Senator Collins is paying the political cost for not standing up to Donald Trump

Maine Writer: Although Senator Collins is spending a lot of money by speaking directly to voters in her re-election political ads, these messages are not improving her public opinion poll numbers. None of her ads claim she is a Republican candidate running for re-election.  Instead, they claim that she is independent (with a lower case "i"). Her positive messages do not explain how her right wing partisan behavior would change, if she were to be re-elected.  I've known Senator Collins to be a nice person, but her politics have become stridently partisan over the years, in spite of Maine's moderately Democratic political demographics.

https://www.suitupmaine.org/case-against-collins/

Meanwhile, the Bangor Daily News reported that Senator Collins Democratic challenger Sara Gideon leapfroged Susan Collins in fundraising ahead of 2020 US Senate race.

Echo article published in The Hill by John Bowden and the Bangor Daily News by Jessica Piper.

Maine Sen. Susan Collins (R) has seen a dip in her approval rating statewide, according to a new poll.

The Maine senator continues to be a top target for Democrats in the fall.  A survey released Monday by the Bangor Daily News found that just 37 percent of voters in the state approve of the job she has done as senator, compared with 52 percent who said they disapproved.

That represents a drop of 5 percentage points for Collins's approval rating since a previous BDN/Critical Insights poll in the fall, when Collins was supported by 42 percent of voters in the state. 

Her approval rating had hovered around that level for much of 2019, rising only one point between the firm's polls in the spring and fall.

Other political figures in the state fared better than Collins in the poll: Gov. Janet Mills (D) saw her approval rating rise from 47 points last fall to 60 points in the latest BDN/Critical Insights poll, while Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) remained popular with the support of 59 percent of voters.

Maine residents now overwhelmingly expect the economy to worsen in the months ahead, according to the survey, with 57 percent of voters saying they expect the economy to be in worse shape next year, up from 32 percent in the fall.

The BDN/Critical Insights poll surveyed 596 registered voters in Maine. Further polling information was not immediately available, and Critical Insights pollsters did not immediately return a request for comment.

Foundation law ~ it can't be used for personal expenses! Encore Donald Trump alert!

Former IRS attorney writes op-ed urging Internal Revenue Service to investigate Trump ~ (In my opinion, the IRS has a responsibility audit the Trump Foundation!) 

An echo from The Hill by John Bowden.  @jabowden4

A former attorney to the chief counsel of the Internal Revenue Service who specialized in nonprofit organizations is urging the agency to open an investigation into the Trump Foundation, Donald Trump's personal charitable foundation.

In an op-ed for The New York Times, Philip Hackney argued that Trump could be prosecuted for evading taxes on some of his "self-dealing" payments, as well as for making false statements on tax filings.

Trump is "criminally liable for his actions," Hackney wrote.
The op-ed follows a lawsuit filed by the New York attorney general alleging violations of state and federal law. The lawsuit charged that Trump has employed the foundation for questionable uses including to making payments on lawsuits against his golf clubs.

The lawsuit also referred the case to the IRS, asking that the agency examine the foundation for possible violations of tax laws.

"If I were still at the I.R.S., based on the lawsuit, I would make a criminal referral, on charges of tax evasion or false statements on a tax return, or both," Hackney wrote.

"The government could anchor a tax evasion and false statement case upon the multiple instances of self-dealing, as cataloged by the New York attorney general, between Mr. Trump and the foundation," Hackney continued. "The attorney general details occasions when Mr. Trump directed the foundation to acquire expensive things like paintings of himself for himself."
"Each of these self-dealing transactions probably subjected Mr. Trump to a 10 percent tax applied to the value of the transaction. In addition, he may owe other excise taxes and penalties," he wrote.
The case would be complicated, however, by Trump's argument that his lawyers handle all or most of the Foundation's tax filings, while he has said in the past that he "hopes" the filings are correct.
IRS prosecutions, Hackney continued, are reserved for repeat offenders who show brazen disregard for laws against charitable self-dealing.

"I do not believe these violations are within the norm of mistaken or accidental use," he wrote of Trump's activities. "It represents a continued willingness to violate basic charitable norms."

In particular, Hackney pointed to the Trump Foundation's $25,000 donation to the re-election campaign of Pam Bondi, the Republican attorney general of Florida, as one instance of improper contributions made by the Foundation for which it later apologized.
"He may see it as a petty violation, but it is an enormous breach for the broader community," Hackney argued. "The I.R.S. owes it to the public to investigate such egregious acts for criminal violations."