BANGOR — Maine military veterans say they are filing a complaint against Sen. Susan Collins and others for allegations that a defense contractor donated money to get federal contracts.

Three Navy and one Coast Guard veteran told reporters in Bangor on Thursday that they have serious concerns about allegations first reported by ProPublica.

“Mainers deserve to know where their tax dollars went, what they produced for the country and whether political access played a role,” said Jason Tkacs, a Navy veteran from Bangor.

Tkacs is the lead complainant in a filing with the Federal Election Commission against Collins, the 1820 PAC that supported her 2020 reelection campaign and convicted defense contractor Martin Kao. 

In a statement, Tkacs also questioned Collins’ decision to use donated funds that illegally came from Kao to rebuild a local school.

In response, Collins’ spokeswoman Blake Kernen described the veterans as “Troy Jackson supporters” who have reached “a new low.”

“They are now criticizing a legal and proper donation to a school that burnt down in Frenchville, Maine,” she said. “They have displayed absolutely no understanding of the law, they don’t know the facts and today are filing a complaint with the FEC which fully cleared Sen. Collins and her staff almost five years ago.”

For their part, at least two of the veterans who spoke in Bangor on Thursday said they are not enrolled in any political party. 

“It’s not partisan politics,” said Melinda Swayne, a Navy veteran from Bryant Pond. “We’re veterans. We take care of our own no matter what party they’re a part of.”

The FEC complaint is the third action taken by Mainers in the last week seeking more information about allegations of a pay-to-play scheme reported by ProPublica.

Last week, Portland attorney Valerie Adams, a Democrat, filed a request for an investigation with the Senate Ethics Committee and on Wednesday, a group of 250 Mainers sent a request to Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey to conduct an investigation.

“Maine law requires the state to determine if corruption has occurred and either to clear those implicated, or to apply the penalties to the full extent of the law,” said James Kilbreth, a former Maine deputy attorney general. 

Collins is locked in a tight reelection battle with Jackson, a former Maine Senate president and Democrat who entered the race in late July. The race is one of a handful with national implications as Republicans look to maintain control of the Senate and Democrats hope to take over.

A key point in the ProPublica article is that the FBI was considering launching a new investigation into Collins and her staff in 2024 but that never went forward because President Donald Trump disbanded the unit upon taking office.

John Andrews, a Coast Guard veteran, called on Collins to release documents to help answer key questions raised by the story.

“We’re demanding answers, Senator Collins,” he said. “She must release every communication between her office, her campaign, the 1820 PAC, Navatek and Martin Kao and restore the public corruption unit so this investigation can finish.” 

On Wednesday, Collins pushed back on several points raised in the ProPublica article.

“The allegations are completely false,” she said. “This is just recycled from the allegations when they first came out in 2020.”

She said the Biden Justice Department, FBI and the FEC all looked into the allegations and found that neither she nor her staff did anything wrong.

She called the story a “hit job” and said the $5 million contract awarded to Kao’s company stemmed from a request by the University of Maine’s composite lab, not an existing relationship with Kao. 

After an investigation, Kao was convicted of several charges and it was while he was awaiting sentencing that he made new allegations against Collins and her office, according to ProPublica.

Collins has called Kao “a crook” and said the call for a Senate ethics investigation is being driven by a Democrat.

“The FBI said in 2021 and again this year that any implication that my staff or I did anything wrong was utterly false,” Collins said.