Troy Jackson’s $80k+ in Taxpayer-funded Reimbursements Were Approved by Troy Jackson

In 2020, 2021, and 2022, Senate President Troy Jackson (D-Aroostook) received more reimbursement via the State Legislature for travel, meals, and lodging than any other lawmaker in Maine — despite the fact that he maintained a residence less than three miles from the State House during that time.

According to legislative rules approved by Senate President Jackson and House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross (D-Portland), the only person who needed to approve Jackson’s reimbursement requests, which totaled $82,454 in those three years, was Jackson himself.

Jackson’s travel reimbursements have come under scrutiny following a Maine Wire investigative report that found Jackson purchased a home in Augusta in Sept. 2019 and owned the home until Dec. 2021.

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According to the Federal Housing Authority-backed mortgage Jackson obtained for the house, Jackson was required to make the Augusta house his primary residence as a condition of receiving the loan.

Jackson’s spokesperson Christine Kirby has said Jackson never took steps to make Augusta his primary residence.

She did confirm that Jackson, despite selling the Augusta house in Dec. 2021, continues to maintain a rental residence in Augusta.

As a lawmaker from Allagash, Jackson would be expected to book more travel reimbursement than a lawmaker from Kennebec County.

But Jackson owning a house 2.1 miles from the State House and, later, renting an apartment less than one mile from the State House raises the question of whether the lawmaker reimbursed himself with taxpayer money for travel that never happened.

At the start of the 131st Legislature, Jackson signed off on rules for state lawmaker reimbursements.

“By state law, requests for allowances and reimbursements, other than for legislative or authorized committee meetings, must be approved by appropriate presiding officer before they will be processed for payment,” the rules state.

Jackson, as the presiding officer of the Senate, is therefore the person in charge of approving his own reimbursement requests.