The Republican governor of Maine has refused to break bread with the NAACP for Martin Luther King Day celebrations, instead telling the civil rights group to kiss his butt.
Gov. Paul LePage says he has personal commitments that will keep him from attending a dinner Sunday night and a breakfast on Monday that honor King.
"I'm not going to be held hostage by special interests," LePage told WCSH-TV.
When asked about charges from NAACP leaders that he has ducked several requests to attend their events over the past few months, LePage offered the group a suggestion: "Tell them to kiss my butt."
LePage, who is white, further defended his planned absence, saying his adopted son is black.
"If they want to play the race card, come to dinner and my son will talk to them," he said.
Maine's NAACP director, Rachel Talbot Ross, accused LePage of ignoring the group.
"The message we're getting is that we're not welcome," Ross said. "We're not part of the Maine he's preparing to lead for the next four years," she told the Portland Press Herald.
LePage was elected as Maine's governor last year.
Read more:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2011/01/14/2011-01-14_paul_lepage_republican_governor_of_maine_has_message_for_the_naacp_kiss_my_butt.html#ixzz1B3ynoYja
