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Democrat Graham Platner is lobbing allegations of corruption against Sen. Susan Collins, releasing an ad Wednesday that alleges the Republican used her office to benefit her husband’s former lobbying and consulting firm.
The ad, obtained by the Bangor Daily News, resurfaces similar claims of ethics breaches made by former Maine House Speaker Sara Gideon and Democratic allies in 2020. A BDN analysis then found no direct links between Collins’ husband’s business and her actions, which included bipartisan reforms.
The subject amounted to just a subplot in Collins’ 2020 race. Platner looks poised to put it at the center of one of the country’s biggest Senate races after months of defending himself over scandals linked to his personal life and past behavior. The ad comes just a week after he called Collins “spineless” and “corrupt” after securing the Democratic nomination.
“They made millions. They get rich,” according to the voiceover in the 30-second spot. “Maine pays the price.”
Collins’ campaign challenged the premise of the ad, saying many of the claims were discredited years ago.
“Graham Platner can’t run on a record of results, and now that he’s sinking in the polls faster than an oyster boat with a hole in it, he resorts to lying about [Collins’] husband,” campaign spokesperson Shawn Roderick said. “His accusations are long on outrage, short on evidence, and based on already debunked lies.”
The ad, and a draft strategy memo shared with BDN, shed light on how Platner seeks to go on the offensive. The attacks on Collins — which follow a string of Republican attacks on Platner — and the hundreds of millions of dollars flooding into political advertising in Maine are signs of an increasingly bitter campaign heading into November.
The new ad argued Collins watered down or voted against anti-corruption efforts, and held seats on committees overseeing federal contracting and agencies that paid her husband’s former firm, Jefferson Consulting Group, more than $70 million between 2009 and 2016 while he was chief operating officer.
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Platner’s memo makes the case that Collins’ legislative reforms in the mid-2000s helped shape federal contracting policy to boost “training and retention of acquisition professionals.” Over the next several years, Jefferson Consulting Group “brought in $76 million from government contracts related to acquisition and procurement,” Platner’s campaign says.
Collins’ campaign emphasized that while the senator held leadership roles in several powerful committees, federal contracts are awarded by agencies, not Congress. Contracts to her husband’s firm were approved largely under then-President Barack Obama.
Platner’s team noted that Collins and Thomas Daffron have known each other since the 1970s while on the staff of former Sen. William Cohen. He previously served as a campaign consultant for multiple Collins runs. He also managed her leadership political action committee from 2003 to 2012, when they married.
Jefferson Consulting Group did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Senate Ethics Committee, which a liberal watchdog group reportedly pushed to open an investigation into Collins in 2020, also did not respond. Platner’s claims that the senator blocked anti-corruption efforts over the last 20 years drew fire from the senator’s team.
One centered on her 2012 vote against a Republican-proposed amendment to the STOCK Act which would have required lobbyist-style registration for “political intelligence consultants.” The definition of consultants in the amendment was overly broad and could have included journalists, leading to 39 bipartisan votes against it, Collins’ team said.
Another was a 2006 vote against an amendment covering lobbyist gifts and revolving door rules. That amendment was also too broad, Collins’ team said, potentially restricting the ability of constituents and grassroots groups to interact with their representatives. The following year Collins co-sponsored a bipartisan bill that banned lawmakers and staff from accepting gifts or travel from lobbyists, and extended the cooling-off period before former lawmakers and executive branch officials could lobby in Washington.
A proposal by Collins in 2011 would have blocked an Obama administration requirement that federal contractors disclose their political spending, a move Platner said amounted to “shielding firms exactly like her husband’s.” Collins was adamant at the time that political information should not have a role in the federal bidding process.
Platner has faced criticism and attack ads from Collins-aligned PACs over previous social media comments about sexual assault survivors, Black people and other Mainers. He won the primary a little more than a week after reports that three ex-girlfriends alleged toxic behavior and that he sent explicit messages to multiple women early in his marriage.
Platner has come out of almost every controversy swinging, with bolstered grassroots support and fundraising. He says his private life has been “weaponized” against him, while Collins’ track record is a “familiar story of an establishment politician who went to Washington promising to serve the public and stayed long enough to start serving herself,” according to his campaign.
The challenger’s ad urges voters to cast their ballots for him “to invest at home, ban billionaires from buying elections [and] stop the corruption.”
On investing at home, Collins’ camp was quick to cite almost $1.5 billion the senator secured for Maine projects over the last six years. She is now the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, a post that is at the center of her bid for a sixth term.