Voting Station

Paul LePage

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U.S. Governor

The Resume

    (October 9, 1948- )
    Born in Lewiston, Maine
    General manager of a discount store chain (1996-2011)
    Mayor of Waterville, Maine (2003-11)
    Governor of Maine
    Republican

Why he might be annoying:

    He refused to meet with representatives of the NAACP on Martin Luther King Day (2011), then said to reporters, ‘Tell them they can kiss my butt.’
    After cutting the education budget, he said, ‘If you want a good education in Maine, go to a private school. If you can’t afford it, tough luck.’ (2012)
    He ticked off Jewish organizations when he called the IRS ‘the new Gestapo,’ then added ‘Maybe the IRS is not quite as bad – yet.’ (2012)
    After the state legislature rejected his proposed amendment to the state constitution to eliminate the state income tax, he promised to veto every bill sponsored by a Democrat, regardless of its merits. (2015).
    After some Republicans began sponsoring bills in place of Democrats, he decided to veto every bill, period.
    He threatened to withhold $500,000 in state funding from a non-profit charity if the organization hired a former Democratic House Speaker as president (2015).
    He said that drug dealers with names like ‘D-Money, Smoothie [and] Shifty’ come to Maine to sell heroin and ‘impregnate white girls.’ (January, 2016)
    Within a month, he went from urging his fellow governors to draft a statement repudiating Donald Turmp and his politics to endorsing Trump for President (February, 2016).

Why he might not be annoying:

    He ran away from home at age 11 after his father, an abusive alcoholic, broke his nose.
    He spent two years homeless while earning a living shining shoes, washing dishes and hauling boxes for a trucking company.
    He was named a Maine Business Champion by the National Federation of Independent Businesses (2007).
    He won the Republican nomination for governor despite having been outspent 10-to-1 by his closest competitor (2010).
    He apologized over the ‘new Gestapo’ remark, saying he had not intended to ‘minimize the fact that millions of people were murdered.’
    A spokesman said, ‘He’s got a directness about him that a lot of people find appealing.’

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 6 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2023, Out of 95 Votes: 65.26% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 12 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 14 Votes: 85.71% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 25 Votes: 64.00% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 18 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 10 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 16 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 15 Votes: 53.33% Annoying