Maine Newspaper Apologizes For Giving America Paul LePage

Gattine also revealed that the governor called him again on his cellphone Friday and left a message challenging him to debate the issues at a town hall-style meeting next week in Westbrook.

In the message, LePage told Gattine, who he accused of calling him a racist, that “I want you to prove that I’m a racist”.

In a group interview with a half dozen reporters on Friday, the governor, who said he dealt with ethnic insults as a boy in Lewiston, apologized for his actions but claimed he was angry at being called a racist.

Gov. Paul LePage of ME has never exactly been a wallflower when it comes to courting controversy on the political stage, but has the LePage voicemail this week finally provided sufficient grounds for impeachment?

After storming out of the press conference, LePage called Gattine’s office.

PORTLAND, Maine — Maines bombastic Republican governor has built a reputation on his unfiltered comments, but his obscene tirade unleashed on a liberal lawmaker prompted Democratic lawmakers Friday to warn that the governor was coming unhinged and to call for a political intervention.

“[Gattine] called me a racist, and in my mind, there is not a word in the English dictionary more offensive or hurtful for somebody that’s worked with minorities, with people who are disadvantaged my whole life”. I want to talk to you, I want you to prove that I’m a racist.

“You … I need you to, just friggin. But, of course, I was hit very hard from the stage, and you know it’s just one of those things – but, no, I don’t regret anything”. LePage then told reporters he wished he could challenge Gattine to a duel and point a gun “right between his eyes”.

Gattine later denied calling the governor a racist but the damage was done as LePage stormed out and apparently called the Westbrook lawmaker. “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”.

Rep. Gattine said he reached out to Westbrook’s police chief and Maine Attorney General Janet Mills about whether or not LePage’s threats were criminal. “My first thought after I listened, is I’m really glad I’m not in the room. But I am calling him out to stop giving inflammatory sound bites and get to work to end the crisis that is killing Mainers, destroying families and creating drug-addicted babies, all so the drug dealers Gattine is protecting can make a profit”.

Assistant House Majority Leader Sara Gideon called for LePage to resign Friday. “I do not apologize to Mr. Gattine”, LePage said. She called on her colleagues across the aisle to help. A police official said the complaint came from someone who didnt live in the city. Its unclear if there will be an investigation.

Gattine has differed with the governor on how to address welfare reform, drug addiction and eligibility for developmental disabilities programs. But LePage said Friday that he didnt know Gattine “from a hole in the wall” until Thursday. “This alarming disparity in arrests raises significant concerns that ME law enforcement is participating in unconstitutional racial profiling”, the ACLU’s ME executive director, Alison Beyea, said in a press statement, citing studies that black and white people use and sell drugs at similar rates.