The Portland Press Herald. Video by WMTW.

AUGUSTA - Gov. Paul LePage used his own editorial judgment when he described the IRS as the "new Gestapo" in his radio address last week.

But the governor acknowledged Monday that his reference to the Nazi secret police "clouded" his message about the federal health care law.

LePage's written statement stopped short of a public apology, which had been demanded by national and local Jewish groups. However, Emily Chaleff, director of the Jewish Community Alliance of Southern Maine, said LePage called her to personally apologize for his remarks.

At the same time, LePage told WMTW-TV in an interview Monday: "It was never intended to offend anyone and if someone's offended, then they ought to be goddamned mad at the federal government."

Monday was the third day of a controversy that has drawn national media attention, over a comment that LePage added to his weekly radio address, which aired Saturday.

Adrienne Bennett, LePage's communications director, often writes the governor's radio message.

She wrote the address for last week, but said the governor inserted the "Gestapo" reference after she and the staff had finished editing it.