A day after Maine Gov. Paul LePage signaled out two Massachusetts cities for causing the opioid crisis in his state, those two mayors have fired back.
“My first reaction was both outrage and surprise,” Lowell Mayor Edward Kennedy said Tuesday.
According to the State House News Service, on Monday, Governor LePage blamed Hispanics, African Americans and Lowell and Lawrence for Maine’s heroin problem.
“I think the Governor’s comments the other day were silly and just show he is ill-informed about what the problem is,” Kennedy said. “I think from time to time, a lot of people have said that about comments Governor LePage has made in the past. I am surprised that he would point the finger here.”
Dan Rivera, the Mayor of Lawrence, agreed.
“I thought the Governor of the state has better things to do than demonize other people,” Rivera said. “We don’t talk about Maine.”
“Initially you are surprised you are getting that much attention from one of the 50 Governor’s of the United States because they have stuff to do,” he added.
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“Maybe its because he is scared about not having a solution for it so it is easier to point at “them” they are the people who are doing it,” Rivera said. “We are all scared we are not going to come up, that we are going to come up short.”
Necn reached out to Governor LePage’s office for reaction, but as of Tuesday evening hadn’t heard back.
