Republican Governor of Maine Paul LePage responded to Democratic State Rep. Drew Gattine’s accusation of racism by leaving Gattine an expletive-laden voicemail that contained a homophobic slur. But LePage’s insults were not simply meant for Gattine – the Republican governor specifically told the Democratic representative to release the voicemail to the public.
“Mr. Gattine, this is Gov. Paul Richard LePage. I would like to talk to you about your comments about my being a racist, you cock-sucker. I want to talk to you. I want you to prove that I’m a racist. I’ve spent my life helping black people and you little son of a bitch, socialist cock-sucker. You… I need you to… Just friggin’. I want you to record this and make it public because I am after you. Thank you.”
Gattine denies calling LePage a racist, but many others have done so. In January, Governor LePage made racially charged comments blaming minorities for the state’s heroin epidemic. Maine is 95% white and less than 1% Hispanic or black. LePage also blamed black and Hispanic men for impregnating white women.
LePage also said that he keeps a three-ring binder filled with mugshots of drug dealers, and that over 90% of those mugshots are of black and Hispanic men. Again, less than 1% of the population in Maine is black or Hispanic. LePage has refused to actually show his allegedly huge binder to the press. The American Civil Liberties Union filed a Freedom of Access Act request for the records of arrests in Maine, as it would be incredibly problematic if LePage’s statistic is true.
“According to the governor, Maine police are nine times more likely to arrest people of color for selling drugs than white people, even though we know white people are just as likely to commit drug offenses, said Executive Director of Maine ACLU Alison Beyea. “This alarming disparity in arrests raises significant concerns that Maine law enforcement is participating in unconstitutional racial profiling.”
LePage denies that racial profiling is a problem in Maine, but he has not backed down from his drug arrest statistic. He defended his racism but calling it a matter of fact, not race.
“Look, a bad guy is a bad guy, I don’t care what color it is. When you go to war, if you know the enemy, the enemy dresses in red and you dress in blue, you shoot at red, don’t you? You shoot at the enemy. You try to identify the enemy. And the enemy right now, the overwhelming majority right now coming in are people of color or people of Hispanic origin. I can’t help that. I just can’t help it. Those are the facts.”
LePage did apologize for one thing though – he claimed that he meant to say that “Maine women” rather than just “white women” are being impregnated by drug-dealing minorities.
The Maine Republican does not intend on apologizing for his attack on Drew Gattine. He even expanded on his comments in an interview with the Portland Press Herald, saying that he would like to murder Gattine:
“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. 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 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.”
Paul LePage is an enthusiastic Donald Trump supporter.
