WATERVILLE – Gov. Paul LePage’s joke about shooting a political cartoonist is falling flat.
The governor was laughing when he made the remark after the teenage son of Bangor Daily News cartoonist George Danby asked what LePage thought of his father’s satirical cartoons.
Danby wasn’t amused by the exchange Wednesday at Dirigo Boys State, a youth leadership program.
“On the heels of all shootings lately, it’s in poor taste,” he said.
Anthony Ronzio, the newspaper’s news and audience director, agreed that the joke wasn’t funny, especially after the January killing of cartoonists at Charlie Hebdo in Paris. He has asked the governor for an apology and said he was told by communications director Peter Steele that LePage would “take care of it personally.”
The governor’s office had no immediate comment.
LePage has frequently made clear his disdain for newspapers and news reporters.
He once joked about blowing up offices of the Portland Press Herald. Another time, he joked that he was ready to punch a reporter working for the Maine Public Broadcasting Network.
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