Lawmakers call Maine governor unhinged after obscene tirade

PORTLAND, Maine — Maine’s bombastic Republican governor has built a reputation on his unfiltered comments, but his obscene tirade unleashed on a liberal lawmaker prompted Democratic lawmakers Friday to warn the governor was coming unhinged and to call for a political intervention.

Gov. Paul LePage apologized to “the people of Maine” — but not to the legislator — after he left a voicemail message for Democratic Rep. Drew Gattine that said “I am after you” and then told reporters he wished he could challenge Gattine to a duel and point a gun “right between his eyes.”

LePage said the angry outburst was justified because Gattine had called him racist — something Gattine denied.

In Portland, Assistant House Democratic Leader Sara Gideon called for a “political intervention” from members of both parties to ensure either that the governor “gets the help that he needs” or that he’s removed from office.

The voicemail followed a controversy that bubbled up Wednesday when LePage, who’s white, said at a town hall in North Berwick that 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, Conn.; the Bronx; and Brooklyn.”