Paul LePage had been governor just over a week when he made national headlines – though not the kind he would have liked.

His instantly notorious retort to the NAACP to “kiss my butt” prompted outrage in distant places and was profoundly embarrassing to most Mainers.

The temptation is to focus on the sheer thoughtlessness of the remark, which was made to a WCSH reporter in explaining why LePage declined to attend Martin Luther King ceremonies sponsored by the NAACP in Portland and Orono.

But there are deeper issues of accountability and truthfulness that also need to be weighed by Maine citizens.

Many politicians begin with uncertain or strained relationships with the news media, but most of them learn to cope. Reporters can be annoying, but they are the closest thing we have to engaged citizens who can ask uncomfortable questions, not the softballs that are the usual fare at ceremonial events.

LePage’s difficulties began during the campaign when it was reported that his family had claimed homestead tax exemptions in both Maine and Florida, something apparently contrary to the laws of both states. In the end, an investigation into the Florida exemption turned up a little-known provision that permitted the exemption for a full-time caregiver, in this case LePage’s wife. Yet the situation was never legal in Maine, something LePage never acknowledged.

His final assessment was that it was a “paperwork error,” and he afterward tangled with reporters on the point, using a profanity in one response and vowing – supposedly in jest – to punch out a reporter in another.

Later on, LePage attracted his first national headlines when, at a fishermen’s forum, he said he’d tell President Obama to “go to hell.” The issue was fisheries regulations, which may indeed be onerous, but most such differences can be settled without a candidate telling off the president. That incident did produce a statement of regret, with LePage saying he should have used different words.

The NAACP incident, with LePage now governor, reverts to the earlier pattern. When challenged, LePage resorts to street language. But he also invents things in attempting to justify his position.

The tax issue was not a “paperwork problem,” but a mistake that should have been acknowledged. Telling the president to “go to hell” over one state-federal issue, and not the most important, was another misjudgment.

Characterizing the NAACP as a “special interest group” that, in his words to another reporter, was “playing the race card” invites the belief that, whatever else he says, LePage is not exactly unbiased.

The NAACP has always had a multi-racial membership. It genuinely believes in equal rights for all, and the request that seems to have raised LePage’s ire – an invitation to visit the Maine State Prison – did not conform to the governor’s description.

He said the trip was supposed to be for “visiting black prisoners,” but the NAACP says it was for a voter registration drive for all inmates. And here lies an interesting point.

Maine is one of only two states – Vermont’s the other – where prisoners can vote, and legislation to revoke this privilege is a State House perennial.

The NAACP may have been attempting to get the governor to see for himself what disenfranchising these citizens would do. LePage may well believe prisoners should be denied the right to vote, but he ought to just say so, rather than accusing the NAACP of being a “special interest.”

After all the blizzards of video and newsprint, LePage has given no indication he’d take back any of his words, even the epithet. His spokesman says he’s open to meeting with the NAACP at some unspecified date, and LePage dropped in at the Waterville Martin Luther King breakfast, where he’s appeared as mayor before.

A black woman who knows him well, the Rev. Effie McClain, danced with him and afterward acutely observed that, “I think he came here today to come home and feel safe.” McClain then added, “We all say things we regret . . . sometimes we say things without fully understanding the effect.”

But that’s just the problem. To date, LePage has said nothing to indicate he does regret the remarks, or that he considers them mistaken.

Governors always come from a group of friends and supporters who help promote them for leadership. The art of governing involves reaching out to others, to those who didn’t vote for the candidate but, for the most part, are now prepared to accept his leadership.

Perhaps some member of LePage’s inner circle can convince the governor he’s falling far short here. Otherwise, it could be a long four years.