“I would like to talk to you about your comments about my being a racist, you c–“, LePage said in the voicemail, which was first published by the Portland Press Herald.
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However, he declined to say whether he would finish his term, which ends in 2018.
“I believe that, for me, what this is about is stopping the categorizing of people, the negativity towards entire groups of people, the suggestions of violence, it’s not a way to carry on the business of the state or the business of society”, Cynthia Phinney said. But, he said, if he has lost his ability to convince the ME people thats what we need and thats the type of people we need in Augusta, you know, maybe it is the time to move on..
“Every drug arrest we get the story, and the people, and when it comes to meth labs, they’re essentially all ME white people”, LePage said. Neil Levesque, executive director of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics said that success, coupled with Trump’s rise, could have emboldened LePage to double down on attack politics.
“I’m looking at all options”, the twice-elected Republican governor said while appearing on WVOM, a radio station in Bangor.
Speaking on WVOM-FM radio, LePage apologized for his tirade last week toward Rep. The Democratic National Committee has called upon the Republican presidential nominee to publicly denounce LePage’s comments. “I just need to see whether I’m the man to do it”. “Deep down in my heart I know I am not a racist”. “It’s a fact. What, do you want me to lie?”
After local media obtained the voicemail, the Maine Republican invited reporters to hear him out.
The governor said if we listen to the economic message of the investors, we can successfully modernize Maine’s forest-based economy. Drew Gattine and said it was unacceptable and totally my fault.. I want to talk to you. “We have to move Maine forward, whether it’s me or somebody else”.
Gattine denied calling the governor a racist.
“There’s some very upset people and rightfully so”, said Battle, who won’t be able to caucus Tuesday.
Previously, the governor complained about out-of-state drug dealers named “D-Money, Smoothie, Shifty” impregnating young white girls and blamed a rise in infectious diseases on immigrants without providing data.
“I don’t ask them to come to Maine and sell their poison, but they come”, he continued. He said he keeps photos of drug dealers arrested in the state in a binder, and it shows that 90 percent of them “are black and Hispanic people from Waterbury, Connecticut; the Bronx; and Brooklyn”.
He repeated claims he made last week when he told State House News Service that whites from ME are responsible for methamphetamine-related crime, while out-of-state blacks and Hispanics are responsible for the heroin trade.
“One moment he says he’s doing the solemn soul-searching necessary to decide whether he is fit to serve”, Alfond said.
“These figures are shocking”, Maine Attorney General Janet Mills said in March, noting that for the first time past year, overdoses from illegal drugs in the state exceeded those from pharmaceutical opioids.
“When it comes to meth labs, [arrests] are essentially all ME white people”.
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Later that month, he said convicted drug criminals should face “the guillotine”.
