Gov. Paul LePage delivers the State of the State address to the Legislature on Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2017, at the State House in Augusta.

Gov. Paul LePage said his State of the State speech on Tuesday took a soft tone compared to what he wanted to say.

“Frankly, I thought we softened it up because I think they need to look at the mirror,” he said during a radio appearance Thursday on WGAN. “I don’t think I threw the gauntlet down at all. I thought I was kind.”

LePage’s self-assessment comes despite the rough tone of his speech — particularly the first part of it — and the fact he scorched members of the Legislature as “liberals” more than 16 times and blamed them for many of Maine’s problems.

“Mainers need to understand that one ideology for 40 years and we’re 44th in the nation on the prosperity index should tell us all something,” said LePage. “Maybe it’s time we look at the other side and see if there’s some good there.”

Six-plus years into his administration, LePage is showing signs of a new tolerance to work with the Legislature. In recent days, including during Tuesday’s speech and again today on the radio, LePage talked about how impressed he is with Democratic Sen. Troy Jackson of Allagash, the Senate minority leader who LePage said has met with him several times in recent weeks. One outcome of those meetings, according to LePage, is new work on drug addiction treatment options that LePage credited Jackson with spearheading.

But LePage’s love doesn’t spread much further than Jackson when it comes to lawmakers, particularly Democrats. Not yet.

“If they’re small-minded, then they’re small-minded then they’re going to have their feelings hurt and so be it. Then we get nothing done,” said LePage. “If they’re broad-minded and they love the state the way that I do, then they’ll want to sit down and work.”

LePage said he thought he impressed both parties when he said Maine needs to pay its public school teachers more.

“They were either getting tired of sitting down and stood up or really believed I was hitting the right chord about getting more money into the classrooms,” said LePage.

Democrats have been advocating for years for paying teachers more, including a bill last session from Sen. Rebecca Millett, D-South Portland, which would have created a $40,000 minimum annual salary for teachers. That bill failed in the Republican-controlled Senate.

Whatever lawmakers think of LePage’s tone, it could be much worse. For example, LePage could do what he (jokingly) imagines Bill Belichick, coach of the New England Patriots, does before football games.

“What he does is he collects all the players’ wives and children and brings them into the locker room,” said LePage. “He has them all hanging upside down. Then he threatens every player. ‘If you lose this game you’re done. And your family is done.’”

LePage watched Super Bowl, still hates the Patriots

AUGUSTA (AP) — Maine Gov. Paul LePage says there’s no chance he’ll reach out to the New England Patriots about visiting his state following the club’s Super Bowl victory.

The Republican governor made the comment during an interview on WGAN-AM on Thursday morning. An interviewer asked if there was any way LePage would reach out to the Patriots, and he replied, there was “not a chance.”

LePage said last week that he had no interest in watching the Super Bowl because of his dislike of the Patriots. He feels the club treated the state of Connecticut unfairly during a scuttled push to move the franchise there in the 1990s.

But LePage says he did watch the game. However, he says the Patriots represent “bad business” and lack “character and integrity.”