Mobbing Susan Collins

Having evidently failed to persuade Senator Collins to vote against the Kavanaugh nomination, left-wing activists have now resorted to bullying her and to concocting a campaign-contribution scheme that is of dubious legality under federal anti-bribery law.

Per this Wall Street Journal house editorial, Collins reports that her state offices have been receiving “out-of-state voicemails” that are “incredibly offensive,” including one caller who “threatened to rape one of [her] young female staffers.” In another silly stunt, anti-Kavanaugh activists have been sending Collins coat hangers, which she in turn has had the good sense to send to a local thrift shop that needs them.

In the campaign-contribution scheme, a group called Maine People’s Alliance is leading an effort to solicit funds from donors to pressure Collins to vote against the Kavanaugh nomination. Under the scheme, funds pledged will go to Collins’s opponent in her 2020 election campaign if she votes for Kavanaugh; if she votes against him, the pledges will be released. As of two days ago, the effort had raised more than one million dollars.

As the Washington Post reports, Adav Noti of the Campaign Legal Center “told the Post he thought the listing was illegal, noting that bribery is a federal crime.” The Campaign Legal Center, I’ll note, would not be mistaken by anyone for a conservative group: its board chair is Norman Ornstein, and it holds liberal positions on campaign finance and other issues.

Read the full article.