Maine Senate President Backed Funding Bill Benefiting Academy Employing His Son
While presiding over the Maine Senate, Troy Jackson co-sponsored a measure that would direct $13.4 million to the Maine Maritime Academy, where his son Chace Jackson was listed as the institution’s legislative lobbyist.
While serving as president of the Maine Senate, Troy Jackson co-sponsored a January 2024 bill that would provide an additional $13.4 million to the Maine Maritime Academy for fiscal years 2024 and 2025. The measure followed a July 2023 budget amendment Jackson backed, which added $2 million per year—the largest increase in years according to the Maine Service Employees Association. At the time, Jackson’s son, Chace Jackson, was the academy’s “legislative designee,” a position meant for full-time staff, yet his registration forms list him as a lobbyist for the Resurgam Group, a firm started by Jackson’s former chief of staff B.J.
McCollister. The Free Beacon review notes that over 300 other legislative designees are full-time employees and not registered lobbyists. Chace Jackson also represented corporate clients such as Diageo and the Maine Gun Safety Coalition, earning $182,500 in 2024. The academy’s funding request passed the Senate but never became law, and the academy stopped filing designee disclosures after 2025 when it ceased to be classified as a state agency.
Why it matters
The case highlights potential nepotism and conflict-of-interest concerns in state funding decisions during a high-profile Senate campaign.
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