'They Get Rich. Maine Pays the Price': Platner Campaign Takes Swing at Collins and Corporate Lobbyist Husband

Democratic Senate nominee Graham Platner's campaign is taking aim at Sen. Susan Collins and her lobbyist husband, calling her long history of supporting policies that helped his firm "the biggest political scandal in Maine" in an ad released Wednesday.

It follows a report out the previous day from Zeteo revealing that Collins' husband, Tom Daffron, worked as recently as last year for a firm owned by Scott Reed, the lobbyist who leads Pine Tree Results, a billionaire-funded super political action committee (PAC) that is spending millions to support Collins' (R-Maine) campaign for reelection.

While not necessarily a violation of the law, which prohibits super PACs from coordinating with the campaigns they support, the Platner campaign described Daffron's lobbying work as “only the latest example of the blurred lines between Collins, her husband, and the Washington insider network that has surrounded her political career for decades.”

Daffron’s activity as a Washington lobbyist stretches back more than two decades, before his marriage to Collins in 2012. In 2006, Daffron became the chief operating officer of the lobbying and consulting firm Jefferson Consulting Group.

A veteran of national Republican campaigns, he also served as a consultant on Collins’ 1996, 2002, and 2008 Senate bids, and ran her leadership PAC from 2003 until 2012. As far back as 2001, the Portland Press Herald described Daffron as "a close friend [of Collins] and one of the top advisers in her ‘kitchen cabinet.'"

Platner’s ad accuses Collins of having overseen "over $76 million in taxpayer dollars to his company,” which the campaign has argued was due in part to contracting reform legislation she wrote, and which passed in 2008. That law was said to “improve the federal acquisition workforce,” an area in which Jefferson Consulting specialized.

The Platner campaign cited a 2020 article by Salon, which found that:

Between 2006 and 2016, Daffron’s firm landed more than $76 million spread across dozens of federal contracts related to acquisition and procurement, according to searches on USAspending.gov.

In 2010, Jefferson Consulting reported providing acquisitions services and support to nearly two dozen federal agencies. Certain specific provisions included with Collins’ 2007 contract reforms appear to have benefited Daffron’s firm directly, by adding new requirements for acquisition services that Jefferson specialized in.

The ad also highlights Collins' role in voting against several ethics and transparency efforts that could have impacted firms like the one run by Daffron.

One amendment she voted against in 2006 would have required members of Congress to disclose when they or their staff were discussing a possible future private-sector role while serving in government. It would also have restricted lobbyists from giving gifts to lawmakers, such as free lunch or paying for travel or tickets to events.

In 2012, Collins helped to defeat another amendment that would have targeted the so-called “political intelligence” industry that profits from acquiring insider information and passing it on to investors, corporations, and other clients.

Platner has attacked Collins over her husband's work in recent days, thundering before a crowd on the night of his primary victory last week that “Susan Collins has used her privilege to funnel... federal contracts to her lobbyist husband. If that’s not corruption, I don’t know what is.”

Collins has denied the accusation, saying "It’s just not true, and it’s obvious that Mr. Platner has a problem with the truth.”

Platner has also highlighted Collins' own personal net worth, which had grown from just over $205,000 in 2011 to at least $4.3 million today, when including the estimated value of her stock holdings.

"Has anybody else gotten 21 times wealthier since Susan Collins was elected to office?" Platner asked last week. "Does Maine have 21 times the schools and hospitals? No, we have less."

The ad continues to hammer on this theme of self-dealing, calling out that "Collins voted for new forever wars that gave billions to companies they invested in."

"They made millions," the ad states. "They get rich. Maine pays the price."