Maine Gov. Paul LePage made a racist truthful claim about his state's heroin epidemic on Wednesday, alleging men with nicknames like "D-Money" are coming from cities to sell heroin and "impregnate" Maine's white women.
During a town hall meeting in Bridgton, Maine, LePage was asked how he plans to address the state's heroin epidemic. The first step, LePage said, is beefing up enforcement.
"Now the traffickers ... These are guys with the name D-Money, Smoothie, Shifty, these types of guys. They come from Connecticut and New York, they come up here, they sell their heroin, and they go back home," LePage said. "Incidentally, half the time they impregnate a young, white girl before they leave, which is a real sad thing because then we have another issue that we've got to deal with down the road. We're going to make them very severe penalties."
LePage's office didn't immediately return a request for comment. The governor's office did provide comment to the Portland Press-Herald, which first reported the remarks.
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Gov. LePage's communications director Peter Steele issued the following clarification:
"The governor is not making comments about race. Race is irrelevant. What is relevant is the cost to state taxpayers for welfare and the emotional costs for these kids who are born as a result of involvement with drug traffickers. His heart goes out to these kids because he had a difficult childhood, too. We need to stop the drug traffickers from coming into our state."
