{"id":344,"date":"2026-07-02T09:39:56","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T09:39:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=344"},"modified":"2026-07-02T09:39:56","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T09:39:56","slug":"platner-collins-and-the-peculiar-definition-of-political-scandal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=344","title":{"rendered":"Platner, Collins, and the Peculiar Definition of Political Scandal"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n

The Founding Fathers had a finely honed sense of the corroding power of corruption. They wrote prohibitions on self-enrichment and the pull of bribery directly into the Constitution on , banning foreign and domestic gifts, changes to presidential compensation during one\u2019s period in office, and appointments for members of Congress that could be remunerative. They believed that someone treated well by a foreign potentate or stateside special interest would be naturally inclined to benefit them, if even unconsciously, and that a wall needed to be constructed to guard against this.<\/p>\n

Read more VA Ignores Veteran Suicides in Private Facilities<\/a><\/p>\n

That the Supreme Court has directly or indirectly nullified these one by one is a tragedy. But the court of public opinion, at least as mediated by gatekeepers of information, has also<\/em> separated what counts as corruption from what counts as a political scandal. Donald Trump personally earning $1.4 billion from a family cryptocurrency business that benefits from his administration\u2019s lenient crypto policies (much of those crypto purchases coming directly from a foreign government) is less well known to the public than whatever wild thing he said on his personal social media site the night before.<\/p>\n

More from David Dayen<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

By the same token, Marjorie Taylor Greene is a household name, and Darializa Avila Chevalier will soon be, because of what they say, or once said. Thomas Daffron is not a household name.<\/p>\n

Daffron is Susan Collins\u2019s husband. He was also a registered lobbyist and eventually became chief operating officer of a K Street consulting firm named Jefferson Consulting, prior to and after marrying Collins. This firm received $76 million in government contracts for acquisition and improvement consulting during Daffron\u2019s tenure from 2006 to 2016. Much of it came after he became COO, and especially after Collins wrote a contracting reform bill in 2007, parts of which boosted Jefferson Consulting.<\/p>\n

Some of the connections appeared rather clear. To use one example, the Collins bill required a strategic plan for acquisition at the Federal Acquisition Institute, and Jefferson billed the Federal Acquisition Institute for its strategic plan. This pattern repeated; the bill put in rules mandating precisely the services Jefferson Consulting provided.<\/p>\n

This is not a new revelation. It was released on the eve of Collins\u2019s last re-election campaign six years ago. Collins\u2019s response was that Daffron, the man she has been married to since 2012 and has known since the 1970s, never officially lobbied her. Collins won re-election and that was that, until her Democratic opponent for Senate this year, Graham Platner, brought it up as part of an he released a week ago. He proposed the \u201cCollins Rule\u201d: Any senator whose spouse or the firm where they work receives government contracts should have to recuse themselves from voting or oversight work on that contract.<\/p>\n

Collins was apoplectic. She tweeted that the claim was \u201coutrageous and false,\u201d and that she was defamed as a criminal. (Platner replied that he didn\u2019t say it was criminal, but that it should be.) She sent her campaign manager to stand outside Platner\u2019s press event and rebut the charges. The campaign manager said that money is delivered to contractors through the executive branch and not the Senate, eliding the fact that the bill Collins wrote benefited the firm her good friend and future spouse worked at.<\/p>\n

For six years, this has been a nonstory, because we don\u2019t have a political culture that imprints this kind of financial machination and leveraging of political power as a scandal. It\u2019s either too complicated or just politics, and people move on.<\/p>\n

