During his final year as president of the Maine Senate, Troy Jackson added his name to legislation that would have provided an additional $13.4 million to Maine Maritime Academy for the 2024‑2025 fiscal period. The bill did not become law, but the timing of the proposal has drawn scrutiny because Jackson's son, Chave Jackson, was listed as the academy's "legislative designee" at the same time.
The funding request followed a July 2023 budget amendment that Jackson supported, which added $2 million per year to the academy's budget. The Maine Service Employees Association described the increase as the single biggest in years, and the academy's officials said the money was needed to cover rising costs. The later bill would have extended that boost, but it stalled in the House and never reached the governor's desk.
In Maine, a legislative designee is a state employee who represents a department or agency in the Capitol. The role is intended to keep lobbying activities inside the public payroll and to avoid the expense of hiring external firms. Most of the more than three hundred active designees are full‑time agency staff, according to a review of public records.
Chave Jackson's filing history deviates from that norm. He first registered as the academy's designee in December 2022, describing himself as a legislative affairs coordinator. The registration listed the address of the Resurgam Group, a lobbying firm founded by B.J. McCollister, who served as Troy Jackson's chief of staff before starting the firm in 2021. The 2022 form also used a personal email address rather than an academy address. It was not until the 2024 filing that the academy's mailing information appeared on the record.
Resurgam Group is a full‑service lobbying shop that hired Chave Jackson shortly after its launch. In 2024 the firm earned $182,500 in fees from nine clients represented by Jackson, including Diageo, the multinational spirits company, and the Maine Gun Safety Coalition. The coalition's agenda aligned with several gun‑control measures that Troy Jackson voted for, despite his earlier endorsement by the National Rifle Association.
State ethics officials stopped requiring Maine Maritime Academy to submit designee disclosures after 2024 because the academy is no longer classified as a state department or agency. The change means there is no current public record confirming whether Jackson still holds the designee position.
Long‑time legislative staffers familiar with the arrangement said it appears to give the Senate president's son preferential treatment. One veteran staffer noted that no other agency has combined a full‑time designee role with outside lobbying work, pointing to the University of Maine system and the Maine Community College system as examples where designees are solely agency employees.
The controversy emerges as Troy Jackson campaigns for the U.S. Senate seat held by Republican incumbent Susan Collins. Jackson, a fifth‑generation logger who describes himself as a "poor kid," has framed his candidacy around fighting "special interests, high‑priced lobbyists, and corporate greed." Critics argue that the funding push for the academy and the employment arrangement for his son undermine that message.
Jackson's political rise began with his election as a state representative in 2008, followed by a tenure as Senate president from 2018 to 2024. During that period he oversaw the passage of numerous budget items, including the 2023 academy increase. His former chief of staff, B.J. McCollister, left the Senate in 2021 to launch Resurgam Group, and another former chief of staff, Max Rush, joined the firm in 2024.
Campaign finance filings show that Troy Jackson paid his son more than $32,000 in salary for the 2014 congressional race in which Jackson was a candidate. Chave Jackson contributed a modest amount to that campaign, most of which was later returned. Jackson has not filed a new finance report since being named the Democratic nominee in July, leaving the current financial relationship between father and son unclear.
The Maine Senate's budgeting process requires a two‑step approval: the Senate and House must each pass a budget bill, after which the governor signs it into law. While the Senate under Jackson's leadership approved the academy funding, the House's opposition prevented the measure from becoming law. The episode illustrates how state‑level appropriations can become entangled with personal connections, especially in a small‑population state where political networks are tightly knit.
For voters in the upcoming Senate race, the issue raises questions about how state legislators manage conflicts of interest and whether those practices translate to federal office. If elected, Jackson would move from a state‑focused role to a national arena where lobbying rules differ and oversight mechanisms are more extensive.
Both the Jackson campaign and the academy declined to comment on the matter. A campaign spokesperson reiterated that Troy Jackson "has fought for working Mainers and is guided by one goal: fixing our broken system so Maine's working families stop getting squeezed while the rich get richer." The lack of a response from the academy leaves the public without a definitive answer on the current status of the designee position.
As the November election approaches, the funding controversy adds a layer of scrutiny to a race that already features a clash between a long‑standing Republican incumbent and a Democratic challenger who has positioned himself as an outsider. How Maine voters weigh the alleged conflict of interest against broader policy disagreements will likely influence the final tally.