LePage Says ‘Most’ Drug Dealers Arrested In Maine Are Black Or Hispanic

FILE - In this Jan. 8, 2016, file photo, Gov. Paul LePage speaks at a news conference at the State House in Augusta, Maine. Critics of LePage on Thursday, Jan. 14, took up a longshot bid to impeach him over allegatio... FILE - In this Jan. 8, 2016, file photo, Gov. Paul LePage speaks at a news conference at the State House in Augusta, Maine. Critics of LePage on Thursday, Jan. 14, took up a longshot bid to impeach him over allegations of abuse of power. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File) MORE LESS
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NORTH BERWICK, Maine (AP) — Maine Gov. Paul LePage is in hot water once again for comments about drug dealers arrested in the state, saying photos he’s collected show more than 90 percent of them are black or Hispanic.

The Portland Press Herald reports (http://bit.ly/2bJ1pHO) the Republican governor made the reference Wednesday at a town hall in North Berwick. A businessman asked how he could bring a company to Maine, “given the rhetoric you put out there about people of color.”

LePage says he keeps a three-ringed binder of photos from drug busts and most “are black and Hispanic people from Waterbury, Connecticut; the Bronx; and Brooklyn.”

Some called his comments racially charged. LePage, who’s white, says he’s not racist.

In January, LePage said drug dealers with names like “D-Money, Smoothie, Shifty” are getting Maine’s white girls pregnant.

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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