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Maine governor won’t apologize for criticizing US Rep. Lewis

Maine governor won't apologize for criticizing US Rep. Lewis | iNFOnews.ca
FILE - In this Monday, Dec. 19, 2016 file photo Maine Republican Gov. Paul LePage, right, and House Speaker Sara Gideon, D-Freeport, attend the Electoral College vote at the State House in Augusta, Maine. The Republican governor on Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2017, addressed Lewis' criticism that GOP President-elect Donald Trump is not a "legitimate president." LePage, who's white, said on WVOM-FM that the black Democratic Georgia congressman needs a lesson on how presidents freed the slaves and fought against Jim Crow laws. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)

AUGUSTA, Maine – Maine Gov. Paul LePage isn’t backing down on his statements about John Lewis, a black Georgia congressman who risked his life in the fight for civil rights.

The Maine NAACP demanded an apology after the white Republican governor insulted Lewis, who had questioned the legitimacy of GOP Donald Trump’s presidential election.

But LePage tells WGME-TV: “I will tell you, there are no apologies.”

LePage had said Lewis needed a “history lesson” on Republican presidents, noting that Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves and claiming Rutherford Hayes and Ulysses Grant fought Jim Crow laws.

The latter part was not accurate. Jim Crow laws didn’t exist during the presidencies of Grant and Hayes, and actions taken by Hayes to end Reconstruction set the stage for Jim Crow laws that followed.

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