Republican district attorney candidate Seth Carey hoped to use beer to try to snag some extra votes from Bates College students in Lewiston.
But his plans to hold a free keg party Saturday at an Auburn bar after the football game between Bates and Colby colleges fell apart late Friday when the establishment’s owner pulled the plug.
Bar owner Jeremy Fitts, in response to dozens of critical comments under the story on the Sun Journal Facebook page, posted, “Everyone can relax now… it’s been cancelled.”
Carey had sought to encourage as many to attend as possible by trying to arrange free rides to and from campus.
“Bates students are the biggest bloc of Democrats that I want to flip to my side,” Carey said Friday.
He planned to distribute invitations to the private party at the Saturday afternoon game at Garcelon Field along with spreading the word on social media and through friends.
Carey, whose law license has been suspended over allegations of sexual assault, is challenging Democrat Andrew Robinson, a career prosecutor who took office in 2014 in an uncontested race, in the Nov. 6 general election.
Carey, who has protection from abuse orders issued against him to stay away from two women, faces hearings in November that may lead to the loss of his law license.
District attorneys must be able to practice law in order to qualify for the job.
Despite that, Carey has said he’s aiming to win on Election Day and, if all goes well, to take office Jan. 1 as the next district attorney for Androscoggin, Oxford and Franklin counties.
Offering free beer to football fans struck Carey as “the best way” to make inroads into the mostly Democratic vote at Bates.
“I was going to the game, anyway, and it just came to me,” Carey said.
He said it made sense to squeeze in a celebration between the gridiron matchup with a longtime rival and the start of the World Series baseball game with the Boston Red Sox in the evening.
Carey decided he would get a keg of Bud Light, and arranged to hold the party at Fitts’ Bar & Grill at 150 Center St., which is the same location as Sapphire Nightclub. He said he would co-sponsor it with his new athletic clothing company, Hammer Athletics.
Carey said he would probably give away some shoes to those attending to spread awareness of the new brand.
Carey’s poster and social media posts say the “Bates Student Council” was going to provide free rides for students. But he said Friday that might not happen.
There is no such thing as the Bates Student Council. A representative of the Student Government at Bates said the group is not involved.
Walter Washington, the student body president at Bates, said, “Let me be very clear. Student Government in no way, shape or form is supporting this event, whatsoever. We are not supporting him or his campaign in any way.”
Marjorie Hall, a Bates spokeswoman, said the college “is not involved with this event.”
Regardless, Carey said there would be plenty of designated drivers because many students are not 21 years old and therefore not legally allowed to drink.
It’s not clear how many students expected to attend. “Either way, I’m going to be there,” Carey said, because he plans to watch the Red Sox game at the bar.
On his event page on Facebook, it initially appeared he might be drawing a crowd, with 122 people indicating they planned to attend.
But a quick perusal of the likely attendees found that nearly all of them live in Brazil.
Poster for district attorney candidate Seth Carey’s keg party.
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