I am a Franco-American and am proud of my heritage, but I believe that honoring Gov. Paul LePage at the Franco-American Heritage Center on March 16 was a big mistake.

LePage, as governor, is increasingly becoming a disgrace, not only to the Franco-American heritage, but to the majority of the people of Maine.

A governor who tells the president of the United States to “go to hell,” who doesn’t seem to care that women “grow beards” or that children be exposed to toxic chemicals, acts like a dictator while firing a well-qualified person is not a governor that I, as a Franco-American, can be proud of.

Credit be to him for admitting that he was a thief, as he confessed on March 16 (he admitted stealing Halloween candy from others when he was a child). As governor (a position he practically stole, with only one-third of the votes), he stubbornly insists on stealing from the poor workers to give to the rich, bringing Mainers back to the days prior to the F.D.R. years when workers were treated like slaves.

History will not only recognize Paul LePage as the first publicly elected Franco-American governor, but will, undoubtedly, recognize him as the worst and most destructive governor Maine ever had.

That is a distinction that I am not proud to have as part of the Franco-American heritage.

He should have been given a medal of “dishonor.”

Donald LaBranche, Lewiston