In the State House, I’ve never been afraid to reach across the political aisle to solve our state’s biggest problems. Bipartisanship means a lot to me. Working across the aisle comes with certain responsibilities; you have to mean what you say in order to build trust. I haven’t seen that with Rep. Jared Golden.

Throughout his career in politics, I’ve watched as Golden has taken both sides of many issues – frankly, it’s part of his playbook. Golden’s history of flip-flops includes guns, the border crisis, Biden’s spending and trade. There’s a big difference between seeking common ground and simply saying one thing and doing another. One helps get things done. The other is politics.

I feel compelled to respond to some misleading perspective on Golden’s record on corporate PAC money. It’s another example of his duplicity, and this instance takes the cake.

Golden has pledged repeatedly to never take donations from corporate PACs for his campaigns. It’s right on his website. He has sanctimoniously lectured Mainers over and over about the danger of this money. But Golden has accepted money from groups like the American Petroleum Institute’s PAC, and other groups like the American Innovation PAC — which is funded by corporations like health insurance giant Blue Cross Blue Shield, defense contractors like Lockheed Martin, the American Bankers Association and more.

Wait, you might be saying. Doesn’t that mean Golden broke his pledge?

Not according to Golden. Golden claims it’s different if the Federal Election Commission classifies those PACs as “trade association PACs” rather than “corporate PACs.” According to a recent report by the Bangor Daily News: “Both types usually employ lobbyists who push for policy changes affecting their sectors.”

So, in Golden’s world, he won’t accept a dollar from Exxon’s PAC, but he will accept money from the American Petroleum Institute, which is funded by Exxon and others.

According to the same Daily News report, Golden’s campaign “did not answer a question on how Golden sees the line between corporate and other PACs.” We can’t have a member of Congress behaving in a manner this phony.

If you’re a Republican and you’ve watched Golden, you know that every two years he comes back and says the things he hopes you’ll agree with. Then he goes to Washington and votes for President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ laughably named Inflation Reduction Act. He said for years he was pro-Second Amendment, then flipped after the shooting in Lewiston. Lately, he’s been using legalese to split hairs about where he gets his campaign contributions.

How can anyone trust Rep. Jared Golden? And how can anyone trust him in Congress, when the foundation for getting things done is trust and being a man of your word?

Rep. Golden has been in Washington for a few years now, so he may have forgotten this simple fact: It doesn’t matter if you put butter or mayo on your lobster roll. At the end of the day, it’s still a lobster roll.