AUGUSTA, Maine — Gov. Paul LePage was back in the Blaine House and resting Monday after a weekend health episode that led to him being taken back to Maine from a family trip to New Brunswick, according to a spokesman.
It was unclear when the governor returned to Augusta. His office has released scant details about his condition since this weekend, saying in a Sunday statement that he felt “discomfort” Saturday evening and was taken by ambulance from a New Brunswick hospital to Presque Isle.
By Saturday’s end, LePage was taken to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor, where his office said while the governor was expected to make a full recovery, he was being held overnight for examination. Spokesman Peter Steele said he was back in Augusta on Monday.
“Governor LePage is back in the Blaine House today, resting and getting ready to return to work in the next couple of days,” Steele said in an email. “He and his family thank everyone for their concerns and well wishes.”
LePage’s office notified Senate President Mike Thibodeau, R-Winterport, on Saturday that the governor was being hospitalized, said Robert Caverly, Thibodeau’s chief of staff. Under the Maine Constitution, Thibodeau would serve as acting governor if LePage were incapacitated.
Caverly said Thibodeau’s office has never received such a notification from the governor’s staff, including on at least two past occasions when LePage underwent surgery. He had bariatric surgery in September 2016 and one of his shoulders was replaced in May.
LePage has traditionally been slow to give health updates. He first spoke publicly about his weight-loss surgery in January 2017. He disclosed in May that a car hit his bicycle during a Florida ride in November, leading him to move up the already scheduled shoulder replacement.
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