“For five years now, the Republican has hurled crude insults, heaped abuse on the media and offended many with his brass-knuckle tactics and off-the-cuff remarks”. LePage, in an interview with radio station WVOM in Bangor, noted that a contingent of lawmakers in the House could vote on initiating impeachment proceedings as soon as Thursday as punishment for his conduct in office.
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The order would set up a special investigative committee to examine grievances against the governor, and to make a recommendation for or against impeachment based on its finding.
Although it is unrelated to the impeachment order, Gov. Paul LePage is also under fire for some unusual comments he made during a January 6 town hall meeting.
LePage recently complained that “guys by the name D-Money, Smoothie, Shifty” bring drugs to ME and “half the time they impregnate a young, white girl before they leave”.
Eves, a Democrat from North Berwick, has said that the governor’s actions constituted blackmail, and he’s suing the governor in U.S. District Court.
LePage has said he did nothing wrong, and that the attacks on him amount to a “witch hunt”. Some lawmakers insist the Legislature must take some sort of action, whether its censure or impeachment, to punish LePage for using his influence to pressure a charter school operator into rescinding a job offer to House Speaker Mark Eves, a Democrat.
He apologized for the comment after it received criticism.
“While some members of the Legislature were obsessing for months over this foolishness, I have been working on the real issues that matter to the Maine people”, LePage said. In 2011, he told the NAACP to “kiss my butt” after turning down an invitation to a Martin Luther King Day celebration.
The Republican governor’s comments have garnered widespread condemnation, even from Democratic presidential candidate Hilary Clinton’s campaign, which said in an emailed statement to The Portland Press Herald, “LePage’s racist rants sadly distract from efforts to address one of our nation’s most pressing problems”.
LePage said the lottery takes advantage of people who are “looking for a silver bullet” as a way out of poverty.
The proposal is due to be debated on the House floor on Thursday.
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The proposed measure at hand would initiate a process that may or may not lead to the removal of LePage from office.
