Gov Paul LePage on Maine’s war on drugs: “You shoot at the enemy, don’t you?” ‘
“ the enemy right now, the overwhelming majority right now coming in are people of color or people of Hispanic origin…those are the facts”
State rep. Drew Gattine says Gov Lepage is being ‘racist’ in his messaging
LePage calls Gattine ‘c–ksucker’ in charged voice message, challenges him to armed duel
National Drug Intelligence Center 2003 report, ‘white dealers mostly to blame for the Maine’s heroin and prescription drug problem’
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“Look, a bad guy is a bad guy, I don’t care what color it is. When you go to war, if you know the enemy, the enemy dresses in red and you dress in blue, you shoot at red, don’t you?” he said.“You shoot at the enemy. You try to identify the enemy. And the enemy right now, the overwhelming majority right now coming in are people of color or people of Hispanic origin. I can’t help that. I just can’t help it. Those are the facts,”LePage said, using a binder full of drug offenders’ mug shots to bolster his bogus claim
LePage also repeated his mantra that 90% of drug offenders in Maine are black or hispanic from out of state.
Maine Rep. Drew Gattine (D-Westbrook) – ‘Governor Lepage’s messaging is racist’
Ironically, the governor’s position flies in the face of the last report done by the National Drug Intelligence Center on drug trafficking in Maine in 2003, which concluded that white dealers are mostly to blame for the state’s heroin and prescription drug problem.
Maine’s chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, took the governor to task, pointing out that if black or hispanic offenders are getting arrested more often than white offenders (in a state that is 95% white), that is hallmark of racial profiling.
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The ACLU , cites studies that black and white people use and sell drugs at similar rates.
“According to the governor, Maine police are nine times more likely to arrest people of color for selling drugs than whit e people, even though we know white people are just as likely to commit drug offenses” .
“This alarming disparity in arrests raises significant concerns that Maine law enforcement is participating in unconstitutional racial profiling,” Alison Beyea, executive director of the state’s chapter of the ACLU, said.
Maine Democrats have called for the governor to resign after a recording of the voice message left on Gattine’s phone surfaced. LePage bristles at the notion of his resignation. He said “that’s what they would love to have me do,”
“The fact of the matter is, I will resign if Gattine resigns.”
