PORTLAND

Following Susan Collins’ vote in favor of a GOP tax bill, students from Bowdoin Climate Action and members of other Brunswick activist groups marched to the Republican senator’s Portland office to voice their concerns and call on her to reject the legislation.

“(Our purpose is) to demand that Collins vote against the final version of the tax bill when it comes out of conference committee,” said Isabella McCann, spokeswoman for Bowdoin Climate Action.

There have been multiple protests across the state at the senator’s offices, with several arrests being made. The day before the Bowdoin students arrived, several activists were arrested in the Portland office after refusing to leave until Collins’ agreed to vote against the final bill.

Gathering at Congress Square Park in Portland, the students and activists marched to Collins’ office on Canal Plaza. Many carried signs and chanted.

Initially, the group split after arriving at the office, with a dozen heading upstairs to the smaller office space and the rest remaining on the street level to continue protesting.

“Sen. Collins has strayed from her duty in serving Maine citizens as well as U.S. citizens,” said Calvin Soule of BCA, who framed the bill as a tax cut for the top 1 percent of earners. “Last week, Sen. Collins spoke in favor of the GOP tax reform, while controversially framing the reform as beneficial to the middle class, whose taxes could actually increase from this bill.

“Instead of giving the most impoverished people a tax break, Sen. Collins has supported a bill that gives a tax break to the wealthiest individuals in the U.S., and a tax break to the most greedy and immoral corporations,” continued Soule.

“I registered to vote in Brunswick, Maine because I believed Sen. Collins would make my voice matter,” said Sydney Avita-Jacques of BCA. “Susan Collins’ name stands for responsible engagement with constituents, honest practical initiatives, the rise above partisan fighting, and above all loyalty to the people she represents. This weekend when she gave in to pressures to pass a tax reform bill that will be devastating to Mainers and Americans, she did not show that she was listening.”

Speakers also opposed a provision in the tax bill that would allow drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

“Sen. Collins supports Arctic drilling that continues to concentrate wealth in large corporations, dirty our environment, impose health threats, neglect the land rights of indigenous people and perhaps worst of all, further our dependence on oil that will contribute to human induced climate change,” said Soule.

Although the students were critical of the senator’s initial vote, it was not a contentious exchange. The senator’s staff took notes and copies of the various speeches, and the students brought cake to celebrate Collins’ birthday, which was the day before.

“She can’t have her cake and eat it too,” said Jonah Watt of BCA. “But today we’re here to wish her a happy birthday.”

After a few speeches were offered, the remaining protesters arrived upstairs at the office, filling the waiting room and adjacent hallway, where they softly sang and chanted in protest.

A building employee threatened to call police if the singing did not stop, but the group exited the building shortly thereafter without any conflict.

NOTE: Nathan Strout is a former intern at Sen. Collins’ office in Portland.

nstrout@timesrecord.com