Maine Gov. Paul LePage delivers a keynote address at the Maine GOP convention in Bangor, Maine, Saturday, April 23, 2016. Maine Republicans have elected a slate of delegates to the national convention that's heavy on supporters of Ted Cruz. (Ben McCanna/Portland Press Herald via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT

Maine governor won’t apologize for comment about Indians

BANGOR, Maine – Maine’s governor says he won’t apologize for commenting on hard-to-understand workers from Bulgaria or India.

Republican Gov. Paul LePage was chuckling Saturday at the state party convention when he said he needed an interpreter to understand some foreign workers.

On Tuesday, he said it was “meant as a joke,” but he acknowledged that “maybe it was a bad joke.”

He told Maine’s WVOM-FM that he’s not politically correct and that he won’t apologize for that. And he said that he’s had difficulty trying to give an order in a restaurant with foreign workers, “period.”

LePage made his comments Saturday as he criticized a referendum proposal to raise Maine’s minimum wage to $12. LePage supports raising the wage by a lesser amount.

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