AUGUSTA, Maine — A Republican lawmaker has filed an ethics complaint against Maine Senate President Troy Jackson over allegations he obtained a federal loan to purchase and live in an Augusta home as his primary residence despite representing Aroostook County.
Rep. John Andrews, R-Paris, submitted the complaint Tuesday to Maine Ethics Commission Executive Director Jonathan Wayne and Attorney General Aaron Frey after the conservative Maine Wire reported earlier in the day on Jackson’s former Augusta residence and a pending lawsuit he and his partner filed against the previous owners.
The Maine Wire reported that Jackson, D-Allagash, used a Federal Housing Administration loan to purchase the home on North Belfast Avenue in 2019 and signed an agreement to use the Kennebec County property as his “principal residence” for at least one year.
That came while Jackson was — and still is — a senator representing Aroostook County and reportedly received more than $25,000 in 2020 and 2021 in reimbursement for traveling between Allagash and Augusta.
Jackson spokesperson Christine Kirby said Wednesday the Democrat “has long been criticized for the amount of time he spends in Augusta due to the fact that he lives the farthest away from the State House,” roughly five hours or 300 miles, while helping run the Legislature.
“It would be impossible for him to do this as a daily commute,” Kirby said in an email. “These politically motivated attacks are nothing new whether we are dealing with a right-wing blog post or the letter from Rep. Andrews.”
Kirby added Jackson has “always complied” with residency requirements.
“President Jackson lives in Allagash. It is the address on his license, where he votes, and where he receives his homestead property tax exemption,” Kirby said. “It’s also in the area where he grew up, where his kids grew up, and where his parents live. It is where he calls home.”
Jackson first won election to the Maine House of Representatives as an independent in 2002 before joining the Democratic Party and winning election to the Senate in 2008. He became Senate president in 2018.
The ethics complaint from Andrews, who provided a copy of it to the Bangor Daily News, argues that if the allegations are true, Jackson violated the Maine Constitution’s requirement that lawmakers reside in their districts.
Andrews linked to the Maine Wire story in his ethics complaint, adding that it appears Jackson “has submitted false information” to a bank, the ethics commission, an insurance company and the state to obtain reimbursement for traveling between Allagash and the State House.
“The integrity of your offices demands that these matters be investigated fully,” Andrews, a member of the Judiciary and Veterans and Legal Affairs committees, wrote.
“No one is above the law, not even the second highest elected office in the state,” Andrews told the Bangor Daily News on Wednesday.
The story from the news arm of the conservative Maine Policy Institute also cited records showing Jackson sold the North Belfast Avenue home for $323,000 in 2021 after buying it for $216,000 and that Jackson and his partner now have a different home on Parkwood Drive in Augusta while they continue to own an Allagash home, where Jackson runs a logging business.
A Maine Ethics Commission official said Andrews’ complaint is otherwise confidential, per state law. The Maine Wire reported in a follow-up story Wednesday that Maine Ethics Commission Executive Director Jonathan Wayne emailed Jackson to inform him of the complaint and added that the office plans on “requesting more specifics from Rep. Andrews, determining whether it is within our department’s jurisdiction, and taking the next appropriate steps.”
A spokesperson for Frey, the Democratic attorney general, said Wednesday the office will review Andrews’ letter “as we would any complaint we receive.”