Regarding Gov. Paul LePage’s recent dustup with Rep. Drew Gattine, a situation clearly morphing beyond the point of recovery for the governor.

LePage’s mercurial temper clearly has the better of him, and as such, his leadership skills are now more questionable than ever. For all of his now-infamous plain-spoken home-spun simplicity, those qualities translate into nothing more than crass, crude, vitriolic bile spit into the undeserving voicemail of a fellow colleague.

No matter who you are, how could anyone overlook how inappropriate and unprofessional that voice message was or find acceptable the accompanying assignation comparing Gattine (simplifying here) to compost? Count those offenses against the feigned metaphorical desire to shoot Gattine between the eyes and what to get we get? Nothing but pallid excuses designed to minimize his behavior.

And what about the limp apology LePage made to the “people of Maine”?

As with every other one of LePage’s infamous gaffs, this one will blow over and be forgotten. But it shouldn’t and I hope it doesn’t. I’d like people to remember this for the future. I want people to remember LePage’s toxic management style and compare it against someone like Sen. Angus King, because 2018 is coming sooner than you think.

Joseph V. Keelan

West Gardiner