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Maine Governor Makes Racially Charged Comments

Gov. Paul LePage made a racially charged comment in Bridgton on Wednesday night during one of his regular town hall meetings to promote his policy agenda.

By Randy Billings

Gov. Paul LePage made a racially charged comment in Bridgton on Wednesday night during one of his regular town hall meetings to promote his policy agenda.

About 30 minutes into the meeting, which was rebroadcast Thursday night, LePage responded to a question about how he was tackling substance abuse in Maine. He began talking about how much of the heroin is coming into Maine from out-of-state drug dealers.

"These are guys with the name D-Money, Smoothie, Shifty ... these types of guys ... they come from Connecticut and New York, they come up here, they sell their heroin, they go back home," LePage told a large crowd. "Incidentally, half the time they impregnate a young, white girl before they leave, which is a real sad thing because then we have another issue we have to deal with down the road."

Lance Dutson, a Republican operative who runs the Get Right Maine website, which seeks to restore a more moderate brand of Republicanism in Maine, described the remark in a blog post as "one of the most offensive statements yet from this Governor."

Peter Steele, the governor's communication director, said in a written statement Thursday night that LePage's remarks were not about race, but about the emotional toll drugs have on children.

"The governor is not making comments about race. Race is irrelevant," Steele said. "What is relevant is the cost to state taxpayers for welfare and the emotional costs for these kids who are born as a result of involvement with drug traffickers. His heart goes out to these kids because he had a difficult childhood, too. We need to stop the drug traffickers from coming into our state."

Maine Senate President Michael Thibodeau, R-Winterport, said he had neither heard the governor's comment or read any reports about them. He declined to provide a reaction when LePage's comments were read to him by a reporter.

(c)2016 the Portland Press Herald (Portland, Maine)

Caroline Cournoyer is GOVERNING's senior web editor.
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