Maine Democrats criticize Susan Collins over reported allegations of pay-to-play scheme

Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

Maine Democrats are demanding that Republican Sen. Susan Collins answer for a report that her office committed to steering millions of dollars in federal contracts to a Hawaii-based defense contractor in exchange for donations to her 2020 campaign.

“This is an incredibly serious allegation that we need Susan Collins to respond to and address immediately,” Devon Murphy-Anderson, the executive director of the Maine Democratic Party, said. “We’re not up here calling for Susan Collins to resign. We’re not up here putting blame on her. We are asking her for answers,” she added.

ProPublica reported on Tuesday that several executives of the contractor, Navatek, met with a top fundraiser for Collins in 2019 as she was facing a tough reelection contest in which she was behind in fundraising. The meeting took place about a year after Collins helped steer a multimillion-dollar naval research contract to the company, ProPublica reported.

ProPublica reported that the fundraiser asked the executives for a campaign donation, and the company’s CEO, Martin Kao, agreed to cut a check in exchange for tens of millions of additional dollars in government contracts, despite prohibitions on government contractors making political contributions.

The story could shake up a race that could help decide control of the Senate in November. Collins, a five-term incumbent, is seeking reelection in a state that President Donald Trump lost in 2024 by seven points.

Collins’ deputy chief of staff, Annie Clark, said in a statement that the allegations in ProPublica’s story were “categorically false.”

“The Collins campaign cooperated fully with the FBI throughout the investigation, producing all of the documents it requested and serving as fact witnesses in official settings,” Clark said in the statement.

She accused Kao of “making outlandish charges about the Collins office” while facing sentencing in his federal case.

The FBI issued a statement saying that “the allegations made in this article had already been investigated by the FBI years ago and ultimately found nothing implicating Senator Collins or Senator Collins’ campaign. Any suggestion otherwise is totally false.”

Collins’ campaign manager, Steve Abbott, held a press conference Wednesday in which he described ProPublica’s reporting as “outrageous.”

“We hear this every cycle that Susan Collins is corrupt and all,” Abbott said. “I mean, whatever … It’s the same thing over and over and over again.”

ProPublica reported that Kao, using a shell company, sent $150,000 to Collins’ campaign fundraising arm. Kao later told other executives that Collins had committed to giving Navatek $32 million in government contracts. The story included a picture of a check made out to the pro-Collins 1820 PAC from the purported shell company “Society of Young Women Scientist and Engineers, LLC.”

The outlet also reported those alleged actions prompted an FBI investigation that was shuttered shortly after Trump took office in 2021.

Kao and two other Navatek executives in 2022 were indicted on charges of making unlawful campaign contributions to a candidate for Congress. Kao, who was already serving a sentence stemming from a COVID-relief fraud case, pleaded guilty in the illegal campaign donations case last year and was sentenced to an additional 33 months in prison.

Collins ended up winning her 2020 contest against Democrat Sara Gideon by more than 8 points.

Democrats held a press conference in Maine Tuesday morning demanding more answers from Collins.

“We deserve to know exactly what happened,” Murphy-Anderson added. “We deserve to know whether taxpayer dollars were always being directed solely based on the interests of Maine people, or if there was something else at play, and we deserve representation in DC that understands the public office is public trust.”

乔纳森·恩斯特/路透社

缅因州民主党人要求共和党参议员苏珊·柯林斯就一份报告作出解释，该报告称，她的办公室承诺将数百万美元的联邦合同输送给一家位于夏威夷的国防承包商，以换取对其 2020 年竞选活动的捐款。

“这是一项极其严重的指控，我们需要苏珊·柯林斯立即回应并处理，”缅因州民主党执行主任德文·墨菲-安德森说。“我们不是来要求苏珊·柯林斯辞职的，也不是来指责她的。我们只是要求她给出解释，”她补充道。

据ProPublica周二报道，承包商Navatek的几位高管曾在2019年与科林斯的一位主要筹款人会面。当时科林斯正面临一场艰难的连任竞选，筹款情况落后于对手。ProPublica报道称，此次会面发生在科林斯帮助该公司获得一份价值数百万美元的海军研究合同大约一年之后。

ProPublica 报道称，筹款人向高管们索要竞选捐款，该公司首席执行官 Martin Kao 同意开支票，以换取数千万美元的额外政府合同，尽管政府承包商被禁止进行政治捐款。

这一消息可能会对11月参议院的控制权归属产生重大影响。科林斯已连任五届，此次寻求连任的州是特朗普总统在2024年大选中以7个百分点的劣势败北的州。

科林斯的副幕僚长安妮·克拉克在一份声明中表示，ProPublica 报道中的指控“完全是错误的”。

克拉克在声明中说：“在整个调查过程中，柯林斯竞选团队与联邦调查局充分合作，提供了联邦调查局要求的所有文件，并在官方场合担任事实证人。”

她指责高在联邦案件中面临判刑期间“对柯林斯办公室提出了荒谬的指控”。

联邦调查局发表声明称，“本文中的指控联邦调查局多年前就已进行过调查，最终发现没有任何证据表明参议员柯林斯或柯林斯参议员的竞选活动与此事有关。任何相反的说法都完全是错误的。”

科林斯的竞选经理史蒂夫·阿博特周三举行新闻发布会，他在会上称ProPublica的报道“令人愤慨”。

“我们每届选举都会听到苏珊·柯林斯腐败之类的说法，”艾伯特说。“我的意思是，随便吧……总是老一套。”

据ProPublica报道，高某利用一家空壳公司向柯林斯的竞选筹款机构汇款15万美元。高某后来告诉其他高管，柯林斯已承诺向纳瓦泰克公司提供价值3200万美元的政府合同。报道中还附有一张支票的照片，支票抬头是支持柯林斯的1820政治行动委员会，支票抬头人是据称由一家名为“青年女科学家和工程师协会有限责任公司”的空壳公司开出的。

该媒体还报道称，这些指控行为引发了联邦调查局的调查，但在特朗普 2021 年上任后不久，该调查就被终止了。

2022年，高和另外两名纳瓦泰克公司高管因涉嫌向国会候选人非法捐款而被起诉。高此前已因新冠疫情救济金诈骗案服刑，去年他承认了这起非法捐款案，并被判处额外33个月监禁。

科林斯最终在 2020 年的竞选中以超过 8 个百分点的优势击败了民主党候选人萨拉·吉迪恩。

周二上午，民主党人在缅因州举行新闻发布会，要求柯林斯给出更多解释。

“我们有权知道究竟发生了什么，”墨菲-安德森补充道。“我们有权知道纳税人的钱是否始终完全用于缅因州人民的利益，还是另有隐情。我们有权在华盛顿特区拥有真正理解公职是公众信任的代表。”