As president of the Maine Senate, Democrat Troy Jackson, now running for U.S. Senate as an opponent of "greedy corporations," cosponsored a bill allowing online lenders to skirt Maine's interest rate caps when offering small-dollar loans to borrowers with poor credit. A lobbying firm that employed Jackson's son supported the 2022 bill on behalf of a "predatory" lending company that was sued months earlier for violating consumer protection laws, a Washington Free Beacon review found.
The bill, which Jackson and five other Maine Democrats introduced in February 2022, was framed as a measure to "Establish Consumer Protections Regarding Small Dollar Loans." But the Maine Credit Union League criticized the "misleading bill title," noting that the measure "would open the door for out-of-state rates and rent-a-bank schemes" by repealing portions of a 2021 law, "An Act to Protect Consumers Against Predatory Lending Practices." That law forces online lenders outside of Maine to adhere to the state's interest rate cap of 30 percent on loans of $2,000 or less. Under Jackson's bill, such lenders could skirt the cap and charge significantly higher rates, often close to 200 percent.
High-interest loans can saddle low-income borrowers with debt. They can also generate significant revenue for companies like OppFi, a Chicago-based online lender that offers high-interest, small-dollar loans—usually between $500 and $5,000 with an average rate of 150 percent—to consumers with poor credit. The company retained the Resurgam Group, a lobbying firm founded by Jackson's former chief of staff and current campaign adviser B.J. McCollister, to lobby in favor of the bill, according to testimony McCollister submitted to the state legislature in March 2022, the same year McCollister hired Jackson's son, Chace Jackson, as a partner.
McCollister argued that the bill would extend "access to reputable credit" to "those that need it in Maine" and credited OppFi for helping with "the 150 million consumers who are locked out of mainstream credit options gain access to credit to help rebuild financial health." He did not address OppFi's average interest rates, which were the subject of a consumer protection lawsuit filed by the District of Columbia months earlier, in April 2021. The district accused OppFi of offering "predatory, high-interest, short-term loans to individual consumers," saddling them "with exorbitant and unfair interest rates of up to 198% that far exceed the permissible interest allowed in the District." In November 2021, OppFi agreed to a settlement forcing the company to pay a $250,000 fine and to refund "over 4,000 District consumers who were charged exploitive interest rates by the company."
The bill marks the latest example of Jackson using his power as Maine Senate president to benefit those close to him.
In 2024, Jackson's final year in the role, the Resurgam Group received nearly $200,000 in lobbying compensation from nine of Jackson's son's clients, the Free Beacon reported. They included the Maine Gun Safety Coalition, which retained the younger Jackson and McCollister to lobby on a pair of gun control bills that Troy Jackson, a former Second Amendment supporter endorsed by the National Rifle Association as recently as 2022, voted in favor of.
Around the same time, in January 2024, Jackson cosponsored a bill sending millions of taxpayer dollars to the Maine Maritime Academy as his son worked as its designated lobbyist, the Free Beacon reported. One year earlier, in March 2024, Jackson took credit for securing a new cell phone tower in his rural town of Allagash, which he dedicated to the town's "hardworking families" who "have been left behind." The tower was built on his family's land, an arrangement that can generate landowners thousands of dollars a month in profits, the Free Beacon reported.
Jackson is nonetheless running as a "working-class voice" running for higher office because "high-priced lobbyists" are hurting everyday Mainers.
"I'm tired of good bills that would help lower prescription drug costs, protect workers, stop the spraying of harmful chemicals and so much more get vetoed," he said in an April candidate questionnaire. "I'm tired of folks being told to hold on, wait a little longer or that now is not the right time. All thanks to the work of special interests, high-priced lobbyists and corporate greed."
The Jackson campaign appeared to indicate that Jackson no longer supported the measure, noting that it "did not pass."
"In the legislature, he was open-minded to solutions that had the potential to help struggling Mainers get ahead," the campaign told the Free Beacon in a statement. "Troy’s son was not registered to lobby for this bill while Troy was a cosponsor, and ultimately, the bill did not pass."
An OppFi spokeswoman told the Free Beacon that the company "operates under the highest ethical and legal standards, routinely engaging state and federal lobbyists to advocate for consumers in full compliance with the law."
"Referencing a five year old D.C. resolution where our bank partner simply made a business decision to exit a small market distorts our record, especially since California courts dismissed a similar challenge and reaffirmed the legality of our business model," the spokeswoman added. "We will continue to advocate for expanding credit access for everyday Americans."
FRAME Strategies, the consulting and lobbying firm that the Resurgam Group merged with last November, did not respond to requests for comment.
Jackson's Republican opponent, incumbent senator Susan Collins, has taken a different legislative approach when it comes to lenders like OppFi. In May 2021, she was one of three Republicans to vote for a bill allowing OppFi and other high-rate lenders to evade state-level interest rate caps.
Collins criticized Jackson over his son's lobbying work during a recent debate.
"If you look at the number of times that Troy has flip-flopped his position on issues, it usually has to do with issues that his son has been hired to lobby him on," she said.
Collins also took aim at Jackson's tenure as "principal officer" of Maine Senate Democrats' campaign arm, the Maine Senate Democratic Campaign Committee. With Jackson at the helm, the committee took hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from corporate PACs and lobbyists, the Free Beacon reported. Pressed on that fundraising during his debate against Collins, Jackson said, "I can't help that an organization that I actually worked with and had a real significant role in decided to take checks from people." Collins said the answer "just defies belief."
