Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), a pro-abortion Republican who will be a key vote in Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation process, condemned crowdfunding efforts by leftist groups in Maine aimed at getting her to oppose Kavanaugh.
Mainers for Accountable Leadership (MFAL) and the Maine People’s Alliance are fundraising to oppose Collins in 2020, asking donors to pledge funds that they will only be charged if she votes to confirm Kavanaugh. The groups have raised $992,543 from 35,488 pledges as of Tuesday morning.
“I consider this quid pro quo fundraising to be the equivalent of an attempt to bribe me to vote against Judge Kavanaugh,” Sen. Collins told Newsmax Monday.
“If I vote against him, the money is refunded to the donors. If I vote for him, the money is given to my opponent for the 2020 race,” she continued, emphasizing that, “this effort will not influence my vote at all.”
“I think it demonstrates the new lows to which the judge’s opponents have stooped,” she added.
Cleta Mitchell of Foley & Lardner, a Republican elections lawyer, told Newsmax that the groups’ fundraising may violate election laws.
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“It is certainly raising the specter of whether or not this violates the United States criminal code to prohibitions against attempted bribery, by linking official actions to monetary reward,” she commented.
Sen. Collins recently told the Portland Press-Herald Friday that she remains undecided on whether she will vote to confirm Kavanaugh.
Collins also recently emphasized after a meeting with Kavanaugh that she “could not support a nominee who demonstrated hostility to Roe," but she "did not see that with Judge Kavanaugh.”
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