Maine's Blunt-Talking Governor Rankles Many Voters

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — With less than three months on the job, Gov. Paul LePage has already managed to rankle more constituencies with his bluntness than any Maine governor in recent memory.

The Republican governor has drawn the ire of organized labor, civil rights groups, scientists, educators, women's groups and others with his comments about the president, the NAACP, chemical additives and most recently a labor history mural he had taken down from the state Labor Department headquarters.

University of Maine political scientist Mark Brewer says LePage has offended a long list of constituent groups with remarkable speed.

Gubernatorial spokeswoman Adrienne Bennett says people should focus on the substance of the governor's policies. She says LePage speaks his mind and isn't trying to score "style points."