Maine’s The Donald may not have the ego, the comb-over or the politics of Manhattan’s, but when it comes to being a player, our Donald is as big in Maine as Trump is in New York.
From philanthropy to politics to papers, S. Donald Sussman has the clout to claim the title, “The Donald.”
Sussman, a multi-millionaire from his high-finance hedge fund, owns the state’s largest newspaper group and is a major donor to Maine’s hospitals, cultural institutions, and social service nonprofits.
He has served on the board of the Foundation for Maine’s Community Colleges and the Portland Museum of Art and was named the 2010 “Humanitarian of the Year” by Spurwink Services, which provides “behavioral health and education services for children, adults, and families.”
Sussman’s political contributions in Maine dwarf anyone else’s on either end of the spectrum. His contributions to Democratic and liberal candidates and campaigns were so big this past election cycle – $2,971,741 – that they were more than three times the total amount given by the other nine people on the list.
Not only is Sussman the biggest of the big in Maine, he’s no blip on the national stage, either: He is the 16th biggest donor to Democratic and liberal federal candidates, parties, political action committees, and associated organizations, according to the nonpartisan Opensecrets.org.
His gifts this two-year election cycle range from $250 to the Kennebec County Democratic Committee in Maine to $1.35 million contributed to the House Majority PAC in Washington, D.C.
In between are $100,000 to the Maine Conservation Voters Action Fund, $230,000 to the Senate Democratic Campaign Committee, and $225,000 to the House Democratic Campaign Committee; and thousands of dollars apiece to the campaigns of more than two dozen Democratic candidates for the U.S. House and Senate.
The difference Sussman makes among Democrats with his dollars may well raise the standing of his wife in the House. He’s married to Democratic Congresswoman Chellie Pingree, who was just named by Opensecrets.org as the “the top lifetime contributor” among members of Congress.
Pingree has become a heavy donor to Democratic causes since she married Sussman, but the lifetime designation comes as a result of her donations being combined with Sussman’s.
Sussman told the Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting that he contributes to Democratic campaigns and causes because “I support candidates and organizations who fight for the things we all care about – good jobs, a solid education for our kids, clean air and water, and a family doctor for every family.”
Democrats, said Sussman, will “move us beyond the mismanagement and missed opportunities of the LePage era. This election is a chance to make a course correction and get back to building strong communities and new business opportunities so everyone in Maine has the chance to fulfill their dreams. I’m proud to invest in Democrats and in organizations that are working so hard to bring back the Maine values of community, fairness, and respect.”
Democrats aren’t the only “investment” Sussman has made that has had an effect on the civic life of Mainers.
In mid-February 2012, Sussman threw a lifeline to the financially floundering MaineToday Media newspaper group – the Portland Press Herald, The Kennebec Journal, and the Morning Sentinel. Sussman loaned MaineToday between $3 million and $4 million dollars through Maine Values LLC, a company he had formed just weeks before to carry out the transaction. Ultimately that loan was converted to an ownership stake.
That meant that Sussman, husband of a Democratic congresswoman and stepfather to Democratic former Speaker of the House Hannah Pingree, now owns three of the state’s seven daily newspapers, including one in the biggest city and one in the capitol.
In the old-fashioned world of journalism, media moguls with ambitions to be politically influential were common. William Randolph Hearst was one, Joseph Pulitzer was another and, nearby in New Hampshire, the Manchester Union Leader was long known as a mouthpiece for its arch-conservative owner, William Loeb.
But since the 1970s, when the growing professionalism of newsroom newcomers replaced the partisanship of the wealthy owners, independence became a cardinal virtue in journalism. So ownership of the state’s dominant media outlet by such a Democratic party bigwig, let alone one married to a congresswoman, presented the papers with a conflict of interest. That has meant they don’t write about Pingree or Sussman without also disclosing his ownership; the paper has cited this as one reason they decided not to endorse candidates in 2014 after having done so for decades.
In 2012, Maine media critic Al Diamon quoted another media critic, Bob Steele, as saying the purchase meant Sussman “has a really big target on his back.”
But, Steele told Diamon, “Ownership situations are very complex. The equation has so many elements in it. It’s always wise to scrutinize the product to make sure there’s journalistic independence, but there are usually lots of forces at play. You have to be careful how you connect the dots” between an owner’s political activities and readership.
And Sussman’s political contributions haven’t diminished since he purchased the newspaper. They’ve grown.
According to state campaign finance reports and federal reports available through Opensecrets.org, Sussman gave $2.3 million in political contributions from his Maine address during the entire 2011-12 election cycle. His donations during the current cycle, which hasn’t concluded, already total $2,971,741.
