“LePage told a local talk radio station that it’s possible he may not finish his second term, the Portland Press Herald reported Tuesday”.
Advertisement
When asked by WGME-TV hours later about whether he was considering resigning, he said, “I am looking at every option available to my family”.
“I am a lot of different things, and I have faults like everybody else, but a racist is like a word that I – I uh, I just can’t explain it”, he said.
Lowell state Representative Thomas Golden spoke with 22News by phone Tuesday, saying, “I’d like to know, obviously, where he gets his information”.
Controversial outbursts have marked LePage’s six years in office.
LePage has faced criticism from Democrats as well as his fellow Republicans for the R-rated voicemail he requested be made public. He apologized to the ME people, Gattine and his family, and to his own family.
LePage’s constituents were openly divided about the best path forward, with many saying he should resign. He said that heroin traffickers are mostly minorities while whites are largely responsible for methamphetamine crimes in Maine.
LePage stirred up controversy on Wednesday when he said that for the past seven months he had kept a binder in which he inserted photos of drug dealers arrested in the state.
The governor also apologized for a threatening voice message he left Rep.
Paul LePage has been roundly criticized by Republican lawmakers, who are debating the appropriate course of action.
‘I’m not shying away from what I called him, ‘ the governor added. “It is the absolute worst, most vile thing you can call a person”, LePage said.
“When I was called a racist, I just lost it. It just absolutely knocked me off my feet”.
If LePage should leave office, state Senate President Mike Thibodeau, a Republican, would become governor.
“If the people of Maine want me, I’ll do the job”, the Republican governor said at the time.
“Initially you are surprised you are getting that much attention from one of the 50 Governor’s of the United States because they have stuff to do”, he added. Drew Gattine, an “unacceptable” diatribe he’s now apologizing for. “I’ve spent my life helping black people and you little son-of-a-b– socialist c–sucker. You”.
LePage left a profane voicemail on Gattine’s cellphone last week because he thought Gattine had called him a racist, which Gattine denies.
“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’ve never met a person who’s been ideal and not made a mistake”, LePage said. “Sir, you are welcome to come look at them”, LePage responded.
Advertisement
“A half-hearted, partial apology on a radio show does not get remotely close to addressing the core issue: ME faces serious issues and its government is not functioning”, the state’s Democratic House leadership said in a statement on Tuesday. LePage later said he was joking.
