Call it an end around.

Gov. Paul LePage has said he wouldn’t invite the New England Patriots to visit Maine in the wake of their stunning victory over the Atlanta Falcons in the Super Bowl, so three of the state’s mayors have joined forces to encourage the team to make the trip.

Portland Mayor Ethan Strimling, Bangor Mayor Joe Baldacci and Brewer Mayor Kevin O’Connell wrote to the Super Bowl champions Thursday, urging team officials to visit the state – and bring some players and that shiny silver trophy, too.

LePage is no fan of Patriots owner Robert Kraft, having said repeatedly that he has problems with the way Kraft conducts business.

However, after saying before the Super Bowl that he wouldn’t watch the game, he said this week that he did, in fact, tune in to see the Patriots win in dramatic fashion, with a touchdown in overtime after the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history.

LePage spokesman Peter Steele said via email Friday night that the governor’s attitude has nothing to do with Patriots players and everything to do with the team’s owner.

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“The governor (has) said … that Tom Brady is the best quarterback ever and Bill Belichick is the best coach ever,” Steele said. “He has said repeatedly he has no problems with the players or the team.”

LePage has said that he feels the team’s ownership was unfair in its dealings with Connecticut in 1999, when the Patriots announced they were moving to the Nutmeg State, but then pulled the plug on that deal and instead stayed in Foxborough, Massachusetts, where they built Gillette Stadium.

According to the website Monday Morning Quarterback, a key architect of the deal that kept the team in Massachusetts was Roger Goodell, then a rising executive in the National Football League.

Of course, Goodell, now the NFL commissioner, is largely reviled in New England for his four-game suspension of Brady in the “Deflategate” saga.

In their letter to the Pats, the mayors point out that Maine and the team share a link through the Cross Insurance agency in Bangor.

Cross has its name on arenas in Portland and Bangor, it’s the Patriots’ “official insurance broker” and it helped underwrite a reception center attached to the stadium in Foxborough.

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Strimling admitted Friday that he’s a fan of the New York Giants – the team that broke Patriots’ fans hearts in two Super Bowls – but is willing to put that aside “for the benefit of the common good.” Strimling suggested a victory party in Monument Square.

The Patriots brought the Vince Lombardi Trophy to Portland after their Super Bowl wins in 2002 and 2004 as part of tours of New England states. The team didn’t tour the region after winning the title in 2005 and 2015.

The Patriots haven’t yet made plans for any tour of New England to celebrate their latest win, said Mark Robbins, a spokesman for the team.

However, if a tour is planned, he said, Maine can expect a visit. “That’s definitely something we would look at.”

Edward D. Murphy can be contacted at 791-6465 or at:

emurphy@pressherald.com


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