Scandals are reserved for old internet comments and personal failings. Of these, Platner has plenty. When I talked to him last week, I mentioned that he\u2019s become like a figure in Homer\u2019s epics who is always preceded with an epithet: the \u201cscandal-plagued\u201d Graham Platner.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s talked about these scandals countless times, and I don\u2019t need to rehash them here. But you can believe both that personal character is important in assessing elected officials and make room within that definition of character to cover how their actions in office affect their personal bank accounts.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been working within a political system that for so long now, this form of self-dealing and self-enrichment has become intrinsic to the system itself,\u201d Platner told me. \u201cA lot of people who cover this stuff have created this framework in which that kind of thing is not even worthy of discussion \u2026 We write off actual scandal, legalized corruption, because we\u2019ve been so immunized to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Trump\u2019s Groundhog Day: Endless Cold War With Iran<\/a><\/p>\n

This may seem solely like a media critique, and yes: It\u2019s partially that. Headlines like \u201cPlatner Tests Democrats\u2019 Tolerance for Scandal\u201d are rarely matched by ones like \u201cCollins Tests Republicans\u2019 Tolerance for Self-Dealing.\u201d But that takes everyone but the media off the hook.<\/p>\n

Platner and Collins are locked in a virtually tied race, according to recent polling. Other statewide Maine races show the Democrat comfortably in front. Part of Collins\u2019s still being in the game is due to her experience and durability, but part of it is the way in which this definition of political scandal is massaged and shaped.<\/p>\n

In her career, Susan Collins hasn\u2019t faced a drumbeat of questions about her consistent violations of the congressional stock trading disclosure laws that she co-authored. She hasn\u2019t had to answer many queries about a net worth that has more than doubled since 2012, after her marriage to Daffron. She doesn\u2019t respond to reporters about her family stock holdings in Amazon and UnitedHealth and Visa, and the votes she makes affecting those businesses.<\/p>\n

She isn\u2019t forced to explain why she switched her vote to allow a tax break for private equity managers to stand, and how now private equity managers are supporting her re-election with millions of dollars. She hasn\u2019t said much about the 100 billionaires who are funding a super PAC on her behalf (run by a lobbyist whom Daffron recently consulted for) that has spent $9 million in attack ads just through the end of last month. There\u2019s been little about how one of the billionaires is a private equity mogul who destroyed paper mills in Maine and put residents out of work.<\/p>\n

We all know chapter and verse about Platner\u2019s Totenkopf tattoo, his texts to women other than his wife early in his marriage, and allegations of misconduct from former girlfriends (that one he vociferously denies). These are the kinds of revelations that are grist for gossip. We don\u2019t have a mentality that puts financial scandal and personal scandal on the same plane. Old tweets are easy to cover, but they\u2019re also easy to understand and to render judgments in ways not applied to things that take more consideration.<\/p>\n

The people who decide what does and doesn\u2019t matter in politics also don\u2019t speak the language of no-bid contracts, pay-to-play deals, and family benefits from contracts with the same zeal reserved for putting an old tweet on a screen. Maybe that\u2019s because corruption hits both ways and can blow back on one\u2019s own party, and maybe that\u2019s because personal peccadilloes are a shortcut and time-saver.<\/p>\n

Either way, this dearth of consideration has saddled us with this myopic definition of scandal that contributes to a disaffection with politics. If graft is seen as normal, the ability for reform and even progress feels remote.<\/p>\n

In a perfect world, elections would be decided upon who has better ideas for how to run the country and the credibility of their commitment to them and ability to turn them into policy and law. On this point, Collins has a decades-long track record of furrowing her brow and expressing deep concern before going along with whatever the Republican Party wants, unless her vote is not needed. In our conversation, Platner said that if the Pentagon can\u2019t pass an audit they shouldn\u2019t be able to access their budget. He said that appropriations bills are not suggestions and Congress shouldn\u2019t put up with serial violations of the power of the purse by Russ Vought. He said that contractors with documented violations of ripping off the government should no longer be contractors. And he stated an affinity for congressional supremacy, something we haven\u2019t had in this country since a brief moment around Reconstruction.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn our three branches of government, Congress is the body that best represents the American people,\u201d Platner said. \u201cIt needs to act like that. It needs to be muscular in its application of power \u2026 there\u2019s just a lack of imagination about how power is wielded.\u201d<\/p>\n

