Press Herald quotes Fried in article on Collins’ reputation
Amy Fried, a political scientist at the University of Maine, was interviewed by the Portland Press Herald for the article, “Sen. Collins’ vote on Republican tax plan risks her moderate reputation.” Sen. Susan Collins’ support for her party’s tax reform overhaul may have shored up her relationship with the White House and Republican congressional colleagues, but it also may have ruined her reputation among centrists and liberals as a champion of process and policy-driven governance, the article states. The reputation damage among non-Republicans stems from a wide disparity between the bill’s content and the rushed method by which it was passed, and Collins’ previous stances on both policy and process, Fried argued. “Susan Collins has earned a reputation over the years for being a serious legislator and really stood for having regular order and to have the experts look at a bill and hold hearings, but she cast that all aside for this particular bill,” Fried said. “Like many Republicans, she has a strong commitment to keeping taxes as low as possible, but they really could have written a much better bill that could have done that and would have been popular.”