
“I was Donald Trump before Donald Trump became popular, so I think I should support him since we’re one of the same cloth,” he told radio show host Howie Carr in February. LePage this week called the father of a dead Muslim U.S. Army captain a “con artist” for criticizing Trump.
37 responses to “Maine governor leaves obscene tirade on lawmaker’s voicemail”
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Not a big surprise that Governor LePage – someone who flies into public rages seemingly at random – is a Trump supporter. This is who Mr. Trump attracts. Violent psychotics and imbeciles.
There we go with another anti repub article. How about we put a headline re the CEO of the epi pen story front and center? Oh yeah, because it’s a democrat involved. Back to the article. “Gattine has denied calling LePage a racist. “The fact is he sits around fantasizing about having duels with legislators or obsessing over the race of people who are arrested for crimes,” Gattine said. I think those two statements contradict themselves. He denies, yet accuses him of being a racist in his own quote. But leave it to most demos to toss around the race card when things don’t go their way.
http://dailycaller.com/2016/08/24/company-gouging-price-of-epipens-is-a-clinton-foundation-donor-and-partner/
If you want the absolute truth, make sure to refer to The Daily Caller. Exactly.
This constant – non stop – childish whining about biased coverage is getting old. Really old. There’s lot of negative coverage about Republicans because there are a lot of negative events.
Grow up.
Klastri, divert your attention to over there —> Benghazi… email… HilLIARy… epipens!
seaborn – I’m not sure when the Republican Party became the party of whining cowards. They complain constantly about what they think is biased coverage (like Stephen Colbert said, the facts have a well known liberal bias) and they’ve become afraid of their own shadows. The cowardice is disgraceful for Americans.
You think your getting the absolute truth from your Daily Newspaper.
Really? I think if a democratic governor who was prone to manic tirades said he wished he could shoot a state legislator, it would be in the paper. Don’t believe in myths of political prejudice, dude.
It was in the news yesterday. What about that statement is contradictory? Gattine denied calling LePage a racist first, that is before LePage went off on his tirade. And please, you republicans claim media bias every time there is an article about a republican behaving badly.
Just to let you know that I’m not a republican. I voted for Clinton twice. Did not vote for Regan the first time. I vote for whoever I feel is best for our country, state, county and so forth. For the life of me I cannot understand how some people cannot see the media bias.
Fair enough, I think you and I vote pretty close to one another. Media bias, I think that area is pretty subjective, and really someone’s perception could change by the day.
Most newspapers gloss over negative activities by the demoncrats as for the repiblicans, they will exagerate and blow it out of proportion–make it a news for the next several days. If you can’t see the bias then you must be a Grubber subject–weak mind or no brain of its own.
South76 – That’s not true, of course. But live the fantasy!
And it’s Gruber. You’ve used that name so many times, I’d figure that you could at least spell it correctly.
Why people run for office escapes me. One must have hard shell to be able listen to the tirade flung at politicians?
WACKO-2. He is an angry man that could have problems, just look at his mass. Cardiac arrest in a suit.
Ahhhh, the eloquence, the prose, the diplomacy and comportment that only a republican governor could project.
Buahahahahahhahahhahahah!!!!!!
The term racist has been casually tossed about over the last couple of years, usually by one party in particular. I’m no fan of losing it – but I can understand a person’s frustration when called something like that by someone that offers no proof. Losing it isn’t professional and doesn’t represent. If you don’t notice how the liberals PANDER for votes at every opportunity – then blindly accuse any opponent of racism (or being psychotic or imbecilic). Just keep sending your money and support to the Clinton Foundation…they appreciate it very much.
You need to state that BOTH parties pander to the public. Remember Trump’s appeal the minorities to vote for him after having pretty much written them off. Now that h realizes that he does NEED them he has made a turnabout. Funny how one side always calls the other for something that they are guilty of themselves.
“drug dealers arrested in the state showed that more than 90 percent of them are black or Hispanic.”
I think that it depends what you do with this information.
If you use it to assume that a black person or Hispanic is “probably” a drug dealer, then you are being a racist.
You are not treating people as individuals.
(Not to mention having a profound misunderstanding of statistics).
