Rep. Josh Morris (R-Turner) appeared on the Ray Richardson radio show on Monday morning and sharply criticized former Democratic Senate President and newly announced gubernatorial candidate Troy Jackson.
[RELATED: Holy Smokes, Batman: Troy Jackson Is Running for Governor!…]
Richardson and his guests discussed the 2026 gubernatorial election that is now beginning to intensify. As the number of declared candidates for the Blaine House grows, Jackson formalized the start of his anticipated campaign on Monday.
“This guy admits that he didn’t read a freaking mortgage document, didn’t understand what he was signing, and he wants to be governor? You don’t think there’s stuff you gotta read then you gotta understand,” Rep. Morris said of Jackson, “He’s a moron.”
[RELATED: Should Troy Jackson Worry About Leticia James’ Mortgage Fraud Investigation?…]
Morris’s statements harken back to allegations of mortgage fraud perpetrated by Jackson, who appears to have made false claims on a mortgage document while serving as a senator from Aroostook.
While serving in the Senate, Jackson purchased a house in Augusta. The mortgage on the Augusta home required Jackson to make the Augusta house his primary residence in order to qualify for a low-interest Federal Housing Administration loan.
If Jackson changed his primary residence to Augusta, he would no longer be able to run as a state senator from Aroostook County. Instead of either refusing the loan or surrendering his political position to live in Augusta full-time, Jackson apparently decided to have things both ways.
Jackson signed the mortgage document, promising to move his primary residence to Augusta, but he has admitted numerous times that he never actually changed his permanent address.
This placed Jackson in the difficult position of having sworn in campaign documents that he was a resident of Aroostook County, while also having sworn on mortgage documents that he would move his residency to Augusta.
Jackson has denied allegations of mortgage fraud and has claimed that he did not actually read the mortgage documents he signed and was thus ignorant of the requirement to move his primary address.
The Maine Ethics Commission voted in 2023 against investigating Jackson’s alleged submission of a false address on campaign documents, while clarifying that the alleged mortgage fraud lies outside its jurisdiction.
The former Senate president also allegedly applied for and received over $160,000 in mileage reimbursements and lodging costs between 2019-2023. These were intended to fund his travel to Augusta and stays in the city when he needed to drive to and from the State House from his home in the Aroostook County, 285 miles away.
Those reimbursement requests only increased after he purchased his house in Augusta, despite already having a place to live in the city, which would eliminate the need for him to incur any travel costs.
Coincidentally, House Majority Leader Matt Moonen (D-Portland) promoted his bill, LD 1968, before a legislative committee on Monday morning that would ease the limits on legislators’ expenses, basically allowing the Legislative Council to amend them at will. If passed, it could arguably allow for the ‘confusion’ about Jackson’s mileage claims to be sorted among friendly legislators ex post facto.
“(This) bill removes specific dollar amounts that Legislators may be reimbursed for meal allowances, travel-related expenses of a meal allowance and housing allowances and instead provides that the rate of these allowances must be set by the Legislative Council
Jackson eventually sold the Augusta house in the wake of the controversy, though he has now set his sights on a different Augusta house, the Blaine House.
“The past few months I’ve been in union halls, diners, and school gyms from Allagash to Kittery–and I’m hearing the same thing: working Mainers are fed up. So I’m not sitting on the sidelines–I’m running for Governor,” said Jackson on X.
