Paul LePage Voicemail: Profanity-Laced Challenge To Maine Lawmaker, ‘Prove That I’m A Racist’ [Audio]

The Republican governor of Maine, Paul LePage, is making waves nationwide for a threatening, profanity-laced voicemail left for a Democratic member of the state’s House of Representatives, Drew Gattine. The Paul LePage voicemail was left for Gattine after he had asked the governor to “respond” to observers who have called him “racist,” as reported by TPM.

Audio of the voicemail left for Gattine by LePage has been uploaded to YouTube by World News & Talkshow.

“I would like to talk to you about your comments about my being a racist, you ****sucker,” the LePage voicemail begins.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G56aIx5fg7o

“I want to talk to you,” the voicemail continues. “You want. I want you to prove that I’m a racist. I’ve spent my life helping black people and you little son-of-a-*****, socialist ****sucker. You… I need you to, just friggin’, I want you to record this and make it public, because I am after you. Thank you.”

LePage’s voicemail comments are coming to light days after the Maine governor held a town hall meeting in North Berwick. Video of the meeting shows LePage seated in front a largely empty auditorium explaining that he had assembled a three-ringed binder with photographs of convicted drug offenders in the state.

“The fact of the matter is sir, I am not a racist,” Paul LePage can be heard at the North Berwick town hall responding to a citizen who questioned him about previous comments he has made with regard to “black drug dealers” in the northeastern U.S. state.

LePage was reported to explain that since he made his much-publicized comments with regard to the race of drug offenders in Maine, he has started collecting a binder of their photos to track the issue.

The Maine governor stated that “90 percent” of the photographs of drug offenders he has assembled are minorities.

“I thought it was excellent.” North Berwick resident Barry Stevinson was quoted by WMTW with regard to Paul LePage’s comments.

Mr. Stevinson stated that he would travel as far as the moon to see the governor speak.

An unidentified woman expressed disappointment that Paul LePage did not “step up to the plate” and repudiate comments Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has made with regard to Maine citizens with Somali heritage.

At an early August rally in Portland, comments made by Donald Trump were interpreted as a smear against Somali-Americans living in Maine.

“We’ve just seen many, many crimes getting worse all the time, and as Maine knows — a major destination for Somali refugees — right, am I right?” Trump was quoted as saying (via the Boston Globe).

The issue of immigrants from the troubled African nation settling in Lewiston, Maine, has been described as a “flash point.” Four to five thousand members of the 36,000-person Lewiston community are reported to have Somali heritage.

Donald Trump reportedly made comparisons between the Lewiston Somali population and Somalis living in Minnesota, which he labelled as a cause of high unemployment, overburdened social services, and as serving as potential manpower for terrorist groups like ISIS.

Facebook user Jill Cooke wrote in a post with regard to Governor LePage’s logic that if 90 percent of drug-related arrests involve minorities, then this must be representative of the races of actual drug offenders. Cooke stated that the color of the skin of those arrested and convicted of drug crimes represents only that and that it is not an “all-encompassing” truth.

LePage’s town hall comments also included mention of white women from Maine becoming involved in the drug trade with dealers coming from New York and Connecticut.

Cooke continued in her Facebook post, describing what she sees as privileged “perfect, lily-white” children of politicians and others in positions of power creating demand for drugs in Maine from other states farther south on the Eastern Seaboard.

[Photo by Robert F. Bukaty/AP Images]