The waitress bounded with a cup of
chowder and a plate of fish and broccoli.
It was Ann LePage's first double shift at
McSeagull's, a bustling restaurant touting
double-wrapped bacon scallops and views
of Boothbay Harbor.
The wife of Maine Republican Gov. Paul
LePage had kept a low profile for the first
few weeks of her summer job. But then her
husband told a crowd at a recent town hall
that his wife took a job to "supplement" his
$70,000 salary, the lowest of any U.S.
governor.
The LePages live with their dog, a Jack
Russell terrier mix named Veto, in the
Augusta governor's mansion and bought a
$215,000 Boothbay home two years ago.
The governor recently tried but failed to
increase his successor's salary to $150,000,
above the nearly $135,000 average for all
50 state governors in 2015.
Ann LePage said being a waitress is
"something I've always, always wanted to
do."
Her daughter Lauren made $28 an hour
last summer at McSeagull's. LePage said she
spent years taking care of her mother, who
long suffered from scleroderma and passed
away in October.
Now it's time to follow through on her
interest, LePage said, adding: "I know she'd
be proud of me."
Wearing a black McSeagull's T-shirt and
sneakers with pink shoelaces, LePage
greeted customers with an easy: "Hey, how
are you?"
LePage, who's saving up for a Toyota RAV4,
works three days a week, and is asking for
more shifts.
"Because of who I am and who I'm married
to, I want to work extra hard just so I can
show them I can do the job," she said.
She doesn't tell customers, or co-workers,
who she is unless they ask.
But when a reporter revealed her identity
Thursday, the news just confirmed a
customer's inklings.
"I knew, that's why I kept staring!"
exclaimed Nina Stoddard, of Bridgton, a
Republican.
She later wondered: "I mean, is she really
here just making money?"
Her friend Laurie Green, of Casco, said she
loved it.
"I really hate a lot of our politicians
nowadays that have the wealth, the
money," said Green, an unaffiliated voter.
"They have no clue what the average
person out in the world is doing."
Stoddard agreed and suggested LePage
herself should run for office: "It's the best
of Maine, the best of who we are. Two feet
on the ground."

Ok