BRUNSWICK, Maine — Gov. Paul LePage visited Brunswick Junior High School on Monday to speak about civil rights and the Franco-American experience. Most of LePage’s remarks centered on bullying and domestic violence, at which point he also joked about being a bully to state lawmakers.
“Have I ever bullied?” LePage said, responding to a student’s question. “Let’s put it this way. I never bullied my family. I don’t hit people. I get angry sometimes. But even then, my kind of anger lasts 30 seconds. … I have a temper, though. The legislators know — I bully them when I can.”
Asked to clarify his remarks after the assembly, LePage told a Times Record reporter, “Oh, God, get over yourself. Don’t you know what a joke is?”
“Do I bully them? When was the last time (did) you see me get my way in five years?” added LePage, who on Friday reportedly promised to veto every bill sponsored by a Democrat until the Legislature accepts his plan to eliminate the state income tax. “If I’m the bully, I’m not doing a very good job at it.”
Speaking to students, the governor also jokingly accused legislators of elder abuse.
“I tell the legislators that you have to always talk about elder abuse because I’m your elder, and you’re abusing me by not doing what I ask you. You get it?” said LePage.
LePage was invited to speak to junior high students as part of a day-long series of speakers during the school’s Civil Rights Day.
BJHS Principal Walter Wallace said LePage was invited because of his experience growing up as a Franco-American.
“Often, when people talk about civil rights, they often think about the African-American population. But it really covers a large number of groups,” said Wallace.
LePage told students that civil rights and bullying are about poverty.
“Let me tell you what bullying is all about. You hear a lot about civil rights movements. And you hear a lot about they’re against African-Americans that are being discriminated against, the Native Americans are being discriminated against. All these folks are being discriminated against. Let me tell you what is the No. 1 item that gets discriminated against every single day in the world. Every single day. The person who gets discriminated against the most is the poorest kid in the class,” said LePage.
“It’s a lot less about the form of your eyes or the color of your skin. It’s a lot more about having holes in your shoes,” LePage said. “Be kind to poor people.”
LePage, who described himself as “a scrawny little kid” growing up in Lewiston, ran away from home when he was 11, after suffering abuse at the hands of his father, who LePage described as a “hard-working Catholic man” with a bad drinking problem.
The beatings, LePage said, lasted most weekends.
“Usually it was Friday afternoon about 5, until Monday morning. It was pretty vicious. And so finally I decided that after my jaw was broken that I was going to leave home,” LePage said.
“I made a decision that I wasn’t going to live my life being beaten up every day,” said LePage. “Neither should anybody.”
LePage credited teachers with helping him get off the streets, as well as a pair of families who took him in, allowing him to get through high school.
“Violence begins with bullying,” LePage said, concluding his remarks. “If you stop the bullying, you’ll never be involved in violence.”