Governor LePage said on a ME talk radio show Tuesday that he is considering resignation.
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In the midst of what could be the state’s biggest political controversy Governor LePage addresses the people of ME in a phone interview with WVOM’s George Hale and Ric Tyler Tuesday morning.
LePage canceled a town hall Tuesday in Westbrook, the hometown of that state legislator, Drew Gattine, and is meeting with Republican legislators Tuesday night, fueling speculation that a resignation could come soon.
“Some things I’ve been asked to do are beyond my ability”, LePage said without elaborating.
LePage left the voicemail after being told that Gattine had called him a racist, something Gattine denies, although he did criticize LePage for using racially-loaded language when speaking about Maine’s heroin addiction and opioid abuse problems, which LePage attributes the proliferation of to out-of-state black and Latino men who come to ME to sell drugs. “I think meeting ace-to-face we might be able to resolve things – if we can’t, we can’t, then we move on”. I’m not going to say that I’m not going to finish it.
But yesterday, he went further, saying it’s a “fact” they came from the two MA cities, as well as NY and CT.
“I apologize to the Maine people, to Gattine’s family and most of all to my family, and we will take action”, LePage said.
LePage has blamed liberals for inserting race into his comments and distorting his meaning.
LePage said he intends to make amends, and he is scheduled to meet with Gattine on Wednesday morning in Augusta.
Republican Senate President Mike Thibodeau (THIH’-buh-doh) says LePage should take “corrective action” for his “unacceptable” conduct. Gattine, who represents a suburban Portland district, criticized LePage’s comments for being racially charged.
“When I was called a racist, I just lost it”.
LePage has since become more apologetic, but the state GOP has had enough of its, er, colorful leader. It’s about making sure we can move the state forward. Drew Gattine, for the voicemail where the governor casually asserted last week that Gattine was a “son-of-a-bitch socialist cocksucker”.
LePage has become a massive headache for his fellow Republicans in the state, and they’re trying to figure out how to rein him in.
The conflicting narratives added to the confusion on the day that a LePage radio interview raised the possibility that he was considering resignation after a series of controversies over the past week – an idea that the governor later appeared to dismiss in a tweet.
Soon after he leaves a state lawmaker a threatening, expletive-laden voicemail after he believes the man called him racist.
“When I was called a racist, I just lost it”, LePage said during his Tuesday radio interview. “Deep down in my heart I know I am not a racist”.
In January, the governor first came under fire for remarks he made at a town hall regarding drug trafficking in and out of the state. It was really totally, totally unnecessary, and I need to do something about it. “It’s one thing to have one part behind [you], it’s another thing not to have any party behind you”.
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There are signs of exasperation with LePage’s conduct among Maine Republicans and Democrats alike.
