By admin 
In 2012, Troy Jackson had plenty to say about Maine politics. An outspoken Democratic state lawmaker, Jackson openly feuded with then-Republican Gov. Paul LePage.
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But in private, Jackson also took shots at LePage anonymously. Using an online alias, “Canadians for LePage,” Jackson posted dozens of times on The Bangor Daily News website, according to a CNN analysis, routinely mocking and criticizing LePage at a time when the two were caught in a political fight over Canadian loggers being allowed to work in Maine.
After LePage vetoed one of Jackson’s bills restricting foreign labor on state-owned land, Jackson publicly accused the governor of being, “more interested in giving jobs to Canadians rather than Maine workers.”
Meanwhile, posting anonymously online as “Canadians for LePage,” Jackson frequently disparaged LePage in the comments sections of news articles. “You are no more a woodsman than LePage is a Governor,” Jackson wrote in one exchange commenting on an article on the state’s budget.
In another comment in 2012, possibly responding to another reader, Jackson used a report about a Democratic lawmaker obtaining a protection-from-abuse order against a fellow Democratic legislator after their breakup to take a sarcastic swipe at the GOP, mocking the notion that Republicans were morally above such conduct.
“Oh yes, the Republicans never do any thing approaching this,” he wrote. “They are working hard on good government, night and day, and if they have just a one spare moment, they get together for bible study or a good game of tiddly winks. PLEASE.”
CNN’s KFile was able to link Jackson to the “Canadians for LePage” alias through multiple records, including an email address connected to Jackson, [email protected].
News of Jackson’s anonymous online activity comes as he prepares to take on Republican incumbent Sen. Susan Collins in a pivotal Senate race this November. Jackson, a former logger and one-time president of the Maine Senate, recently became the Democratic nominee after the high-profile implosion of progressive outsider Graham Platner.
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Following weeks of intense scrutiny, Platner dropped out earlier this month after a former girlfriend accused Platner of rape, an accusation Platner denies.
Unlike some offensive Reddit posts that had dogged Platner’s campaign, Jackson’s archived comments are more akin to political trash talk— pointed jokes at the then-governor’s expense, partisan jabs, policy arguments and even anonymous defenses of his own work.
In a statement to CNN, Jackson adviser BJ McCollister said, “Troy has been a strong and consistent advocate for workers’ rights and for a government that works for the people.”
Breaches and emails link account to Jackson
A search of Jackson’s Hotmail email address on “Don’t Read the Comments,” an archive combining preserved posts with account information, connects the “Canadians for LePage” alias to 24 archived comments on the Bangor Daily News. The account information comes from a 2012 data breach of Disqus, a third-party platform that websites, including the Bangor Daily News at the time, used to host reader comments.
CNN also obtained emails from people who had sent messages to and received replies from the account, including where Jackson replied personally.
The same address appeared in campaign materials, legislative records, and Maine personal finance disclosure records, as well as in an internal Democratic National Committee document identifying it as Jackson’s personal email. Separate leaked records also associated the address with his personal phone number.
Jackson appears to have later updated his personal email to a Gmail account associated with the same personal phone number.
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Jackson as ‘Canadians for Lepage’
Jackson, through his anonymous alias, repeatedly mocked the then governor by adopting the persona of a Canadian logger grateful for LePage’s policies. But the feud between the two was hardly one-sided.
During a 2013 budget fight, LePage used a crude sexual metaphor, saying Jackson would “give it to the people without providing Vaseline.” He then called Jackson “a bad person” with “a black heart” and said he “ought to go back in the woods and cut trees and let somebody with a brain come down here and do some work.”
When a reporter warned that the Vaseline remark would offend people, LePage replied: “Good. It ought to.”
Jackson responded, “He can say whatever he wants; I just think it’s inappropriate the way he said it. We can be disagreeable without making nasty comments like that.”
In January 2012, LePage’s administration proposed a sweeping unemployment fraud bill that would have sharply increased penalties for fraud. Maine’s fraud rate at the time stood at less than one percent.
In the comments section of a story covering the proposal, “Canadians for LePage” cited state statistics on unemployment and accused the governor of exaggerating the problem. “This is another red herring by my countryman, Paul LePage,” the comment read.
Beneath a story about the governor withholding voter-approved borrowing, “Canadians for LePage” quipped: “I don’t care about those bonds, as long as he approves my H-2 bond so I can come to Maine and cut wood.”
And within the comments of an article about LePage delaying decisions on the Affordable Care Act, Jackson again wrote in character as a Canadian worker: “But you like the government program that allows us Canadians to come and work in the US, right?”
On at least one occasion, the anonymous account came to the defense of Troy Jackson.
Beneath a story about LePage vetoing Jackson’s logging tax-credit bill, the account wrote: “Troy doesn’t own any logging equipment. He is just an operator for contractors. Just think about that!”
Four minutes later, the account returned to correct a description of the legislation.
“On item #2—You have the wrong bill,” the account wrote. “You are talking about Senator Saviello’s bill, LD 1383. His bill takes away all restrictions on hiring foreign workers. It does not help…MAINERS!”
Some of the exchanges became considerably more colorful.
Beneath a story about LePage’s line-item vetoes, he appeared to tell another commentator: “Could you stop making pipe bombs in your basement, and send me your Communist manifesto. I have to see if you are making this up or reading from something insane.”
Because the Bangor Daily News no longer hosts the original Disqus thread, it is unclear whom Jackson was responding to or what prompted the remark.
“Can’t take the criticism, but you sure can dole it out,” he remarked in another.
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