Maine GOPer Is All LeRage
Paul LePage lashes out at reporters, thinks global warming’s a “scam,” wants President Obama to “go to hell”—and he might just be the Pine Tree State’s next governor.
Put Paul LePage in front of a reporter for more than a few minutes, and there’s a good chance that he’ll totally freak out. At least that’s been the experience of the Maine journalists who’ve been covering the unlikely GOP’s gubernatorial candidate since his shocking primary upset in June. Two weeks ago, LePage lashed out at a reporter who asked whether his children unfairly received in-state tuition at Florida State University. “Let’s stop the bullshit, and let’s answer the questions the way they should be answered!” he snapped. The small-town mayor stormed out of another press conference—one that he himself had convened—after a reporter asked him about an illegal real-estate tax break that his wife received.
LePage recently told a TV news anchor that he was “about ready to punch” another local reporter who was dogging him. And he’s vowed to continue his pugilistic ways if elected governor. “[A]s your governor, you’re going to be seeing a lot of me on the front page saying: ‘Governor LePage Tells Obama to Go to Hell,’” he told a group of local fisherman in late September, in an exchange that was captured on video. Such remarks have led to comparisons with the New York GOP’s own hot-headed gubernatorial candidate, Carl Paladino, who threatened to “take out” a reporter during a confrontation last week.