A long-time Maine Republican insider sent this for publication, asking that their identity remain secret; reading it, you can understand why. Yesterday it was reported that Gov. Paul LePage had said that President Obama "hates white people." Cross posted at Dirigo Blue
The Maine GOP world is out of its mind right now. The state party staff and the House GOP staff has been active making phone calls to people who attended the event to urge them to say they didn't hear the governor's remarks. GOP legislative leadership, the governor's office, and the state party are coordinating a cover up.
Not only is LePage lying when he denies he made the remarks, but the rest of the GOP leadership team is also lying when they say they didn't hear it. GOP Chair Rick Bennett was standing behind LePage when he made the remarks. House GOP leader Ken Fredette was right there too. And Alex Willette, CD2 candidate and GOP House whip, was standing right in front and heard every word.
Now all of these people are working together to suppress the truth about the Governor's remarks. They are having state-paid staff work the phones, and they are asking everyone who was there to risk their own credibility and lie for the benefit of the governor.
The background sources that the newspapers have based their stories on are beside themselves now that LePage has denied the statements. LePage's team operates on a harsh loyalty regimen and they are now trying to track down the dissenters so they can attack them directly. Many important people within the GOP are considering coming out against the Governor and may have to do this sooner than later for fear of being caught as part of the lying cover up once the dam breaks.
And in the background lurks the possibility that there is a tape. There were enough people at the event that no one knows for certain if it was recorded.
The image of Paul LePage, along with his daughter Lauren, his staff, and the GOP leadership and their staff, all together orchestrating a cover up of these comments is unacceptable. The further revelation of this will be what causes good republicans to break rank and speak out. Until then, they are waiting for the press to lose interest and move on to something else.