When the oil and gas company Global Partners LP faced criticism from Maine lawmakers in 2019 over emissions violations at its petroleum storage facilities in South Portland, it turned to a well-connected operative to lobby the state legislature on a pair of bills targeting the company: Chace Jackson, the son of then-Maine Senate president Troy Jackson, now the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate.
Global Partners retained the Maine lobbying giant Preti Flaherty on May 8, 2019, the same day state lawmakers unveiled two bills addressing what the Portland Press Herald dubbed the “South Portland emissions controversy.” The federal government had found that Global Partners violated emissions limits years prior, in 2014, but city officials did not learn of the ordeal until the company agreed to settle the charges five years later. In response, Maine lawmakers unveiled a pair of bills requiring the Maine Department of Environmental Protection to notify local officials of such violations and subjecting Global Partners to independent inspections.
Chace Jackson, who worked for Preti Flaherty as a lobbyist and “legislative liaison” at the time, was one of three lobbyists listed on the contract, state records obtained by the Washington Free Beacon show. Global Partners paid the firm nearly $3,000 to lobby on the two bills. A company vice president, Drew Carlson, said Global Partners “had concerns” with them, arguing that they included provisions that could have “substantially increased the cost of handling and supplying fuels.”
“Global retained Preti Flaherty to help us understand and navigate the proposed legislation and evaluate its potential operational and economic impacts,” Carlson told the Free Beacon. “As part of that effort, we also met with legislators to provide background on Global, our operations and existing environmental protections, and to discuss the potential implications of the legislation for energy supply and costs.”
“Global had concerns about certain provisions of the bills, particularly those that could have substantially increased the cost of handling and supplying fuels necessary for commerce and everyday life in Maine and the broader region,” he continued. “Rather than actively opposing the legislation, Global chose to focus on being part of the solution. We provided policymakers with information about our operations, environmental protections and the potential economic impacts of the proposals, while working collaboratively with the State of Maine and the City of South Portland to address the underlying concerns.”
The notification bill, which required the Maine Department of Environmental Protection to notify affected municipalities when it learns of air quality violations, passed the Maine House and senate and was signed into law. But the inspection bill, which subjected Global Partners to “independent, third party platform” air quality testing of the company’s facilities, died in the Troy Jackson-controlled Maine Senate, which removed it from consideration on May 28, 2019, legislative records show. That bill targeted Global Partners more directly. Troy Jackson does not appear to have criticized the company publicly at the time. Global Partners did not formally submit testimony opposing the bill, though other companies and manufacturing groups did.
Chace Jackson’s lobbying work—for a Fortune 500 oil company, in particular—reflects how Troy Jackson and his family became entrenched in the “system” he now says he’s running against as he seeks to unseat Republican incumbent Susan Collins.
A self-described “fifth-generation logger” and “working-class voice,” Troy Jackson says his campaign “is guided by one goal: fixing our broken system so Maine’s working families stop getting squeezed while the rich get richer.” In April, he told Maine’s public broadcasting network that he’s running for higher office “because the status quo isn’t working,” something he blamed on “high-priced lobbyists and corporate greed.”
“I’m tired of [seeing] 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. “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.”
Troy Jackson’s criticism would, in theory, apply to his son.
Chace Jackson worked as a lobbyist for years as his father led the Maine Senate, including at Preti Flaherty, the largest government affairs and lobbying firm in Maine. While it’s unclear exactly when he started at the firm—he removed mention of the job from his LinkedIn profile years ago and has since made the account private—Chace Jackson listed himself as a “government relations liaison” at “Preti Flaherty, LLP” in a donation to Bernie Sanders’s presidential campaign made in February 2019, two months after his father became president of the Maine Senate. He identified the firm as his employer in additional campaign contributions—the overwhelming majority of which went to Sanders—through March 2020. He also authored Preti Flaherty’s “2018 Election Day Primer” and its 2019 “End of Session Update.”
Chace Jackson joined a second lobbying firm, the Resurgam Group, in 2022. Founded by Troy Jackson’s former chief of staff and current campaign adviser B.J. McCollister, the “full service lobbying firm” pledged to “leverage our strong existing relationships” in the state legislature to “help deliver results.” In 2024, the last year Troy Jackson served as Maine Senate president, the firm received nearly $200,000 in lobbying compensation from nine of Chace Jackson’s clients, including corporate giants like the multinational alcoholic beverage behemoth Diageo, the Free Beacon reported. With his father out of the legislature, Chace Jackson represented just five clients in 2025 and none in 2026, records show. It’s unclear if he still works for McCollister’s firm, which has since merged with a second firm, Frame Strategies.
A Jackson campaign spokesman said that “Troy Jackson has fought for working Mainers” and that his “work is guided by one goal: fixing our broken system so Maine’s working families stop getting squeezed while the rich get richer.” The campaign also noted that Jackson did not serve on the committee handling the independent inspection bill and said the Free Beacon‘s “reporting should note there is no evidence Troy changed his legislative positions because of Chace’s work.”
Troy Jackson himself has paid for his son’s political services. His 2014 failed congressional campaign paid Chace Jackson more than $32,000 in salary, making him the campaign’s highest-paid staffer, a Free Beacon review of campaign finance disclosures found. Chace Jackson, in turn, contributed $1,833.78 to his dad’s campaign, which refunded $1,750 of the money.
Troy Jackson also has personal ties to Preti Flaherty. The firm represented him in a 2020 lawsuit he filed against the sellers of his former home in Maine’s capital city of Augusta, claiming they did not disclose defects including an insect infestation. The case dragged out for four years, even after Troy Jackson sold the home in 2021 for a profit of $103,000. He claimed remaining damages of roughly $7,000 for insect extermination services and water damage. Preti Flaherty represented him on a contingency fee basis, meaning the high-priced firm only stood to get paid for its services if it won financial settlements. The arrangement was the subject of a 2023 ethics complaint against Troy Jackson.
Preti Flaherty did not respond to a request for comment. The firm is known for its founding partner, former state lawmaker Severin Beliveau, who lobbied on the Global Partners contract alongside Chace Jackson, records show.
The son of a Maine Supreme Court justice who attended prep school in Massachusetts before moving on to Georgetown University and Georgetown Law School, Beliveau is known as “Mr. Democrat,” “Darth Vader,” and “the man behind the curtain,” the magazine Down East wrote in a 2013 profile titled “The Influencer: Severin Beliveau.” He is “virtually hard-wired into the Democratic establishment,” the magazine added, noting that it “was Severin Beliveau’s phone at the state chair desk of the Democratic National Committee headquarters that was tapped by Watergate burglars in 1972, and he has entertained and been entertained by Democratic Presidents Carter, Clinton, and Obama.”
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