Advertisement Stephen King calls LePage 'racist;' churches accuse governor of 'promoting racial profiling' Group represents 550 congregations Share Shares Copy Link Copy

Maine-native and author Stephen King is weighing in on Gov. Paul LePage's comments about race."Our governor, Paul LePage, is a bigot, a homophobe, and a racist. I think that about covers it," King tweeted Saturday.LePage told a town hall audience Wednesday that he was keeping a three-ring binder of photos of people arrested for drug dealing in Maine.LePage told the group that 90 percent of the suspects were African-American or Hispanics who traveled to Maine from Connecticut and New York to sell drugs."Nobody wants to give you the real story, but the fact of the matter is, sir, I am not a racist, and I don't promote it," LePage said to the audience member.LePage's political opponents said the comments were racially charged.When leaving his office for lunch Thursday, WMTW News 8's David Charns asked LePage what he thought about people saying he was racist. LePage asked for specific names. Charns said he had interviewed Rep. Drew Gattine minutes before, but did not say Gattine had called the governor racist."These kinds of racially charged comments from the governor don't do anything to solve this problem," Gattine said."Black people come up the highway and they kill Mainers," LePage told WMTW News 8 Thursday.LePage then left an angry voicemail for Gattine, calling the Westbrook lawmaker a "son-of-a-bitch socialist (expletive)" and challenged him to "prove I'm a racist."The governor spoke with reporters Friday afternoon and said "racially charged" is the same as calling him "racist."He then implied people coming from out-of-state with drugs are an enemy."Bad guy's a bad guy. I don't care what color it is," LePage said. "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 shoot. Ken, you've been in uniform. You shoot the enemy. You try to identify the enemy. And the enemy right now, the overwhelming majority of people coming in are people of color or people of Hispanic origin. I can't help that."LePage referred to House Republican Leader Ken Fredette, who was also in the room.“Governor LePage, after using a homophobic slur when threatening a sitting lawmaker, said he wanted to shoot Rep. Drew Gattine ‘right between his eyes,’” Maine Democratic Party Chairman Phil Bartlett said in a statement. “Then, at a press conference at which he attempted to justify his violent and homophobic remarks, LePage said that people of color are the ‘enemy’ and suggested that they, too, should be shot. This man is erratic, divisive and clearly unfit to lead our state. The governor’s toxic mix of violent, racist and homophobic language is dangerous and must stop now.”The ACLU of Maine released a statement Saturday condemning the comments."Our Constitution calls for all people to be treated fairly and equitably under the law, and to be free from government abuse of power," ACLU of Maine Executive Director Alison Beyea said. "Upholding those great American values requires the constant vigilance of the people - we all have an obligation to hold our elected officials to the highest account. Racism like we heard yesterday, and are hearing more and more, has no place in our state or our nation. We join with the tens of thousands of people across the country denouncing this hate. We can and must do better."The Maine Council of Churches said the Republican governor has disgraced the office and dishonored the state by "promoting racial profiling" and suggesting he'd like to commit violence against a state lawmaker.The group represents 550 congregations of nine denominations and is asking LePage to sign a "civil discourse covenant" pledging to change his behavior.The Council of Churches says LePage has "flagrantly violated" the principle of respecting others in disagreements.WMTW News 8 has requested a copy of the governor's three-ring binder.Get the WMTW App9234908