Collins, whose real estate financing firm relies on federal contracts and tax credits, is politically hyperactive. As he pressed House Ways and Means Chair Bill Archer to shield a $2.6-billion tax break for his industry in ‘96, Collins led a funding drive for Archer’s son-in-law, who was seeking an Alabama congressional seat. Oddly, donors were urged to send these checks to Bill Archer’s home in Virginia. Collins also led President Bush’s New England campaign in ‘92. He and Boston Capital’s president were accused of exceeding the overall federal cap on political contributions that year by a whopping extra $17,000 each. In an ‘89 revolving-door scandal, Collins’ firm suspended then-Vice President Thomas Demery. When Demery had left his post as assistant secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) three months earlier, his HUD files mysteriously vanished with him. Demery was suspected of—and later pled guilty to— steering HUD subsidies to politically connected developers. As it turned out, Collins entered the revolving door soon after Demery exited. New HUD Secretary Jack Kemp appointed Collins to the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston in ‘90. Collins and five other Boston Capital executives were big contributors to the campaign of ex-Connecticut Treasurer Paul Silvester, who was convicted in ‘99 for taking kickbacks for investing state pension funds with private investment managers (see Pioneer Wayne Berman).