The former governor of Maine has a new gig slinging drinks.
Paul LePage, 70, a Republican who served as governor from 2011 to 2019, is spending his summer bartending at McSeagull’s Restaurant in Boothbay Harbor.
LePage told the Lincoln County News he decided to take the job to spend more time with his wife, Ann, who has worked as a server at McSeagull’s for four years.
“She wanted to work here this summer and I didn’t want to be home alone all summer, you know what I mean?” LePage said.
LePage said he started the job in June and works about 24 hours per week. He has leaned on his experience as a bartender in college, but said the job is different than what it used to be.
“When I was bartending in college, everything was a 7-and-7, rum-and-coke. Now it’s all these special drinks with all kinds of sugar in them. … I like to make the rum bucket because I like to watch them drink it and see if they’re still walking afterwards,” LePage said.
Patrons of the bar have taken notice of the former governor.
“I’ve taken hundreds and hundreds of pictures. It’s fine. I mean, I love it. I don’t mind it, unless it gets busy, then it gets harder and harder,” LePage said.
He said he and his wife will work at McSeagull’s until the end of the season when they will just “hang around and be retired.”
“My wife’s been working here four years and she really has made a lot of friends and she just loves to come back and work. She just enjoys it. And why not? After eight years of being a governor’s wife, it’s time she had fun,” LePage said.
