Republican Maine Governor Paul LePage has a sharp idea for dealing with his state’s drug epidemic: send narcotics pushers to the guillotine.
During a radio interview with station WVOM, LePage was asked about the state’s ongoing fight with illicit narcotics and stated increasing the length of prison sentences “doesn’t go far enough.”
“I think the death penalty should be appropriate for people who kill Mainers,” he responded.
One of the radio hosts told the governor he “would have trouble getting that through,” but LePage seemed unconcerned with the legislative difficulty and feels the minimum prison length for a convicted drug dealer should be at least 20 years.
“I’m all in,” he said. “We gotta keep them here [in jail] until they die. If you want my honest opinion, we should give them an injection of the stuff they sell.”
LePage then diverted his fire to the American Civil Liberties Union for allegedly protecting serious drug offenders from punishment.
“I’m just appalled at people getting angry at me for making a comment when they protect these people. And the ACLU, mind you, is the worst organization in the state of Maine protecting these people,” he declared.
The Republican then concluded the program with his preferred method for punishing drug dealers.
“What we ought to do is bring the guillotine back,” he remarked as the hosts burst out laughing. “We could have public executions and we could even have which hole it falls in.”
“Is that part of your French background? The guillotine?” one of the hosts asked him.
“You got it! I like French history,” the governor, who comes from a French Canadian background, replied.
This statement is not the first time LePage has caused a stir over discussing Maine’s drug problem. Earlier in January, he said out-of-state drug dealers with names like “D-Money, Smoothie and Shifty” are coming into Maine and leaving behind impregnating white girls.
State and national Democrats condemned the comments as racist, but LePage offered no apology. (RELATED: Maine Gov: Drug Dealers Named ‘D-Money’ Are Impregnating White Girls In State)