If you use it to direct your resources in a productive manner, with an honest non-political attempt to reduce the problem, then you are simply being intelligent.
LePage said he had a three-ring binder containing photos of drug dealers arrested in the state showed more than 90 percent of them are black or Hispanic. He simply cited a fact, so why was it “racially insensitive?” Anytime Republicans use factual demographic data that show ethnic disparities, Democrats are quick to accuse them of being racists, bigots or other derogatory names that fit their political agendas. Democrats just cannot stand for anyone telling it as it is.
Because he made up that fact. He is unable to produce the imaginary binder.
He’s a Trump support. That explains a lot.
The title to this article is misleading (surprise!). If the voicemail was as reported, then it may have been inappropriate or uncivil, but “obscene”? C’mon, an angry rant does not make it obscene, even if it was in poor taste.
You need to listen to it. He calls the legislator a c@*%sucker several times. He’s totally out of control.
I do not understand how Democrats (liberals) find it offensive to call someone a c@*%sucker especially after saying it was “love” when advocating for gay marriage?
This is how you think? This is how your brain works? You get lower and more base every single day.
No, Klastri, it is how liberals think. This is how liberal brains work. They called perverted sex love and used it to justify same sex marriages. How much more base can liberals get?
Ronin006 – And it’s your job to use the police power of the state to control who can be in love with who.
You are definitely a Trump supporter.
Enjoy marinating in your hate while you’re stuck in 1950. The world has passed you by.
Klastri, people are free to love whomever they wish. I am not homophobic. As a matter of fact, my opposite-sex wife and I had lunch last week with three of our dearest friends who are gay. What I oppose is the liberal value that homosexual is somehow normal behavior and justification for same sex marriage, and then using the police power of the state to tell me I must accept it. If disagreeing with same sex marriage makes me homophobic or a bigot, they are labels I will proudly wear.
He should have been the Chumps v.p pick. Two numbskulls on a losing ticket. Pence is too nice of a guy who is in over his head. He tries to mimic the Chump but he’s too intelligent to pull it off.
If Pence wasn’t such a dinosaur on women’s health issues, I’d feel sorry from him.
Re: “collected in a three-ring binder of drug dealers arrested in the state showed that more than 90 percent of them are black or Hispanic.”
Doesn’t sound like a racially-insensitive statement to me.
Factual… and not “popular” with certain ethnic groups but not a racist statement.
It certainly wouldn’t have been called “Racially insensitive” if the same 90% were white.
If he hadn’t made up the whole thing – the binder doesn’t actually exist – folks may not be so concerned about his mental health.
It should not matter if LePage has any photos of drug dealers in a three-ring binder. What should matter is that drug dealers of various races and ethnicities are going in to Maine to push their drugs on Mainers like they have done successfully in neighboring New Hampshire, and to his credit, LePage is trying very hard to prevent it. It is unfortunate that some politicians are more concerned about racial insensitivity than they are about drugs being pushed onto Mainers.
You’re lying, of course. Like always.
No one – not one person – suggested that they are not concerned about the drug problem. No one. So you just made that up.
The issue is that the elected governor of Maine has bizarre, violent outbursts.
Klastri, there you go again with the lying accusation. You said “No one – not one person – suggested that they are not concerned about the drug problem. No one. So you just made that up.” Klastri, you lie. The reason LePage took particular aim at Rep Drew Gattine, D-Westbrook, the House chairman of the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee, is that Gattine harmed efforts to fight the state’s drug crisis by opposing legislation that would have made heroin possession a felony. Being soft on drugs is akin to not being too concerned about the drug problem.
There’s no hope for you. None. You should have realized by now that putting people in jail for longer and longer sentences for possession – instead of helping them with treatment – doesn’t work. But you cannot figure that out. That’s fine.
Klastri, you fail to understand two things. One is that there is a greater chance of drug users kicking their habits while locked up in a control environment like a prison or rehab facility than they are by being allowed to roam freely to obtain more drugs while supposedly being treated. The other is that making heroin possession a felony will deter many from using the drug. My comments are based on five years of experience as a member of an Alcohol and Drug Addiction Prevention Control Team (ADAPCT).