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Public Reaction to LePage Antics Mixed in Governor's Hometown

Maine Gov. Paul LePage speaks at a rally for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, Wednesday, June 29, 2016, in Bangor, Maine.
AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty
Maine Gov. Paul LePage speaks at a rally for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, Wednesday, June 29, 2016, in Bangor, Maine.

In Governor LePage’s hometown of Lewiston there is mixed reaction about what next steps he should take to move forward. In a brief and random sampling of opinion by Maine Public Radio, reactions varied, especially by race.

At Simones’ lunch counter, a popular drop in spot for politicians and hot dog aficionados, things were quiet on a Tuesday afternoon. But Gov. LePage has been a hot topic of conversation. And regular customers such as Peter Robinson of Lewiston aren’t ready to give up on him quite yet even after the threatening voicemail he left for Dem. Representative Drew Gattine of Westbrook.

“What he said is certainly something I would never say,” Robinson says. “But whether he should resign, I don’t think he should.”

Robinson is a Republican who has supported Gov. LePage in the past. He says he admires how the governor is addressing the opioid crisis and thinks there’s more than a grain of truth in the way LePage portrays drug dealers in Maine.

“Take race aside, most of those drug dealers really are from Waterbury, Connecticut and the Bronx the places that he said, because those are the drug rings that are claiming this territory and these are the people that we’re fighting regardless of their race,” he says.

The governor has, on more than one occasion, said that the vast majority of drug dealers in Maine are black and Hispanic. FBI crime statistics from 2014, the most recent year that they’re available, show that those charged with the sale and manufacture of drugs in Maine are predominately white. Only 14% are black.

Around the corner from Simones, Kat Levesque of Lewiston was walking up Lisbon Street. She says if the governor won’t resign she’d like to see him impeached.

“Why you gotta pull the race card? You know?” she says. “I don’t like it. I don’t. ‘Cause I’m mixed myself.”

Omar Molhamed, a Somali refugee agrees.

He should resign. If he don’t (sic) the lawmakers, they have to impeach him,” Molhamed says. “He’s out of control. Everytime he talks, goes to the media, he’s out of control. Unacceptable.”

Molhamed lives in Portland but owns a business in Lewiston. He says he’s fed up with the negative way the governor treats minorities. The governor seems angry, Molhamed says, angry and unhappy. But Cheryl Haggerty of Lisbon hopes Gov. LePage will stick it out.

“I don’t think he should be forced to leave because of what people say about him,” Haggerty says. “Yeah, he’s outspoken and everything but his actions actually mean something to me versus what he says and how he says it.”

Asked what actions she means, Haggerty specifies that she likes the governor’s economic policies. A real estate agent, Haggerty says she thinks LePage has been good for business in Maine. That’s a view shared by Matt Leonard, president and CEO of the Lewiston-Auburn Chamber of Commerce who thinks LePage and the Legislature can and should work out their differences.

“Now recently his personal persona in politics has left a little bit to be desired but I think he’s a passionate man and he’s an honest man and I think if we all take a moment and pause and let cooler heads prevail, we can move Maine forward and we can move Maine forward together,” Leonard says.

There is one thing that most people seem to agree on: that is if LePage was still working in the private sector he’d likely have been fired for the things he said last week.