The Maine Council of Churches on Saturday weighed in on Gov. Paul LePage’s profanity-laced voicemail to a state lawmaker, calling it a “vitriolic personal attack.”
“The words he chose to use in the message and interview (after) were unspeakable — and yet he spoke them, disgracing the office of governor and dishonoring our state in the eyes of the nation,” read the statement from council spokeswoman Rev. Jane Field.
On Friday, LePage made national headlines after audio came out of a message he’d left for state Rep. Drew Gattine calling the Westbrook democrat, among other things, “a son-of-a-b****, socialist (expletive).” He followed that up by telling a reporter that he’d like to invite Gattine to a duel where he’d point the gun “right between” his eyes.
LePage said later he’d left the message and made that comment because he believed Gattine had called him a racist, which Gattine denied.
The Maine Council of Churches represents nine denominations and their 550 congregations across the state. The council has invited political candidates this summer to sign a “Civil Discourse Covenant,” agreeing to act respectfully, avoid personal attacks and avoid “untrue statements.”
Field urged LePage to consider signing it.
The statement released Saturday read in part:
“The Maine Council of Churches has a longstanding commitment to promoting civility in our state’s public discourse. Thus we were dismayed at Gov. LePage’s recent statements regarding race and racial profiling, his use of highly offensive language in the voicemail message he left for Rep. Drew Gattine, and his mention, during a subsequent interview, of a wish to shoot Rep. Gattine.
In addition, by framing the devastating drug trafficking and addiction problem our state faces as being fundamentally about race when it simply is not, and by promoting racial profiling, the governor further violates fundamental principles of civil discourse.”
The council is hosting a statewide symposium on “civility in politics” with former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell in Waterville in October.
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