Campaign Legal Center files complaint over $150,000 Susan Collins donation from mysterious Hawaii company formed in November

In the past, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine was quite popular in her state and had no problem getting reelected by double digits; in 2020, however, she is considered one of the most vulnerable GOP senators seeking reelection. Collins needs all the help she can get this time, but the Daily Beast’s Lachlan Markay is reporting that a “six-figure contribution” from a “mysterious Hawaii company” could be problematic.

Lachlan reports that according to corporate records,  the Society of Young Women Scientist (as opposed to “Scientists”) and Engineers was formed in late November — and on December 31, that company donated $150,000 to 1820 PAC (a political action committee that is trying to help reelect Collins).

“There is scant public information about the company,” Lachlan explains. “It does not appear to have a website or any social media presence. Its listed address is a P.O. box in Honolulu….  Google searches turn up no information on the company, and there’s no record of prior political involvement by its sole officer, Jennifer Lam.

On Monday, the Campaign Legal Center filed a complaint and asked the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to investigate the $150,000 contribution from the Society of Young Women Scientist and Engineers. In its complaint, the Campaign Legal Center wrote, “The available facts do not suggest that SYWSE conducted any business or had sufficient income from assets, investment earnings, business revenues, or bona fide capital investments to cover the $150,000 contribution to 1820 PAC at the time the contribution was made, without an infusion of funds provided to them for that purpose.”

1820 PAC has so far raised over $1.5 million on Collins’ behalf. The group was named after the year in which Maine achieved statehood; prior to 1820, what is now Maine — from Portland to Bangor — was part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.