Union Leader Sends Cease and Desist to Susan Collins’ Super PAC For “False and Defamatory” Attack Ad

A union leader has sent a cease and desist letter to a Super PAC backing Susan Collins for an attack ad that conveys a “false and defamatory” message to Maine voters about Senate candidate Troy Jackson. The Republican super PAC Senate Leadership Fund ad attacks Jackson for his support for a Medicare for All health care system and includes the caption: Troy Jackson’s ‘plan is a disaster,’ a quote it attributed to “Gregory Floyd, president of Teamster Local 237,” which is based in New York. However, Floyd made no such comment about Jackson’s health care plan.

“By placing Mr. Jackson’s name directly before those words, the Ad conveys to viewers the unmistakable—and false—message that Mr. Floyd has publicly condemned Mr. Jackson’s plan. That message is false and defamatory,” Eyad Asad, a lawyer for Floyd, wrote to SLF Executive Director Alex Latcham in the letter, which was dated Oct. 13.

“By invoking Mr. Floyd’s name and his position as President of Local 237, SLF has misappropriated their credibility to lend false authority to its political message,” the lawyer continued. “SLF is now on notice that Mr. Floyd has never commented on Mr. Jackson’s plans and that the Ad falsely portrays him as having done so. Any continued dissemination of the Ad will be knowing and deliberate.”

Floyd told NBC News he doesn’t know Jackson and was surprised when a local union leader sent him the ad. “I said I have no idea who or what they’re talking about. I spoke to no one,” Floyd said. “It’s more than offensive,” he said. “I was shocked. I said, ‘How does this happen?’” As for Jackson, he said, “I’m here in New York. Today was the first time I heard his name.”

The source of the quote appears to be from a 2019 article in which Floyd commented on a health care proposal by then-presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren. When asked by NBC News about his 2019 quote in the article, Floyd said, “That was that specific plan. If somebody wants to use a quote from me from six or seven years ago, about some plan — first, I have to know what plan they’re talking about, and second, they have to actually call me and ask me.”

Teamsters Local 340, which represents nearly 4,000 workers in Maine, has endorsed Troy Jackson and are actively working to help him get reelected.