Maine governor leaves obscene voicemail on lawmaker's phone


PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Republican Gov. Paul LePage unleashed an obscene tirade on a Democratic legislator, leaving him a voicemail message that said "I am after you" and telling reporters he wished it were 1825 so he could challenge the lawmaker to a duel and point a gun between his eyes.

The governor later apologized to "the people of Maine" but not to the legislator.

LePage said in the Thursday voicemail that he wanted to talk with Rep. Drew Gattine of Westbrook about the legislator calling him a racist. Gattine has denied calling LePage a racist.

"I want you to prove that I'm a racist," LePage said, adding that he had spent his life helping black people and calling Gattine a vulgar name related to oral sex. "I want you to record this and make it public because I am after you."

LePage, who's white, was accused of making racially insensitive comments Wednesday at a town hall in North Berwick, where he said photos he's collected in a binder of drug dealers arrested in the state showed that 90 percent of them "are black and Hispanic people from Waterbury, Connecticut; the Bronx; and Brooklyn." He displayed the binder at a Friday news conference.

The governor issued a public apology to "the people of Maine" today for the vulgarity but said he was right to defend himself against Gattine because he considers being called a racist worse than any insult.