Gov. Janet Mills’ office worked closely with the developer behind a stalled Jay data center project who solicited local letters of support that would give her “cover” to veto a statewide data center ban, according to emails obtained by the Bangor Daily News.
The April veto killed what would have been the first statewide ban on new data centers in the country that would have lasted until late 2027, a politically risky move for Mills that came days before she ended her Democratic U.S. Senate primary. Her office had been laying the groundwork to protect the Jay project for weeks before she announced the decision.
Emails obtained in a public records request from the town of Jay show Mills had concerns about the ban’s effect on the project since at least late March, more than a month before she killed the measure. The project her veto was meant to protect has since stalled anyway, with its would-be operator pulling out in June and prompting criticism of Mills from progressive backers of the ban.
Tony McDonald, a real estate developer with the Portland-based Boulos Co. leading the project, solicited support for the veto from Jay officials and, later, a labor union with a stake in the project. The emails show that Mills had doubts about the bill over the Jay project since at least late March, more than a month before she ultimately killed it.
McDonald told Jay Town Manager Shiloh LaFreniere that month he had drafted language for an amendment exempting the Jay project from the ban “at the Governor’s request.” He said Mills had asked town officials to put together a letter backing the exemption, and they did.
The Legislature passed the bill without a Jay carveout on April 14. The next day, McDonald emailed LaFreniere a draft letter of support for a veto.
“I was just asked if I could get additional letters of support from the town and the county to help give the Governor ‘cover’ in vetoing this bill to offset the many emails she is getting from uninformed people who are pressing her to let the bill pass,” McDonald wrote. “This is very ‘real time’ as she may be making her decision today … it is important that we get something to her asap.”
LaFreniere quickly sent along a letter signed by Jay selectmen. A spokesperson for the governor’s office disputed McDonald’s characterization of the process, saying seeking local input on pending legislation is standard practice.
“In addition to being helpful for the Governor’s consideration, these documents were an important contribution to the public record, since a public hearing was never held on the moratorium portion of the bill,” spokesperson Ben Goodman said.
McDonald responded to questions from publicist Dan Cashman, who said the developer’s request for letters of support was standard practice.
McDonald’s outreach continued after the veto. As support built in the Legislature for an override, he asked the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, a union whose leaders favor the project, to weigh in on Mills’ behalf.
“We are hearing that [Gov.] Mills is getting an enormous amount of pushback and criticism from those in her party for her stance on the veto,” McDonald wrote to the union’s business manager.
The Legislature could not override the veto, and the moratorium bill failed. Sentinel, the data center company that was set to operate the Jay site, has not publicly explained why it halted work in June, though McDonald and others have pointed to Maine’s political resistance to data centers as a factor in making the state a harder place to build.
Mills is barred by term limits from seeking reelection as governor. The three candidates running to replace her, Democrat Hannah Pingree, Republican Bobby Charles and independent Rick Bennett, told The Portland Press Herald they would have signed the ban.
The emails are further proof that Mills’ opposition to the ban was built on a “flimsy pretext” and was driven by developers, said former state Rep. Seth Berry, D-Bowdoinham, the executive director of Our Power, a liberal ratepayer group that worked to pass the measure.
“There was nothing that you could take to the bank. They were all promises,” Berry said. “Some of them were obviously not worth the paper they were printed on.”
Daniel O’Connor is a Report for America corps member who covers rural government as part of the partnership between the Bangor Daily News and The Maine Monitor, with additional support from BDN and Monitor readers.