LePage backed anti-Hillary group with his own money

AUGUSTA — Gov. Paul LePage dipped into his own pocket this fall to help defeat Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

LePage forked over $100 every two weeks to the Stop Hillary Political Action Committee from mid-October until mid-November.

The $300 he gave marked the first time the governor has chipped in to an independent political action committee, a super PAC, as well as his first donation to any federal election since becoming governor.

The governor’s cash contributed to the more than $330 million spent by the campaign of its winner, Republican Donald Trump, in the general election.

Before his donations this fall, LePage’s name hadn’t shown up in the Federal Election Commission’s database of political contributions for six years.

Back in 2010, before winning the Governor’s Office, LePage shelled out $250 apiece to two Maine congressional candidates: Jason Levesque of Auburn and Dean Scontras, a Kittery native. Both lost.

In 2008, LePage gave $500 to the U.S. Senate campaign of Susan Collins. The governor’s wife, Ann, donated $300 to Collins in 2002.

Prior to helping out Collins’ campaign, LePage made donations in 2004 to Maine congressional candidate Brian Hamel for $250 and to the National Republican Congressional Campaign Committee for $300.

The Stop Hillary PAC, based in Virginia, took in more than $6 million during the presidential race, almost entirely from 12,725 individual donors. It spent $5.1 million attacking Clinton.

The PAC aired television commercials in swing states blasting Clinton’s role in Libya. After the election, it helped fund court cases to block recounts of the votes in Michigan and Wisconsin sought by Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein.

The treasurer of the PAC, who also put together other political action committees to help the GOP, is Dan Backer.

Backer also kept tabs on the money for the Conservative Action Fund, Special Operations Speaks PAC and Tea Party Leadership Fund.

He once had the same role for U.S. Rep. Trey Gowdy’s leadership committee. Gowdy is South Carolina Republican with Tea Party roots.