Editorial
We require letters to the editor about candidates for public office to focus on the issues, and we call on the candidates themselves to follow the same rule.
By the time this edition hits newsstands, the primary results will be in and Lincoln County voters will know their choices for the election this fall.
For the most part, the conduct of local candidates makes us proud. Their civility, honesty, and focus on issues instead of, for example, the size of each other’s hands, far outclasses the participants in our shameful national campaign.
We do respectfully disagree with the comments of the apparent winner of the Senate District 23 Republican primary.
Guy Lebida, of Bowdoinham, successfully challenged Sen. Linda Baker, of Topsham, in the district that consists of Dresden in Lincoln County and all of Sagadahoc County.
Lebida campaigned as a more conservative option for Republicans. We encourage options for voters, and Lebida seems to have found a receptive audience with support from Gov. Paul LePage.
Where we think Lebida goes astray is by suggesting that Republicans – like Baker – who dare depart from the party platform should leave the party.
Lincoln County and Maine have a long tradition of moderate, independent-thinking Republicans who support crazy ideas like conservation, adequate funding of public education, and equal rights for all.
We vote for people, not platforms. If every member of a party followed the party on every vote, we might as well vote for parties. For the two years after every election, the party with more seats in the Legislature would enact its entire platform, limited only by the governor’s veto power and the courts.
Who needs representation? Or free will? Why have intelligent statesmen and women who can consult their conscience, listen to their constituents, and react to new information when we can just adopt a party platform?
Voters should evaluate candidates on their actions and positions, not on their capability for blind loyalty to one institution or another.
We encourage all the candidates to maintain their focus on the issues as the campaign moves forward.
We also want the candidates to know we plan to watch closely for the attack ads that have plagued our local legislative elections in recent years.
We encourage anyone who receives an attack mailer or negative communication of any kind regarding a local race to bring it to our attention at info@lincolncountynewsonline.com or P.O. Box 36, Damariscotta, ME 04543.
We can’t investigate every ad, but we hope to bring attention to the most flagrant or inaccurate attacks and the people or organizations behind them.
Call us naive, but we believe we can still have civil, positive, issues-based races in local and state politics. Those who would drag Lincoln County further into the abyss of attack-dog, darn-the-truth politics deserve exposure, and we will be here to provide it.
