AUGUSTA, Maine — Maine Senate President Troy Jackson for the first time on Wednesday denied a Republican lawmaker’s complaint that he may have committed home insurance fraud.
It is one of two Republican-led complaints made last month against Jackson, a Democrat from Allagash, in recent weeks. They emanate from reporting in The Maine Wire, the news arm of the conservative Maine Policy Institute, and revolve around documents from a lawsuit filed by Jackson against the couple that sold him an Augusta home in 2019.
Both of the complaints allege that the leading Democrat committed a crime. Jackson, who is seen as a potential candidate for higher office, has already responded to a residency-related claim, adding Wednesday that the insurance one is based on a misreading of documents filed in his legal case, saying it comes from politicians “clearly concerned about my future in politics.”
“It’s unfortunate that this fringe group of lawmakers have decided to bring the ugliness of Washington, D.C., politics to Maine,” Jackson said in a statement to the Bangor Daily News. “It’s not what Mainers want, need or deserve.”
Republicans have used a conservative news outlet’s reporting to zero in on Jackson over questions of whether he committed fraud while owning the home on North Belfast Road. The lawsuit from Jackson and his partner against the couple that sold them the home is still active and alleges that the former owners misrepresented the condition of the house before selling it.
Rep. Joshua Morris, R-Turner, a real estate agent who serves on the Legislature’s insurance committee, sent a letter Sept. 20 to the Maine Bureau of Insurance asking it to investigate whether Jackson engaged in insurance fraud.
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He cited a report from the Maine Wire, saying exhibits in the lawsuit show Jackson knew about a carpenter ant infestation in 2019 but did not take steps to deal with it before filing an insurance claim in 2021 for more than $5,000 worth of damage that “would have been caused by a carpenter ant infestation.”
The Senate leader retorted Wednesday that the documentation Morris included in his letter to Schott contradicts the Republican lawmaker’s accusations, as it “makes clear that the 2021 insurance claim deals with water damage in a bathroom.”
The lawsuit exhibits included in Morris’ note include a Travelers Insurance claim for about $5,400 in damage in January 2021. The type of loss is listed as “WATER DAMAGE – NON-WEATHER RELATED.” The claims adjuster listed damage in the bathroom, main level and utility room, with no direct references to carpenter ants.
In the lawsuit against the former owners of the home Jackson and his partner purchased for $220,000 in 2019 along with the former owners’ broker and his company, the lawmaker’s attorney said he and his partner asked the ex-owners if any carpenter ant issues existed in the house before buying it.
The owners responded the home had been treated annually for carpenter ants for preventative maintenance but there were no “current issues,” the lawsuit says. After moving in, Jackson and his partner claim they discovered the former owners appeared to have drilled holes through drywall in several spots to insert ant poison or conceal holes created by the ants.
Jackson and his partner then hired an expert to assess the damage, and the expert concluded the damage “was so extensive in the dining room alone” that major renovations were needed. In a counterclaim that a court dismissed under Maine’s anti-SLAPP law, the couple claimed they paid for an inspection prior to selling the home that recommended Jackson and his partner hire a pest inspector to handle the carpenter ants but that the eventual buyers did not.
The attorney for the couple sued by Jackson declined to comment on the record.
The BDN shared the exhibits and Morris’ letter with insurance experts and attorneys outside of Maine. Dante Weston, a partner with the Florida-based Donaldson and Weston law firm, said it would not be a “smart way to pull insurance fraud” to buy a home with known damage, then secure a policy and wait a year to file a claim for the past damage.
“If this senator was of the mindset, ‘I’m going to do this fraudulently to gain money or gain an upper hand,’ it’s probably the least efficient type of fraud you could do for this strategy,” Weston said.
While the fraud allegations would be “pretty damning” if true, Maine authorities should have the ability to sort out the case and Jackson should be able to explain it, Karl Susman, president of Los Angeles-based Susman Insurance Agency, said.
A person who is found to have committed insurance fraud in Maine can face civil penalties of between $500 to $5,000 for each violation. The Bureau of Insurance followed its standard practice for consumer fraud allegations by referring Morris’ letter to Attorney General Aaron Frey’s office, spokesperson Judi Watters said. Frey spokesperson Danna Hayes confirmed the office received the letter but said she could not share additional comment.
Jackson’s office has also denied the residency and loan-related allegations Rep. John Andrews, R-Paris, made in a separate complaint that cited the Maine Wire reporting. The Maine Ethics Commission will consider that request for an investigation on Oct. 25.
Among those allegations are that Jackson may have run afoul of residency requirements for lawmakers or submitted false information when he got a Federal Housing Administration loan to acquire the Augusta home in 2019 and signed off on it as his “principal residence” while also residing in Allagash.
Jackson told the Portland Press Herald he “never really read” the mortgage forms that his broker filled out for him. The broker told the Maine Wire his firm always follows federal law.
Morris ridiculed Jackson’s denial of the claims, saying he was blaming others for his troubles and argued that there is “both smoke and fire” around the top lawmaker’s activities.
“If he took more responsibility for his actions or for the mess this state is in on his watch, we’d all be better off,” the Republican said.