A political action committee connected to an alleged pay-to-play scheme has resumed its spending on behalf of Republican Sen. Susan Collins.
The Pine Tree Results PAC on Tuesday reported nearly $2 million in new spending on television ads attacking Democratic challenger Troy Jackson. It was the PAC’s first expenditure since late August and it follows a recent report from ProPublica alleging that its chair, Scott Reed, discussed concealing an illegal donation from a defense contractor to a different committee that backed Collins’ 2020 reelection.
Reed, a longtime Washington lobbyist with close ties to Collins and her husband, Tom Daffron, has denied those allegations to The New York Times. Collins, who has called the ProPublica report offensive and outrageous, told reporters on Capitol Hill last week that Reed is a man of integrity.
In 2020, Reed ran the 1820 PAC, which spent nearly $12 million backing Collins’ reelection. Campaign finance filings show that the Pine Tree Results PAC has nearly doubled that spending this cycle.
The new PAC is funded by an array of well-heeled donors and dark money groups.
This story appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.