Sarah Gideon’s supporters mimic the challenger’s false and hypocritical attacks that simply equate to the laughably absurd.

Let’s begin with the theme that Susan Collins “..has changed” with her votes for tax repeal that show she aligns with Trump.

Fact: Collins voted in 2011 for tax repeal that passed in the House 422-0, and the Senate 95-0. Looks pretty bipartisan to me.

Next comes the staggering hypocrisy of claiming Collins benefits from “dark money” ads – with a scurrilous hint that she has pocketed lobbyist funds. This hardly deserves a correcting comment were it not for the fact that some uninformed voters might even believe it.

The hypocrisy here is that both candidates have received contributions from pharmaceuticals, but Gideon’s financial receipts outweigh Collins’  support 8-1!

As for the personal pocketing insinuation, this is beyond insulting to our Senator whose reputation for principled, scrupulously honest conduct in office has heretofore never been questioned. Need another example of deep hypocrisy? How about the 77 tax liens filed against Gideon and her husband while she was on the Freeport select board -during which time she repeatedly voted for property tax increases?

Examine the candidates’ records closely and you will see why Democrats, Senator Joe Lieberman and Senator Joe Manchin have endorsed Susan Collins for re-election. While Gideon talks a good game about “…working hard in the State House for Mainers” she hasn’t been there for six months. Meanwhile Collins has been laser-focused on helping Mainers – most notably with her authorship in the Senate of the PPP legislation which has now benefitted almost a quarter million in our state.

Gideon’s supporters tout “change is needed.” But why in the world would we want a hypocritical, empty-record politician to replace a dedicated Senator Collins whose entire career in Congress has been to work tirelessly for her beloved Maine?

Doc Wallace lives in Rockport