Bangor handed hundreds of thousands in federal grant money to Food and Medicine, a nonprofit where Democratic gubernatorial candidate Troy Jackson worked, that campaigned against the voter ID referendum and in favor of a convicted killer for the City Council.
[RELATED: Killer Of Canadian Tourist In Old Orchard Beach Among Three New City Councilors In Bangor…]
“The name sounded familiar since while running for City Council a couple years ago there were flyers mailed to residents of Bangor with this name on the flyer supporting specific individuals from a particular political party. In addition to these mailers, it appears that there were paid canvassers that listed “Food & Medicine” HQ address as the address of record,” said former Bangor City Council Candidate Philip Henry in a post calling out the city’s funding for the partisan organization.
According to Bangor’s most recent report on its use of federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) grant funds, the City Council decided to award $336,342 of its $20.48 million in ARPA funding to the 501c(4) dark money nonprofit Food and Medicine.
The nonprofit does not have to disclose its individual donors and can theoretically accept an unlimited amount of funds and use those funds to endorse and work to elect candidates, serving as a potential workaround for donors who prefer not to have their campaign contributions made public.
Food and Medicine actively intervened in the most recent Bangor City Council election in November, campaigned against the failed voter ID referendum, and employed, or currently employs, former Maine Senate President and current Democratic gubernatorial candidate Troy Jackson.
The city earmarked $75,000 of the grant funds for Food and Medicine to build “raised bed gardens in underserved neighborhoods” as part of its “collective gardens,” and the other $261,342 went to their workforce development program.
Strangely, Food and Medicine’s Form 990 tax filing for 2024, shows that the organization drew in $661,854 but does not list any income under the “government grants” section of the tax documents, despite receiving money from the Bangor grant in that year.
Though the funding may be for innocuous purposes, it, of course, frees other resources for more political aims.
According to Food and Medicine’s website, they endorsed three left-wing candidates for the Bangor City Council: Daniel Carson, Susan Faloon, and Angela Walker.
Walker, notably, is a killer who was convicted after brutally killing a Canadian tourist on Old Orchard Beach by beating him and suffocating him by forcing sand down his throat.
Food and Medicine did more than just endorse the candidates; they actively campaigned on their behalf, sending out mailers and knocking on more than 3,000 doors for the candidates.
Henry told The Maine Wire that Food and Medicine’s canvassers did all of Walker’s door-knocking for her.
According to the Bangor Daily News, Food and Medicine executive director Jack McKay has appeared as a speaker at a Graham Platner campaign event, though they have not officially endorsed the Senate candidate.
According to Maine State Ethics Commission filings, Food and Medicine spent $9,759 campaigning against the voter ID referendum.
Outside their more overt political action, the organization also has close ties with Troy Jackson, who listed them as his employer on his last statement of income filing during his time in the state Senate.
It appears that Jackson continued working with the dark-money organization after his time in the legislature was up, as he appeared on their website as a project’s organizer at least as recently as May 16, 2025, the day he first announced his gubernatorial campaign.
Based on archived versions of the site, he was removed from it sometime between May and July, though it is not clear whether he has actually stopped working for them.
The Maine Wire reached out by phone to Food and Medicine, but they did not answer.
The official press email address on Jackson’s website is inactive, and the candidate did not answer his phone or respond to a voicemail asking about his association with the dark money group.
Jackson’s gubernatorial campaign filings reveal that Food and Medicine’s director and deputy director have both made multiple direct contributions to his campaign, though the organization has not currently endorsed him.
Food and Medicine also operates under the trading name Maine Jobs with Justice and has ties to the larger Washington D.C.-based Jobs with Justice 501(c)(4), which lists them as part of their “network.”
