Gov. Paul LePage’s weekly radio interview on WVOM has become a bombastic, must-listen lately, and Tuesday’s appearance was no different.

The Republican governor repeated a version of remarks on drug dealers the Morning Sentinel said he delivered at a recent speech in Waterville, saying legislative proposals to increase sentences for traffickers didn’t go far enough.

He said “the death penalty should be appropriate for people who kill Mainers” and “in my opinion, we should give them an injection of the stuff they sell.”

After that, an unprompted LePage said “what we ought to do is bring the guillotine back.” He laughed, then said, “We could have public executions and we could even have which hole it falls in.” (I don’t know what the latter means.)

LePage made other news in the interview, including:

• Previewing his TV town hall tonight: Bangor ABC affiliate WVII will air an hour-long LePage forum at 8 p.m. today, but LePage said he doesn’t know who’s going to be allowed in or what the questions will be, saying he’s “just showing up to give a town hall.”

• Renewing criticism of Verso: LePage’s interview was before news broke that Verso Corp., the operator of a Jay paper mill, is filing for bankruptcy. But he criticized Verso last year and on Tuesday, he said they haven’t been “a good corporate citizen and the sooner they get out of Maine, the better off Maine’s going to be.”

• Saying many legislators are “socialists”: LePage has taken to using the word “socialist” to describe Maine lawmakers lately, and on Tuesday, he accused the Legislature of intentionally depressing wages and said “it’s really frightening to see the amount of socialists we have in Augusta.”

More coverage: Paul LePage’s office says town hall doesn’t replace State of State speech

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