Peter Mills, the former executive director of the Maine Turnpike Authority, emerged this week as one of the most recognizable faces of “Republicans for Harris.”
In Maine, the group reflected the sudden nationwide surge of Republican support for the presidential campaign of radical left-wing Vice President Kamala Harris.
But in a secretly recorded audio recording obtained by Maine Wire from a citizen journalist, Peter Mills revealed that the entire group was astroturfing, organized by Amy Cookson, a campaign staffer on Vice President Harris’ campaign.
In the audio recording, Mills, the brother of Democratic Gov. Janet Mills and a registered Democrat himself, tells a man identifying himself as “Tim Dillon” – an aspiring member of the astroturfing group – that it is run by Cookson.
The man was asked to contact Cookson, who previously worked for Planned Parenthood and some elected Democrats, through an email account ending in @kamalaharris.com.
“I believe she’s a paid worker,” Mills said. “I believe her job here is to find an organization called Republicans for Harris – she’s looking for – she has an organization called Republicans for Harris.”
“She would be the main representative of that group,” he said. “I think it’s a national structure that’s obviously organized by the Harris campaign.”
Mills gave insight into Harris’ campaign strategy for Maine’s 2nd Congressional District, saying in the recorded call that Harris’ paid staff had been “eager” to find people from northern Maine who could claim to be former Republican Trump supporters and plan to vote for Harris.
“They’re really, really, really eager to find Republicans in the Second District who can say, ‘I’m fed up with this Trump guy and I’ll probably stay a Republican, but I can’t vote for him,'” Mills said. “You know, words like that would have a lot of impact.”
Mills, who ran for governor as a Republican over a decade ago, was one of three “Republicans” proposed as the faces of the pro-Harris group organized by the Democrats.
The press release also named Tony Payne, a lobbyist who is listed as unaffiliated in Maine’s voter file, and Roger Katz, a former Republican senator who frequently criticized and opposed conservative Republican Governor Paul LePage.
Even though not all of the “Republicans for Harris” mobilized by Cookson are registered Republicans or even active in Maine politics, the astroturfing scheme has served its purpose thanks to a gullible media and a sympathetic left-wing blog.
In an email sent on Thursday, Cookson boasted about the success of the “Republicans for Harris” campaign, which he said earned him local media coverage – an email chain that included a list of reports from dozens of other states about similar efforts.
The email shows that the Harris campaign team centrally orchestrated a series of press releases to make it appear as if a broad swath of prominent Republicans had announced their support for Harris.
Instead, the group “Republicans for Harris,” at least in Maine, appears to consist of paid lobbyists, registered Democrats and a former Republican politician who is best known for his criticism of other Republicans.
Aside from issuing press releases to exploit gullible journalists, it is not clear whether the group of pseudo-Republicans is planning any further activities in Maine.
Although Mills had previously announced his resignation from the Maine Turnpike Authority, he claimed in the phone call that he still worked for the MTA and was actually on duty during the call.
In other words, the Democratic governor’s Democratic brother promoted Harris’ presidential campaign in addition to his work in government service.
(Full disclosure: Maine Wire editor-in-chief Steve Robinson once interns for Peter Mills’ gubernatorial campaign. He regrets the mistake.)
