Sussman-backed enviro group rolls on Jackson

Sen. Troy Jackson (D-Aroostook), candidate for Congress in Maine’s 2nd district, found himself on the receiving end of campaign attack directed by the League of Conservation Voters.

While the LCV says they are targeting Jackson because of key votes his made in the past, Jackson said his environmental record is comparable to that of his opponent, Sen. Emily Cain (D-Penobscot). He says what really explains LCV’s attacks against him is a $25,000 donation S. Donald Sussman made to LCV.

Sussman, who is a major supporter of Maine Democrats and majority owner of the Portland Press Herald, has also contributed to Cain’s campaign.

Jackson accused LCV of letting Sussman’s donation trump principle on Twitter yesterday. But the LCV fired back with press releases and infographics making the class for Jackson’s unprecedented placement on the groups “Dirty Dozen” list.

“Troy Jackson failed to protect Maine’s public health, sided with polluters, and refused to take on big challenges like climate change. His election would put Maine on the wrong path,” said Dan Amory, board president of Maine Conservation Voters.

Jackson’s lifetime score with the league is 64 percent compared with Cain’s score of 90 percent. In endorsing Cain, the group cited her “support for action on climate change and transitioning to a clean energy economy that will create jobs in Maine and across the country.” 

The LCV will send mailers into northern Maine — one endorsing Cain and another assailing Jackson. The latter mailer hits Jackson for two votes: one, in 2008, on a bill “opposing limits on the amount of carbon pollution that power plants can dump into our air,” and another, in 2011, on a bill to repeal Maine’s pesticide notification registry.

Jackson’s campaign protests that no Democratic primary candidate with his LCV score has ever been targeted in such a manner. What really explains the $150,000 attack, they say, is that large donation from one of Cain’s wealthiest supporters, Sussman.

“I don’t have a hedge fund billionaire and his friends paying for my seat in Congress,” Jackson said in a press release responding to LCV. “People like that won’t support people like me because they know they can’t buy me off. I want to go to Washington to fight against Wall Street influence, not carry their water. I want to bring the voice of working Mainers to the floor of Congress, where more than half of the members are millionaires out of touch with everyday life and the needs of a vast majority of people in the Second District.”