King answers critics of his donations to Obama campaign

Published Date Written by Staff Report

U.S. Senate candidate Angus King defended his donations to the Obama re-election campaign this week.
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Charlie Summers criticized King, an independent running for U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe's seat, for contributing "more than $20,000 in the past year to the Democratic National Committee and President Barack Obama's campaign, while coyly claiming to be an Independent."
Summers called it "arrogance in trying to mislead the people of Maine about which party he will caucus with if he is elected in November."
King's campaign responded with a press release stating he has been supportive of Republican candidates at the state and national level, "having voted for George W. Bush in 2000."
Questions raised about contributions made by King to the Obama campaign were rebutted in the press release.
"King did buy two tickets to a dinner for President Obama in Portland for a total of $10,000 on February 21st," the King campaign stated.
"The truth is that King bought two tickets to the Obama dinner in Portland which were used by his son and daughter in law who did attend. Credit card records prove that the entire ticket purchase was made on February 21st well before anyone knew Senator Snowe was retiring. A portion of the proceeds were distributed from the Obama campaign to the DNC on the 29th as was required by Federal Election Commission rules."
King's communications director, Crystal Canney, said, "Angus has been public in his support of Obama since the first time he was asked by a Bangor television station who he supported for President."