WATERVILLE — Rep. Jared Golden said he will not hold town halls because of groups like Indivisible, a progressive nonprofit organization that he says is using dark money to further polarize American politics.

Golden, a Democrat representing Maine’s 2nd District, is one of many politicians under fire for not holding town halls — an increasingly sought-after venue for voters across the country to demand accountability from elected officials. With Golden’s recent vote for the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act and support for Trump’s tariff plan, many constituents want answers. 

They won’t get them at a town hall.

Golden said the recent push for town halls is a tactic by Indivisible, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit that can spend on political issues without disclosing its donors. He said the “dark money group” is among the most divisive entities in politics, using loopholes in election finance rules to divide Democrats and alienate conservatives — all while promoting public discourse. 

“They make clear that they want to purge the Democratic Party of anyone who doesn’t meet their definition of what it means to be a Democrat,” he said in early May. “My perspective is, they call themselves Indivisible, but they are literally dedicated to division within the Democratic Party itself.”

Sarah Dohl, Indivisible’s chief campaigns officer, wrote in an email that Golden’s allegations of dark money are unfounded.

“Jared Golden’s claims that Indivisible is funded by dark money is pathetic,” Dohl wrote. “Small-dollar donors are the backbone of Indivisible’s budget, and we’re proud to be accountable to a nationwide grassroots base, not a single donor or interest.”

What is Indivisible?

The national organization was founded in Washington, D.C., in response to President Donald Trump’s election in 2016. In the years since, local chapters have sprouted across the country, including more than a dozen in Maine.

Protesters from Indivisible Mid Maine lined one side of upper Main Street in Waterville in the hour before Golden spoke at a moderated event April 16 at Colby College. Their signs read, “Golden you took an oath to protect us,” “Jared, why do you fear the people you fought for?” and “Jared uphold the law.”

Golden said the connection between the national organization and local Indivisible chapters is worrying.

“It has formed local connections very successfully with local groups, and we feel like it uses those local groups to whitewash what is an extremely partisan agenda,” Golden said. “And their goal is to beat up on any Democrats who seek to in any way work with and show an openness to compromise with the Republican Party.”

Indivisible, in its founding document, said it hoped to replicate the electoral success of the Tea Party: A right-wing movement that ousted many of the Republican Party’s more moderate members, especially in the 2010 midterm elections.

Golden, a member of the Blue Dogs Caucus — a coalition of 10 moderate congressional Democrats — said a left-wing Tea Party-like movement could make compromise and bipartisanship even more difficult, as it did for Republicans.

“From my perspective, those tactics made the Republican Party worse. It has made it what it has become today,” Golden said. “And Indivisible is doing its best to make the Democratic Party worse, too.”

Indivisible was one of the organizations behind the coordinated nationwide “Hands Off!” protests April 5 against Trump and Elon Musk, who has overseen the controversial work of the Department of Government Efficiency. The protests were later the subject of online right-wing conspiracy groups who claimed thousands of protesters were actors that were paid to attend by billionaire George Soros. 

Karen Heck, former Waterville mayor and founder of Invisible Mid Maine, said Golden is parroting Republicans.

“I would have expected more of him than to repeat Republican talking points,” Heck said. “I can tell you that, as the one who initiated Indivisible Mid Maine, I’ve never gotten a dime, and neither has any protester in this state. And if that’s the path he’s going to take, he’s going to find it’s not the path he should be taking if he’s planning to run for governor or any other office.”

Golden said his staff has regularly met with members of Maine’s Indivisible chapters in the past, but said he recently stopped holding those meetings because he no longer sees them as productive due to their connection to the national Indivisible group.

“I think in Maine, the people in these groups are sincere in their beliefs, but the relationship with the national entity is obvious,” Golden said. “They share a name, they use the tactics that are laid out to them in communications from the national (group), and they take their cues from the national (group) — that I don’t actually believe is what it claims to be.”

‘Dark money’ interference

Golden’s claims about Indivisible and dark money are rooted in the organization’s status as a 501(c)(4) nonprofit. He said the group uses campaign finance loopholes to spend millions of dollars from undisclosed sources to sow division and target moderate Democrats like him.

Political spending from 501(c)(4) nonprofits has skyrocketed since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 5-4 Citizens United v. FEC decision in 2010, the landmark ruling that eliminated limits on independent political spending for corporations, including some nonprofits. The 501(c)(4)s are allowed to spend money on electioneering as long as it’s not their “primary activity” — but no standard has been established to determine what rises to that level.

According to data from election spending tracker OpenSecrets, Indivisible’s 501(c)(4) donated $2.5 million to its affiliated political action committee, Indivisible Action, which spent money on advertising, campaigning for Democratic candidates and employee salaries.

