Paul LePage Racism Update: 'Prove I'm Racist,' Maine Governor Says In NSFW Voicemail

Just a day after stepping into controversy over racially charged comments, Maine Gov. Paul LePage left a voicemail for a state legislator Thursday that could only serve to make things worse. The message for Democratic Rep. Drew Gattine, which accused him of calling the governor a racist, is filled with expletives and the distinct threat, "I'm after you."

Seemingly welcoming the ensuing controversy, LePage identifies himself by his full name and title and asked Gattine to make the voicemail public, according to the recording posted by the Portland Press Herald.

"Mr. Gattine, this is Gov. Paul Richard LePage," a recording of the voicemail begins. "I would like to talk to you about your comments about my being a racist, you c---s-----. I want to talk to you. I want you to prove that I’m a racist. I’ve spent my life helping black people and you little son-of-a-b---h, socialist c---s-----. You … I need you to, just friggin'. I want you to record this and make it public because I am after you. Thank you."

This followed controversial comments from LePage Wendesday when he said 90 percent of the drug dealers arrested in Maine since January were black and Hispanic people from out of town, according to a binder he said he keeps of all the drug busts.

LePage had apparently come under the impression Gattine called him a racist, via a television reporter. After he left the voicemail, the governor talked with the Press Herald and a TV station about the situation, confirming he left the voicemail and expressing his desire to engage in an armed duel — à la Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr — to resolve his issues with Gattine.

"When a snot-nosed little guy from Westbrook calls me a racist, now I’d like him to come up here because, tell you right now, I wish it were 1825," LePage said, via the Press Herald. "And we would have a duel, that’s how angry I am, and I would not put my gun in the air, I guarantee you, I would not be [Alexander] Hamilton. I would point it right between his eyes, because he is a snot-nosed little runt and he has not done a damn thing since he’s been in this Legislature to help move the state forward."

Gattine reportedly called the message "upsetting, inappropriate and uncalled for." LePage seemed to finally attempt to back away from the controversy Friday.

"When someone calls me a racist, I take it very seriously. I didn’t know Drew Gattine from a hole in the wall until yesterday," he wrote in a statement. Later he addressed his comments that seemed like threats.

"When I said I was going after Gattine, I meant I would do everything I could to see that he and his agenda is defeated politically," he wrote. "I am a history buff, and I referenced how political opponents used to call each other out in the 1820s—including Andrew Jackson, the father of the Democratic Party. Obviously, it is illegal today; it was simply a metaphor and I meant no physical harm to Gattine."