Maine Gov. Paul LePage, already under fire for blackmail allegations, is now facing criticism for making a joke about shooting a political cartoonist.
According to the Portland Press Herald, LePage made the remark after being asked by the teenage son of Bangor Daily News cartoonist George Danby what the governor thought of his father's cartoons. Danby said he thought the comment was "in poor taste" given all of the recent shootings, including the killing of cartoonists at Charlie Hebdo in Paris in earlier this year.
A handful of Maine lawmakers are calling for LePage to be impeached after allegations surfaced earlier this week that he blackmailed a charter school in order to have a political opponent fired.
Democrat Speaker of the House Mark Eves was recently offered the position of president at the Good Will-Hinkley School for at-risk youth and the Maine Academy of Natural Sciences charter school.
Days before he was scheduled to start, Eves learned that the board of directors had second thoughts.
LePage, a Republican, had reportedly written a letter to the board on June 8 saying he thought Eves was a poor choice for the school's president given his opposition to charter school legislation. The governor also threatened to withdraw more than $500,000 in state funding.
