Laurel Libby gets $4 Million in Dark Money to Help Re-elect Collins

The Auburn lawmaker is terminating her State House re-election campaign with $116k in the bank to work with the Heritage Foundation's astro-turfing ally.

The Stepfordian state rep from Auburn is abandoning her quest for a fourth term in the Maine Legislature in order to helm a coalition of new, lead-based, right-wing groups — including a state PAC, a federal PAC and a non-profit — working for dark money interests to get out the vote on behalf of Maine’s senior senator Susan Collins. Laurel Libby’s announcement this morning must have been a big disappointment for Maine’s bigot community, many of whom had prayed Libby would run for governor or actually challenged Collins (who they view as a RINO).

Instead, Libby is helping Collins with loads of cash from corporate overlords via a super PAC to be known as “Lead Maine Committee.” And I think that’s “Lead” which rhymes with “weed.” Not “Lead” that rhymes with dead.

According to a press release from the Sentinel Action Fund, the federal super PAC funding the “Lead Maine Committee,” Libby will be in charge of at least four million bucks that the dark money outfit has designated to spend locally to help Collins stay in office. That’s a big leap — career-wise — from five years ago when Libby was an anti-vaxer interior designer running her first campaign for the State House. Now, she’s the boss of the newly-minted “Lead Maine Action” and “Lead Maine Committee” (the federal super PAC) and “Lead Maine” a 501(c)(4) that Libby claims will be dedicated to educating Mainers about “political and government issues that impact daily life.”

The Sentinel Action Fund, btw, calls itself “the only conservative super PAC with a year-round ground game committed to turning out absentee, early vote, and “day of” voters.” It seems odd that Libby will now be working for a group “in favor” of absentee balloting, especially in light of the overwhelming defeat of her “Voter ID for Me” ballot initiative earlier this month. Perhaps the money-people in Washington D.C. overlooked her November electorial failure.

No word yet if Libby’s ever-present sidekick Alex Titcomb will join her in these Lead-based activities.

(A quick aside about the Sentinel Action Fund: founded in 2022 by Jessica Anderson, then-Vice President of “Heritage Action for America,” the SAF was a way for the Heritage Foundation to funnel resources and power into faux-grassroots operations with GOTV goals. In late 2023, for an unknown reason, the Sentinel Action Fund suddenly started claiming they were independent from Heritage. But that doesn’t eliminate Anderson’s long-standing relationship with the Christo-fash group. Fun fact: When Trump hatchet-man and Project 2025 architect Russ Vought took a gig in the Office of Management and Budget in MAGA Daddy’s first term in the White House, Vought had been working as Vice President of Heritage Action for America. His replacement: Anderson, who had been employed as the OMB’s associate director.)

This morning, Libby told the lugs on WVOM radio that the “Lead Maine” plans have been in the works “for months.” However, as of press time, the paper trail is thin, with none of the new orgs having registered with the Maine Ethics Commission, the Federal Election Commission or the IRS. Heck, the paint’s barely dry on her group(s) eponymous new website with the “LeadMaine.com” domain only being purchased 20 days ago.

Also gotta wonder about the fate of Libby’s State House campaign chest for the seat she’s not running for, which currently has a whopping $116,746.57 in “cash on hand.” According to state law, when Libby actually dissolves her campaign, she can liquidate in various ways, including returning the money to contributors (unlikely) or gifting the cash to state or local political parties. She could even “gift” the loot to Maine’s general fund or a local municipality’s budget. Also, Libby could give cash to other Maine legislative candidates. Or, she could make a donation to a non-profit, such as “Lead Maine.” Once her new non-profit gets its paper work in order, that is.

Libby could also use the money to “pay any outstanding loans or debts of the campaign.” Such as the $57,000 she and her various entities owe the victims of a MAGA grifter named Brant Frost. Read all about that scam in the link below.

As of press-time, Libby and her onetime (?) sidekick Titcomb, have still NOT returned the monies contributed to her campaigns and various PACs by her number one “individual contributor” Frost, who admitted in July to being the mastermind behind the “First Liberty Building and Loan” Ponzi scheme that stole millions from MAGA investors by targeting listeners of “The Charlie Kirk Show” and other conservative podcasts with ads promoting high returns with low risk.

As of this evening, none of the Maine politicians who benefited from Frost and family’s stolen largesse have returned the ill-gotten cash. That’s according to Greg Hayes, the court-appointed “receiver” for the mess, who faces the Herculean task of figuring out First Liberty’s financials, including trying to recover the stolen loot. And that list includes Austin “Snitch” Theriault ($9,900), #FAILSON Eric Brakey (almost $5,000), State Rep. Regan Paul ($2,850) plus various other entities such as the Maine Republican Party and the “Dinner Table Action” PAC.

Speaking of Dinner Table Action, gotta wonder about Libby’s as-of-yet-registered “Lead Maine” PAC. In Libby’s press release, she says, “Lead Maine Action is a state PAC dedicated to supporting conservative candidates and causes at the state level.” Which is pretty much identical to the goal of “Dinner Table Action,” the PAC she co-founded, with Titcomb in 2021 but was mysteriously “disappeared from” in the PAC’s latest registration.

Also gotta wonder about Libby’s so-called “leadership PAC” aka “Fight For Freedom,” that currently has $65,860.04 in the bank. (A bunch of that cash coming from dark moneyman Leonard Leo via the “For Our Future” PAC run by Titcomb.) If she’s no longer serving in the Legislature, Libby will have to dissolve that PAC as well. According to state law, prior to termination, the PAC “must dispose of any surplus and report how the funds were disposed of in the final report.” Libby can “dispose” of those funds in several ways, including making contributions to other PACs, Ballot Question Committees, party committees, candidates or a non-profit. Meaning she can gift “Fight for Freedom’s” monies to either “Lead Maine” (aka her non-profit) or her “Lead Maine Action” state PAC.

Regardless of where she spreads her PAC and campaign cash, it’s highly unlikely to benefit anyone but Libby and her dark money sugar daddies.

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