A recent (front-page) article in your publication purported to describe the benefits Sen. Collins directs to Maine via her seniority in our Senate and her strategic position as chair of our Senate Appropriations Committee (“What Susan Collins’ appropriations power means for Maine, and what happens if she loses”). The article fails to address the critically important trade-offs involved in these “benefits.”

Every dollar directed is borrowed from our kids and grandkids as our total national debt recently crossed 100% of GDP and Social Security insolvency beckons. Nothing is for free in this blatantly corrupt and transactional administration. What did Sen. Collins “trade” for these benefits?

Might it be the misogynist Justice Brett Kavanaugh? Or the billions spent on the masked thugs of ICE set loose on our people of color? Perhaps an unapproved (and aimless) war whose cost is rising by billions daily? Or maybe the unbudgeted billons spent trampling our White House and grounds. Could it be the destruction of the rule of law, so vital to our democracy?

In November of 2026, I will have a choice. Like many of those interviewed in your article, I’m going to choose a candidate who will demand truth at all levels of government and focus on our beleaguered middle class over one who points to a refurbished library or fire station as the consolation for tolerating the realities listed above.

Michael Boyson
Portland