Maine Governor goes off about 'black and Hispanic' drug dealers when asked about his negative 'rhetoric'
Maine Governor Paul LePage said at a town hall meeting on Wednesday night in North Berwick that he keeps a binder of photos of arrested drug dealers, and that "90-plus percent...are black and Hispanic people from Waterbury, Conn., the Bronx and Brooklyn," according to the Portland Press Herald.
The comment came after LePage was asked by businessman Andrew Ritchie about the "toxic environment" he has created and fueled with his comments on people of color, according to audio from the Portland Press Herald.
Here's our transcript of the exchange [emphasis ours]:
LePage's remarks at the town hall are the latest in a string of comments the governor has made that have been perceived as racist or inflammatory.
Earlier this year, LePage said that drug dealers with nicknames like "D-Money, Smoothie, and Shifty" come to Maine to sell drugs and "half the time they impregnate a young, white girl before they leave."
His comments drew strong criticism from activist groups, as well as from elected officials. Hillary Clinton's campaign called the remarks "offensive and hurtful" and claimed the governor was glossing over the drug epidemic by making racially-tinged statements.
On Thursday, LePage left an explicit voicemail for Democratic State Representative Drew Gattine challenging Gattine to "prove that I'm a racist." He also challenged Gattine to a duel, according to the Portland Press Herald.
"When a snot-nosed little guy from Westbrook calls me a racist, now I'd like him to come up here because, tell you right now, I wish it were 1825," LePage told a reporter from the Press Herald. "And we would have a duel, that's how angry I am, and I would not put my gun in the air, I guarantee you, I would not be (Alexander) Hamilton. I would point it right between his eyes, because he is a snot-nosed little runt and he has not done a damn thing since he's been in this Legislature to help move the state forward."