Under more criticism, Congdon keeps swinging; Remarks condemned by NAACP, Penobscot leader

[eShirl]

A Maine cabinet member who managed to offend rural residents, African-Americans and Native Americans all in one day took one more swipe at critics after being forced out of his position, suggesting they lacked the intellect to understand his comments.

Two days after abruptly resigning as commissioner of the Department of Economic and Community Development, Philip Congdon was criticized by the NAACP and a Maine Indian tribe for remarks he made earlier this month in northern Maine.

His comments were even too much for the state's blunt-speaking governor, Paul LePage, who has been criticized himself for his choice of words.

Congdon was quoted as saying affirmative action programs have contributed to a decline in higher education, that people of northern Maine were lacking in parenting skills and that it was time for them to "get off the reservation" if they wanted to succeed. He said Maine's potato farmers were wasting their spuds by selling them for french fries rather than vodka.

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