Maine Democratic Party

Press Room

Press Releases

For Immediate Release:
July 27, 2010

Contact:
Mary Erin Casale
mecasale@mainedems.org

Where is Paul LePage?

PORTLAND- Saturday, during a Republican fundraiser, GOP candidate for Governor Paul LePage spoke out directly against Victory 2010 campaign manager Arden Manning. LePage said Manning has made comments on blogs saying LePage would not make a good governor because he's of French-Canadian Catholic background. "This is a lie, plain and simple," said Arden Manning, campaign manager for Victory 2010.

During this same event, LePage took aim at democratic candidate Libby Mitchell's age saying, "Libby had her 70th birthday a few weeks ago and I'm concerned about her. We should send her home."

On Monday, the Democratic Party called on Paul LePage to apologize to them and their campaign manager. "Paul LePage has made an offensive claim that has no basis in reality. LePage needs to apologize to Mr. Manning and to the Maine Democratic Party," said Mary Erin Casale, executive director of the Maine Democratic Party.

Paul LePage has remained silent on both issues, despite numerous attempts for comment. John Morris, LePage's chief of staff, said "You need to talk to Paul about that," Morris said, adding that LePage was unavailable for comment because he was out of town.

"In this day and age of modern technology, there is no excuse for Mr. LePage to be unavailable for comment. I hope he realizes that the office of Governor is a 24/7 job and he cannot claim to be 'out of town' when a crisis arises. I would like to reiterate my request for an apology to Arden Manning and to the Maine Democratic Party," said Casale.

Dan Walker, chief legal counsel for the Maine Democratic Party, has been consulted on the issue. "If Mr. LePage made this statement with reckless disregard of the truth, it could potentially be ruled as slander against Mr. Manning. We would encourage Mr. LePage to publicly admit that this false statement was a mistake," said Walker.

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