In ordinary times, Mary Ann Lynch (“Maine Voices: Why this Democrat supports Susan Collins,” July 18) might have had a point about Susan Collins. Except, since November 2016, our country has been manhandled by an incompetent president and a conservative Republican Congress whose master plan is to seed the courts with pro-life judges.

“Moderate” Susan Collins chose nearly 200 times to vote for nearly 200 particularly conservative judges. So much for being a champion of women’s reproductive health rights. Isn’t that a keystones of the Democratic platform?

Ms. Lynch was impressed by Collins voting to acquit President Clinton. The Clinton impeachment was about a president who told a silly lie about a personal encounter. The trial of Donald Trump was about a president who abused presidential powers for personal gain.

If ever our country needed a moderate voice to balance out the extreme partisan divide this was it. But as with Brett Kavanaugh, Collins chose her party. She has repeatedly abandoned her moderate standards for the price of slick advertising for her re-election.

So why would Mary Ann Lynch, a Democrat, write in support of Susan Collins under these circumstances? It seems the Press Herald omitted a key bit of information from Ms. Lynch’s author biography: She is a lobbyist. What did they call it for the president? I think it is “quid pro quo.”

Jo Trafford

Portland