Quick Check is a Bangor Daily News election feature that fact-checks political ads in 400 words or less. We have partnered with The Maine Monitor on a subscription to AdImpact, an ad-tracking platform that powers this feature.
A new Republican ad says Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Troy Jackson went easy on child sex offenders as a state lawmaker, citing votes on sentences and where offenders can live.
The sentencing charge is misleading. The residency charge is closer to true, though one of three votes it cites put Jackson on the side of tougher limits.
The claim
“Troy Jackson voted to let child sex offenders live near playgrounds and schools. Jackson also voted for shorter prison sentences for repeat child sex offenders,” a narrator says.
The context
Saying Jackson voted for “shorter prison sentences” suggests they were being cut. They weren’t.
In 2005, Jackson, then a state representative, joined a 105-33 House majority, including most Republicans, to kill a bill setting new mandatory minimums of 10 years for gross sexual assault and sexual abuse of a minor, and 20 years for repeat offenses. Gov. Janet Mills, then a state representative, also opposed it, arguing it covered too wide a range of cases.
The next year, Jackson was one of five House Democrats who backed a failed amendment for a 25-year mandatory minimum for gross sexual assault of a child under 12, and life in prison for repeat offenders. He backed a version that became law requiring judges to start at 20 years or more.
On residency, Jackson voted in 2005 against a version of a bill barring some offenders from living near schools. It covered only offenders against children under 12 within 500 feet of elementary schools. It narrowly failed.
As a senator in 2011, he voted against a scaled-back Republican bill that would have let some towns expand buffer zones from 750 to 2,500 feet. The opposition was bipartisan. The Republican-led House killed it 93-56.
The ad also gets a 2009 vote backward. Jackson opposed a version that capped local limits at 750 feet and barred stricter ordinances. It put him on the side of 12 of 15 Senate Republicans, including one who warned it would preempt 2,500-foot ordinances in Lyman and Waterboro. It advanced 18-17 and eventually became law with Jackson absent for the final vote.
Who’s behind the ad
The Maine Standard is a super PAC that registered with the Federal Election Commission on Sept. 11. It has booked about $8.7 million in ads, per AdImpact, but hasn’t had to disclose donors. Its first fundraising report is due this week.