Augusta, Maine — Bobby Charles spent decades in DC lobbying for million dollar companies and corporations. A deep dive from the Press Herald into his lobbying experience found that his top client was the Association of Mature American Citizens (AMAC), which advocates for increasing the Social Security retirement age from 67 to 70 — a policy that would force Mainers to work longer before receiving their full retirement benefits.

And the Maine Beacon reports that Charles was lobbying for companies guilty of the corruption he’s now claiming to campaign against. During Charles’ decade-plus career in Washington, his lobbying firm collected at least $512,000 from clients that have been accused of defrauding or overbilling taxpayers, benefited from lucrative no-bid government contracts, bribed public officials, and even engaged in illegal campaign contributions.

“Lobby Bobby spent decades in DC working for multi-million dollar corporations but now wants to rewrite his record and pretend he was some kind of outsider. Charles built his career lobbying for corporations and special interests, including a group pushing to raise the Social Security retirement age from 67 to 70. Mainers deserve a governor who will fight for them, not a longtime DC lobbyist who is beholden to special interests.”