Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) “vowed that he would never again speak to the media, whom he accused of stoking controversies,” the Boston Globe reports.

Said LePage: “I will no longer speak to the press ever again after today. And I’m serious. Everything will be put into writing. I’m tired of being caught in the gotcha moments.”

He also clarified he will not resign after leaving an obscenity-laced voice-mail message for a state lawmaker.

Maine state Rep. Drew Gattine (D) is not looking for an apology from Gov. Paul LePage (R) after the governor left him a profanity-laced tirade on voicemail and later challenged the Democratic lawmaker to a duel, Politico reports.

He just wants him to seek professional help.

Said Gattine: “I think Maine people are getting extremely concerned after six years and these kind of escalating events with respect to our governor that he is now at the point where he isn’t fit to be governor, that he really probably needs to get some sort of professional help and that as a state, we’re not going to be able to solve our problems, including this very serious problem we have with heroin under the leadership of this governor. And you know, we’re just concerned that we can’t move our state forward with this man as our governor.”

A Portland Press Herald editorial:

Dear America: Maine here. Please forgive us – we made a terrible mistake. We managed to elect and re-elect a governor who is unfit for high office.

He has a gruff exterior and blunt way of talking that some of us find refreshing, but he has shown again and again that he governs by grudge, and uses his power to beat up on people who cannot fight back.

Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) “used the familiar metaphor of war Friday to describe Maine’s efforts to curb drug addiction, but he once again framed the battle in racial terms and effectively endorsed racial profiling of suspected drug dealers,” the Portland Press Herald reports.

Said LePage: “Look, the bad guy is the bad guy, I don’t care what color he is. When you go to war, if you know the enemy and the enemy dresses in red and you dress in blue, then you shoot at red.”

He added: “You shoot at the enemy. You try to identify the enemy and the enemy right now, the overwhelming majority of people coming in, are people of color or people of Hispanic origin.”

Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) left a state lawmaker an expletive-laden phone message in which he accused the legislator of calling him a racist, encouraged him to make the message public and said, “I’m after you,” the Portland Press Herald reports.

Said LePage: “I would like to talk to you about your comments about my being a racist, you cock sucker. I want to talk to you. I want you to prove that I’m a racist. I’ve spent my life helping black people and you little son-of-a-bitch, socialist cock sucker. You … I need you to, just friggin. I want you to record this and make it public because I am after you. Thank you.”

Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) sought to clarify comments he made on race and drug dealers when he said he kept a binder of photographs of arrested heroin dealers in Maine and that more than 90% were black or Hispanic, the Portland Press Herald reports.

Said LePage: “If I am a racist for trying to get black people and Hispanic people and white people and Asian people who come up (Interstate 95) with heroin that will kill Mainers, then I plead guilty. I do plead guilty.”

Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) canceled a swearing-in ceremony for a newly elected senator in response to Democrats voting against one of his nominees, the Portland Press Herald reports.

Senator-elect Susan Deschambault (D) showed up with her family for the planned event, but was told it had been abruptly canceled after it was scheduled to start.

Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) said he would forgo the state’s official nomination process in selecting a new education commissioner and instead take on the role himself, the Bangor Daily News reports.

“Democrats who control the Maine House of Representatives balked Thursday at the opportunity to investigate and potentially impeach Gov. Paul LePage (R) on charges that included intimidation,” the Portland Press Herald reports.

“Instead, the House passed a vaguely worded resolution that praises cooperation and civil behavior but doesn’t mention LePage.”

Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) indicated that he might break with longstanding custom and deliver his State of the State address by letter rather than giving a speech before the full legislature, the Portland Press Herald reports.

Said LePage: “Why am I going to go up and face people and talk to them in an audience that just a week or two before, they’re trying to impeach me? That’s just silliness. So why don’t we just, I’ll go to work, keep working, I’ll send them a letter and call it a day.”