When I saw the half-page ad on Page A3 of the March 1 Portland Press Herald, encouraging citizens to call Sen. Susan Collins and urge her to repeal and replace Obamacare, I noticed the ad was paid for by One Nation and decided to find out more.

I learned that One Nation is a dark money group run by Steven Law, former chief of staff to Sen. Mitch McConnell and also head of Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS and American Crossroads. One Nation has the stated goal of electing Republican senators to the U.S. Congress; with 501c(4) tax-exempt status, it is considered a nonprofit and does not need to disclose the sources of its funding.

One Nation has spent many millions of dollars to promote Republican candidates and was one of the largest spenders in nonpresidential elections in 2016. Because of Citizens United, One Nation and other dark money groups can spend unlimited and undisclosed money to influence elections.

We have no idea who is funding this effort. Could it be millions of individual citizens who want to see Republicans elected to office, or could it be big corporations or their surrogates who want to elect members of Congress that would promote their agenda and thus enrich their companies?

We have a right to know where this money is coming from and should demand that our members of Congress work for greater transparency. Greater transparency is in the interest of citizens and members of Congress. My letter to Sen. Collins will be asking for her support of legislation mandating that any organization engaging in a significant level of political activity must disclose its donors to the Federal Election Commission.

Jan Chapman

Cape Elizabeth


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