With over 20,000 calling for impeachment, LePage further alienates Legislature

On Tuesday, Gov. Paul LePage said he’ll “probably” skip out on giving this year’s State of the State address to the Maine Legislature in person, and instead deliver his address by letter.

Maine Gov. Paul LePage. Photo- Jonathan Ernst, Reuters.

Maine Gov. Paul LePage. Photo- Jonathan Ernst, Reuters.

The remarks were made during his weekly radio address on WVOM.

“I don’t know,” said LePage. “It’s going to be some time but it’s probably going to go back to the 1800s and I’ll do it by letter… Why am I going to go up and face people and talk to them in an audience that just a week or two before, they’re trying to impeach me? That’s just silliness… I’ll send them a letter and we’ll call it a day.”

It’s understandable that the governor might be nervous about speaking in front of the Legislature in the middle of an attempt by members of the House to impeach him, especially after adding fuel to the fire with his now infamous (and disgusting) “white girls” comment last week, but ducking his traditional duty of addressing the Legislature, Cabinet members, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, and the people of Maine who’d like to watch on TV in person, is childish and cowardly.

When you consider the number of Mainers outside the Legislature who want the Guv to resign, his decision to effectively wimp out is even, well, wimpier.

In August, LePage made national news for saying that he’d resign from office, if enough people ask him to, and following those remarks, Mainers responded.

Tides on MSNBC

Several petitions were started to show the governor just how many Mainers would like him to resign, but one petition in particular- from MoveOn.org– has gathered over 20,000 signatures, and growing.

While nobody expects LePage to stay true to his word and actually step down in the face of so many people calling for his impeachment or resignation, the vast number of people who have signed the petition highlights just how petty the governor is being by threatening to bail on the traditional State address, which normally takes place sometime in the first half of February.

If he’s going to neglect his gubernatorial responsibility to address the State in person based on several members of the Legislature pushing for his impeachment, then why would he also continue to hold his ridiculous Town Hall forums across the state in front of so many Mainers who support the impeachment order?

As is the norm for LePage, his logic simply doesn’t make sense, and resembles an immature temper tantrum much more closely than behavior befitting a governor.

2018, the final year of LePage’s ill-fated reign, simply cannot come soon enough for Maine.

Photo- Troy R. Bennett, BDN

Photo- Troy R. Bennett, BDN

Chris Shorr

About Chris Shorr

Chris is a sixth generation Portlander who loves all things Maine. He has worked with mentally ill and marginalized adults at a Portland non-profit, on a lobster boat in Casco Bay, at several high-end Portland restaurants, and at a local meat packing plant. He also ran for Portland City Council in 2013, wrote a weekly column in the now defunct Portland Daily Sun, and currently writes a weekly column in The Portland Phoenix.