Indivisible founders Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin addressed the concerns about dark money when they formed Indivisible Action in 2018. They wrote in a letter on Indivisible’s website that “Sheldon Adelson or Koch Brother-style PACs” allow billionaires to funnel millions to candidates, but that Indivisible Action “commits to not accepting donations from for-profit corporations, and will be independent of any candidates or party structures.”

In 2023, the most recent year for which full financial records are publicly available, Indivisible’s nonprofit brought in a total of $12.57 million. About $7.89 million of that income was from “contributions and grants,” and $4.63 million more came from “management fees” and “administrative income.” Nonprofit revenue records are not required to be specific, unlike those of PACs or campaigns.

Because of the relaxed nonprofit reporting requirements, Indivisible’s millions in election spending and its overtly political activity, Golden said he thinks Indivisible is exploiting a “giant loophole” in the campaign finance system — making them a dark money group.

Maine’s chapters are linked to that reputation, he said.

“I don’t literally think any of the local Indivisible (groups) are themselves some kind of sinister dark money operation,” Golden said. “But you can’t ignore the connections to the national (group) and their agenda and their dark money.”

Dohl said Golden’s “dark money” allegations are unfounded and that small donors are the foundation of the organization’s budget. Indivisible states on its donation website that the average individual donation to the nonprofit last year was just $21, and the organization’s official policy states grassroots donations should be its largest source of income.

The national organization also does not funnel any money to local chapters, Dohl wrote.

“Indivisible groups — like Mid Maine Indivisible — are independently led and rooted in their own communities,” she wrote. “They don’t receive payments from our national organization — let alone these mysterious ‘Dark Money’ groups Golden is referring to. They’re constituents who are concerned, and are proactively looking for answers they deserve from their representatives in Congress.”

Town halls and ‘productive’ conversations

Golden said this year marks the first time he has been “hounded” by Mainers for town halls. He said the tactic stems from a coordinated, nationwide effort from Indivisible.

Indivisible’s Town Hall Guide encourages local chapters to push their members of Congress to hold open question-and-answer-style town halls. The guide includes tips for organizing a group of people to attend, coordinating media strategy and pressuring elected officials “out of their comfort zone and off their talking points.”

During the event at Colby, when asked why he was not holding town halls, Golden told a story about sitting in a bar in Eastport and meeting ordinary Mainers, which lead to insightful conversations. He said in early May those kinds of people would likely not attend town halls.

“I think the people most likely to attend town halls or political events are those who are very highly engaged in politics,” Golden said. “And I actually hear from those people all the time. If they’re wondering whether or not I know where they stand: Believe me, I do. They reach out to my office, my staff, on a very regular basis.”

Chrissy Cataldo of Sidney is a constituent who contacts Golden’s office regularly. She volunteered for Golden’s campaign when he ran against Bruce Poliquin in 2018, on the promise that he would hold town halls. But now, she says she would not volunteer for him again.

While Golden regularly sends long-form emails and letters, Cataldo said only a town hall gives constituents the opportunity to ask follow-up questions and have open dialogue with their representatives.

“In a town hall, we get to ask questions back. And he’s kind to his constituents when he speaks to them in person, in a way that doesn’t always come through in his letters,” Cataldo said. “He would have the opportunity to actually engage in the way he wants to engage, not because he accidentally ran into us in a bar, but because he made an effort to talk to people and open the floor.” 

Golden said he has been actively speaking with doctors, patients, lobstermen, veterans and other Mainers who could be affected by federal changes. No matter if they vote, he said he wants to represent their voices, too.

“Just because people aren’t engaged in such a regular and intense way, it doesn’t mean that they aren’t going to vote,” Golden said, “And even if people don’t vote, it doesn’t mean that it has no bearing on them.”

But Golden’s votes have bearing on the engaged constituents, too. Under the SAVE Act, Cataldo said her mother will have to spend money on legal documentation that reflects her married name. Golden wrote in a recent letter that the SAVE Act requires states to adopt rules and policies that allow citizens with discrepancies in documentation to vote — including women whose names have changed. 

Either way, policy conversations should happen in public and include constituent voices, Cataldo said.

“This is what it means to be a leader, is to actually sit down and do hard things with frustrated people,” Cataldo said. “And if he’s willing to sit down with frustrated people who work in rural industries, who work in manufacturing and hear their pain about their manufacturing work — why isn’t he willing to talk to me about the fact that he’s disenfranchising one of my relatives, and making it harder to vote?”

Golden said he is more open to having a discussion with constituents on a particular topic, like Medicaid cuts. That type of conversation is more substantive, he said, than an all-topic town hall.

And town halls aren’t off the table, but they aren’t his priority.

“I’m not prioritizing what I view as more political discussions right now — I’m not in campaign mode,” Golden said. “I think people can pretty much see that I steer as straight a course as I possibly can, and any change grows out of experience. Like, look at the Lewiston shooting and how it led me to change my position on assault rifles. It was not some kind of political decision, it was a reflection of what happened in my community and how it changed my views about something.”

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