Gattine confirmed Wednesday that LePage apologized to him, but said the governor continued repeating the same talking points about drugs and race.
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“Comments I have expressed recently are unacceptable and I apologize sincerely for using such disrespectful language as your governor”, LePage said.
The president of Maine’s state Senate, also a Republican, on Wednesday called on LePage to “do the right thing” after more than a week in which he dominated headlines for the threatening message as well as for repeated assertions that minority people from out of state were primarily responsible for Maine’s heroin epidemic.
“The Republican senate caucus has clearly stated that we need an acceptable plan for corrective action before the determination of whether the Legislature should convene is made”, state Senate Majority Leader Michael Thibodeau said in a statement.
LePage has been facing heavy criticism from both parties following a profanity-laced voicemail that he sent to Drew Gattine, a Democratic state representative.
Outspoken Republican Gov. Paul LePage, amid political pressure and calls for his resignation, on Tuesday suggested he might be considering stepping aside but hours later seemed to reject the idea, tweeting, “The reports of my political demise are greatly exaggerated”.
LePage, speaking Tuesday on WVOM-FM radio, apologized for his tirade last week against Rep. “Also, I would like to express an apology to the Gattine family”.
Addressing a handful of reporters Wednesday, the Republican said he’s not an alcoholic or drug addict and doesn’t “have mental issues”.
“I will no longer speak to the press ever again after today”, said LePage “And I’m serious”.
Maine Republican Gov. Paul LePage says he and his family will seek “spiritual guidance” after he created a controversy by leaving an obscene rant on a Democratic lawmaker’s voicemail and said he’d like to point a gun between the lawmaker’s eyes. LePage said he was angry because Gattine called him a racist, something Gattine denied.
LePage blamed out-of-state blacks and Hispanics for fueling Maine’s heroin epidemic, and he has stood by those comments.
At a town hall in North Berwick on August 24, he said he keeps photos of drug dealers arrested in the state in a binder and said it shows 90 percent of them “are black and Hispanic people from Waterbury, Connecticut; the Bronx, and Brooklyn”.
“Smoothie, Shifty” impregnating young white girls and blamed a rise in infectious diseases on immigrants without providing data.
LePage has stood by his comments that started the controversy. House Republicans met Tuesday night and chose to stand by LePage.
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“The governor is not mentally able to serve and needs to resign”, House Majority Leader Jeff McCabe and Assistant Majority Leader Sara Gideon said in a joint statement late on Tuesday.
