A state representative from Greene apologized to his constituents Wednesday morning for sending an insulting email to a woman from Massachusetts who had criticized him and other Republican lawmakers for failing to hold Gov. Paul LePage accountable for his recent actions.

“To the people of Sabattus and Greene: I am sorry for my comments to the woman from (Massachusetts),” Rep. Stephen J. Wood wrote Wednesday on his Facebook page. “It was wrong of me to lose my temper in a public way.”

Wood apologized directly to Laurie Hunt, a Realtor from Wakefield, Massachusetts, whom the lawmaker targeted in his email, late Wednesday night. 

“Hi Laurie I would like to say I am sorry for the comments I made the other night they were uncalled for. Rep Steve Wood,” the Greene lawmaker said in an email sent shortly before 10 p.m. Wednesday. Hunt replied briefly Thursday morning, saying she appreciated Wood reaching out to her.

Hunt, the sister of House Democratic Leader Jeff McCabe of Skowhegan, sent emails to Wood and more than 30 other Republican lawmakers telling them she would not visit Maine again as long as they “continue to stand by and do nothing about your governor.”

LePage has come under fire for comments he has made about the racial makeup of drug dealers and for leaving a profanity laced, threatening voice mail for a Democratic lawmaker from Westbrook. He has since apologized to Rep. Drew Gattine but has stood by his comments about heroin dealers arrested in Maine being overwhelmingly black and Hispanic, even though data say otherwise.

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Hunt, who said she is an independent who votes Republican more often than not, emailed Maine lawmakers to let them know she was disappointed and that their inaction could have consequences. She was most disturbed, she said, about the governor’s comments on race and the fact that Republicans hadn’t denounced them more forcefully.

Wood, a third-term state representative and registered Maine Guide, replied angrily and told her Maine didn’t need visitors like her.

“Hi Laurie thanks for not coming to Maine,” Wood wrote to Hunt. “We have a nought (enough) mass holes here in Maine that (are) trying to tell us true maine r’s (sic) how to live our lives and what we can and can’t do. I don’t tell you how to run your state so don’t tell me how to run our state Thanks for not coming to Maine.”

Wood did not respond Tuesday to telephone messages or emails sent by the Press Herald.

He wrote on Facebook Wednesday that he was angry about getting an earlier email from a different person who had called him a “racist pig,” and he took it out on Hunt.

“I just lost my temper and responded unprofessionally,” he wrote. “I should have just listened to my wife.”

Aside from Wood, two other Republican lawmakers responded to Hunt’s email. They were: Rep. Kevin J. Battle of South Portland and Rep. Heather W. Sirocki of Scarborough. Both were courteous.

CLARIFICATION: This story was updated at 8:47 a.m. Sept. 8, 2016 to include Wood’s apology to Hunt.

 


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