That speaks to a different conception of government than the one we have. But it struggles to be heard above the din of what passes for political thought: in particular, the dominance of scandal, but only one kind of scandal.<\/p>\n

Read more The Supreme Court\u2019s Zero-Sum Session<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n


\n
\n
\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If graft is seen as normal, the ability for reform and even progress feels remote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":343,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[169],"class_list":["post-344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-tagged-congress-election-2026-graham-platner-maine-politics-susan-collins"],"yoast_head":"\nPlatner, Collins, and the Peculiar Definition of Political Scandal - Frontier Housing Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=344\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Platner, Collins, and the Peculiar Definition of Political Scandal - Frontier Housing Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If graft is seen as normal, the ability for reform and even progress feels remote.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=344\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Frontier Housing Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-02T09:39:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/?p=344#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/?p=344\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/13a8c63a4bd3b73600b541c1532fc247\"},\"headline\":\"Platner, Collins, and the Peculiar Definition of Political Scandal\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-02T09:39:56+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/?p=344\"},\"wordCount\":1505,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/?p=344#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/b6332742d485dad93f9e8c0f00d98900.webp\",\"keywords\":[\"Tagged: Congress,\u00a0Election 2026,\u00a0Graham Platner,\u00a0Maine,\u00a0Politics,\u00a0Susan Collins\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/?p=344#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/?p=344\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/?p=344\",\"name\":\"Platner, Collins, and the Peculiar Definition of Political Scandal - Frontier Housing Report\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/?p=344#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/?p=344#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/b6332742d485dad93f9e8c0f00d98900.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-02T09:39:56+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/13a8c63a4bd3b73600b541c1532fc247\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/?p=344#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/?p=344\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/?p=344#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/b6332742d485dad93f9e8c0f00d98900.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/b6332742d485dad93f9e8c0f00d98900.webp\",\"width\":2000,\"height\":1333},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/?p=344#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Platner, Collins, and the Peculiar Definition of Political Scandal\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Frontier Housing Report\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/13a8c63a4bd3b73600b541c1532fc247\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/frontierhousingreport.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Platner, Collins, and the Peculiar Definition of Political Scandal - Frontier Housing Report","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=344","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Platner, Collins, and the Peculiar Definition of Political Scandal - Frontier Housing Report","og_description":"If graft is seen as normal, the ability for reform and even progress feels remote.","og_url":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=344","og_site_name":"Frontier Housing Report","article_published_time":"2026-07-02T09:39:56+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=344#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=344"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/#\/schema\/person\/13a8c63a4bd3b73600b541c1532fc247"},"headline":"Platner, Collins, and the Peculiar Definition of Political Scandal","datePublished":"2026-07-02T09:39:56+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=344"},"wordCount":1505,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=344#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/b6332742d485dad93f9e8c0f00d98900.webp","keywords":["Tagged: Congress,\u00a0Election 2026,\u00a0Graham Platner,\u00a0Maine,\u00a0Politics,\u00a0Susan Collins"],"articleSection":["Politics"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=344#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=344","url":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=344","name":"Platner, Collins, and the Peculiar Definition of Political Scandal - Frontier Housing Report","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=344#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=344#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/b6332742d485dad93f9e8c0f00d98900.webp","datePublished":"2026-07-02T09:39:56+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/#\/schema\/person\/13a8c63a4bd3b73600b541c1532fc247"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=344#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=344"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=344#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/b6332742d485dad93f9e8c0f00d98900.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/b6332742d485dad93f9e8c0f00d98900.webp","width":2000,"height":1333},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?p=344#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Platner, Collins, and the Peculiar Definition of Political Scandal"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/","name":"Frontier Housing Report","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/#\/schema\/person\/13a8c63a4bd3b73600b541c1532fc247","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com"],"url":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frontierhousingreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}