The silly season

Autumn: The plants are going to sleep, harvest is well under way, and the bounty in my kitchen threatens to overwhelm me. My favorite time of year. And, it is election season. Or, as they call it in the United Kingdon, the silly season. All politics being local let’s talk about a Waldo County race.

Brian Jones has been a great representative for us in Augusta, especially around local food issues. With any luck at all, he will be our representative again, which is great news for those of us who spend our time testifying before the Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry.

If you care about the right to eat the food you want to eat, or at least know what is in the food you are eating, a vote for Brian Jones will insure we can keep being the happy locavores that we are.

And there is nothing silly about that.

Betsy Garrold

Knox

Support Weston

As a retired Maine state trooper, serving Maine citizens for 28 years, I fully understand the impact and devastation caused by illegal drugs on our communities. And now Maine has become a target state for out-of-state drug dealers. Bangor, one of the three largest Maine cities, is especially attracting out-of-state drug dealers. Repeatedly we have seen the connection of EBT cards and drug dealing in Maine. People using EBT cards swap them to purchase drugs.

Daily, this issue takes away resources and taxpayer monies to fight not only the out-of-state drug dealers, but the in-state dealers as well. It’s pulling money from municipal budgets, stretching police departments and tightening school budgets, which ultimately harms our childrens’ futures.

We need leaders who understand this issue and are willing to have real discussions to find real solutions, something as simple as using photo identification on all EBT cards. Cary Weston has a natural ability to bring opposing views together to solve these issues.

Weston grew up in Bangor, lives and operates a small business in Bangor. He is father to three young children and is very concerned about the safety of this community.

I’m supporting Weston because he understands drug use in our community is a real and urgent problem. I urge you to vote for Weston to represent Bangor and Hermon. He is the right choice.

Mark Nickerson

President

Maine State Trooper Foundation

Unity

Cutler only choice

At long last, the gubernatorial debates have begun. Contrary to the Sept. 24 BDN article, the unwillingness of Gov. Paul LePage and Rep. Mike Michaud to debate was not a mere “spat,” but rather the fundamental essence of each candidate has been revealed by how each candidate approached the debates.

LePage variously refused to participate in debates with Michaud and at other times, conditioned his participation on matters unrelated to the debate. LePage’s view of the debates, like his view of his role as governor, is that he makes the rules. LePage forgets that our government is based on a constitutional allocation of powers among the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. LePage’s response to the debate process reflects his habit of bullying his way through what he doesn’t like.

Michaud’s reaction to LePage’s refusal to debate was initially postured in seemingly civil terms. However, in backing down from a debate without LePage, Michaud gave in to the bully. Michaud’s subsequent agreement to participate without LePage also reflects Michaud’s recurring flip-flopping on substantive issues including same-sex marriage and the right to choose.

The only candidate who has agreed to debate any and all of the candidates is Eliot Cutler. His response to the debate process reflects what we can expect from him as governor: Cutler is not afraid to put his ideas on the table and open them to scrutiny. His approach confirms that he is the only candidate who has the independence and leadership abilities to be our next governor.

Clare Payne

Holden

The right direction

The federal government’s award of $7.5 million to help Maine communities fight substance abuse is exactly the kind of forward-looking solution we need (“U.S. drug czar announces Maine will get $7.5 million to fight opioid abuse,” BDN, Oct. 8).

As U.S. drug czar Michael Botticelli told a crowd in Bangor last week, “We can’t arrest and incarcerate our way out of this problem.” We’ve been at that approach for the last 40 years, and it has failed.

In fact, rising arrest and incarceration rates for drug crimes have done nothing to decrease our state’s dependency on illegal drugs. They have, however, contributed to an upsurge in our prison and jail populations, costing taxpayers millions while doing little to make our communities safer.

Those who want to scale up an already-bloated criminal justice system while giving a backseat to more effective treatment programs ignore the fact that as long as there is demand, there will always be supply. It’s time for a new approach that puts treatment and prevention first. This award is a step in the right direction.

Alison Beyea

Executive Director

ACLU of Maine

Portland

Political calls

How accurate can today’s political polls be? On a “good” day, I might receive five direct orrobocalls and I am thankful that cell phone systems do not allow those calls. Since I appear to have one of the very few remaining landlines, many of the calls are from repeat sources and, once I know who or what is calling, I hang up and do not respond. If these calls are getting only to the people who have landlines and of those, the ones who are not screening their calls, they are only reporting from a very small portion of the voting public. It would seem that these reports should be very suspect.

I have also discovered that if I answer the phone with good morning or good evening, it really throws the caller off balance since they are programmed to respond to your “hello.” Try it sometime – it gives you a chance to hang up first.

Patricia L. Reynolds

Hermon

The perfect Senator

Maine has a tradition of sending political powerhouses to the U.S. Senate. Margaret Chase Smith, Ed Muskie, Bill Cohen, George Mitchell, and Olympia Snowe all served with distinction. Joining them is Sen. Susan Collins. Her work ethic is renowned — she’s never missed a vote since first being elected — and her legislative prowess was shown when she led the way in solving the recent government shutdown.

Sen. Angus King has said that if one were to build the perfect senator from scratch, he’d come up with Collins. Fortunately, for Maine and the country, we don’t need to build the perfect senator, we already have one: Collins.

Jayne Dyer

Hampden