Mainers for Accountable Leadership (MFAL) is a left-of-center political action committee dedicated to defeating U.S. Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) and partnering with other left-of-center groups to lobby against Trump administration policies and cabinet and Supreme Court nominees. The group has played an organizing role in amassing a $4 million effort to support the campaign of Collins’s prospective Democratic challenger. 1
History
Mainers for Accountable Leadership was founded in the wake of the 2016 election, but did not donate to any candidates in the 2018 election cycle. 2
It is likely the group will be very active in opposing U.S. Senator Susan Collins’s reelection campaign in 2020. 1 MFAL is part of a coalition that has raised $4 million to support her Democratic opponent in 2020. The group was especially active in opposing the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and was able to mobilize a large number of activists to lobby Collins against voting for him. 3 The group’s homepage declares that “we will never let her represent Mainers again” and the group’s Twitter feed is regularly updated with attacks on Sen. Collins. 4 5
Funding
Over half of MFAL’s financial contributions in the 2018 cycle came from the left-of-center donor Megan Hull, who donated a total of $25,000 to the PAC. An additional $12,000 in funding for that cycle came from Maine People’s Alliance, a left-of-center activist group. 6
Activities
MFAL has campaigned against the policy of childhood separation at the border with a series of public activism training events, partnerships with other groups, and directing their mailing list to lobby their congressional representatives. 7
The group also ran a campaign to encourage Mainers to contact their senators to lobby them to vote against the nomination of Mike Pompeo for U.S. Secretary of State, claiming that “he will push Trump’s extreme racist agenda and lead us further along the path to war,” that “has promoted religious intolerance, a hostility to human rights, bigotry, and torture,” and that he “will not promote the American values of sexual freedom and gender equality or the health of women around the world.” 8
Leadership
Marie Follayter is the co-founder and executive director of Mainers for Accountable Leadership. She claims to be a “subversive artist and sculptor” and has established a “Yoga for Sustainable Activism Class” to help activists deal with claimed emotional trauma that occurred in the wake of Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court and to help them cope with the remainder of the Trump administration. She is involved in many activist organizations in Maine, including Moral Movement Maine, The Poor People’s Campaign Maine, Suit Up Maine, and Disability Activists and Allies of Maine/Disability Voters of Maine. She has also campaigned to establish a United States Public Service Academy. 9 10
Dini Merz is a MFAL co-director. She is also the director of the Colombe Peace Foundation, a nonprofit founded by the left-of-center “pass-through” organization Proteus Fund. The Colombe Peace Foundation is largely focused on nuclear stockpile reduction and arms control efforts. 11 12 13
References
- Hinckley, Story. “Brett Kavanaugh, Susan Collins, and What Maine Women Think.” Christian Science Monitor, September 16, 2019. https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2019/0916/Brett-Kavanaugh-Susan-Collins-and-what-Maine-women-think.
- Center for Responsive Politics. “Mainers for Accountable Leadership Recipients” Opensecrets.org. June 10, 2019. Accessed October 28, 2019. https://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/pacgot.php?cycle=2018&cmte=C00631481
- Hinckley, Story. “Brett Kavanaugh, Susan Collins, and What Maine Women Think.” Christian Science Monitor, September 16, 2019. Accessed October 28, 2019. https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2019/0916/Brett-Kavanaugh-Susan-Collins-and-what-Maine-women-think.
- “Mainers for Accountable Leadership.” MFAL.org. Accessed October 28, 2019. http://www.mfal.me/.
- “Mainers for Accountable Leadership.” Twitter.com. Accessed October 28, 2019. https://twitter.com/mfalpac?lang=en
- Center for Responsive Politics. “Mainers for Accountable Leadership Donors” Opensecrets.org. June 10, 2019. Accessed October 28, 2019. https://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/pacgave2.php?cycle=2018&cmte=C00631481
- “#FamiliesBelongTogether: What You Can Do Next.” MFAL.me, June 30, 2018. Accessed October 28, 2019. http://www.mfal.me/news/next.
- Follayttar Smith, Marie. “Stop Mike Pompeo; Vote NO on Secretary of State Confirmation.” MFAL.me, April 12, 2018. Accessed October 28, 2019. http://www.mfal.me/news/stop-mike-pompeo-vote-no-on-secretary-of-state-confirmation.
- “Speaker Profile: Marie Follayttar.” NetRootsNation.org. Accessed October 29, 2019. https://www.netrootsnation.org/profile/marie-follayttar/.
- DeBonis, Mike. “Sen. Susan Collins Faces Fresh Fire after Emergence of New Kavanaugh Allegation.” The Washington Post, September 16, 2019. Accessed October 29, 2019. https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/sen-susan-collins-faces-fresh-fire-after-emergence-of-new-kavanaugh-allegation/2019/09/16/1c72af82-d894-11e9-ac63-3016711543fe_story.html
- “MFAL: About.” MFAL.org. Accessed October 29, 2019. http://www.mfal.me/about.html.
- “Proteus Fund Staff.” ProteusFund.org. Accessed October 29, 2019. https://www.proteusfund.org/staff/.
- Ludwig, Hayden. “The ‘Dark Money’ Shape-Shifter: Another Voter Registration Effort.” CapitalResearch.org, September 3, 2019. Accessed October 29, 2019. https://capitalresearch.org/article/the-dark-money-shape-shifter-part-4/.