Sanders beats Trump in Maine
In a recent Critical Insights poll, Bernie Sanders, in a Maine head-to-head match against Donald Trump, would win 57 percent to Trump’s 31 percent. Sanders is the only candidate in either party to be deemed trustworthy by a majority of Maine voters.
These two facts were lost in a March 25 BDN article. A friend recently talked about how no one trusts either party’s candidates. I asked if that opinion came from the BDN, and she said “yes.” I asked whether she read the part of the article that described Sanders as the only candidate to be deemed trustworthy by a majority of Maine voters and she said “no.”
Pam Person
Orland
Millett a Maine treasure
I served for 26 years as a school board director of SAD 1 in Presque Isle, including the last two years as chairman. Although I haven’t seen Sawin Millett in more than 25 years, I was always impressed with his knowledge, ability and common sense relating to education. Millett is the type of individual one doesn’t soon forget. He is an outstanding individual and a Maine treasure.
Bob Tweedie
Westfield
Collins should denounce Trump
So, we’re supposed to be impressed that “our senator” Susan Collins is not endorsing a candidate until the Republican National Convention in July? I would be much more impressed if she found some Margaret Chase Smith-like backbone and unequivocally denounced the racist, xenophobic, misogynist and narcissistic Republican front-runner. That more prominent Republicans have not done so is troublesome.
Michael W. Grondin
Bangor
Power move in Skowhegan
Not that long ago Skowhegan voters went to the polls and chose to keep some town positions elected and not appointed by the selectmen. This year, Skowhegan will be going to the polls to do this again.
What’s changed since we voted last on this issue? The Skowhegan board of selectmen has hired three fire chiefs (one of whom I believe is still in jail), three police chiefs and three town managers. Meanwhile, voters have kept stability with the town clerk and road commissioner.
Why are we voting on this issue again? It would seem to me one of two reasons.The first is the oldest political trick. Keep voting on an issue until you get the desired results. The other is that it’s a power move by a few of the selectmen looking to rid themselves of a town employee they can’t beat at the ballot box. I would hate to think that’s what it is about.
Donn Chamberlain
Skowhegan
Kasich only choice for president
There is not much choice among candidates for president. There are no military veterans running. A commander-in-chief who knows the horror of war is less likely to get us into one.
Donald Trump, from the elephant party, is more like a donkey. Ted Cruz has behaved like a juvenile. Hillary Clinton is not trustworthy.
Only Bernie Sanders, a former mayor of Burlington, Vermont, and John Kasich, the governor of Ohio, have had executive experience. Executives take the heat for mistakes; advisers and staff don’t.
And the media is not truthful. Trump does not have a sufficient lead with less than 40 percent of the votes, nor does Clinton.
There is only one choice — Kasich. He has executive experience, a positive track record and actually behaves like a sane person. It is strange that neither media nor GOP acknowledge him. He must be doing something right.
Ben Hoffman
Bradford
Aquaculture not sustainable solution
In a March 4 BDN article, Maine Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher suggested aquaculture is a possible solution to sustain fisheries over traditional commercial fishing. The Department of Marine Resources should not be exploring the idea of aquaculture as it has proven to do more harm than good especially in a society with livelihoods that depend on commercial fishing.
Fish farms produce massive amounts of organic waste, which surrounding waters can be contaminated with and can prove to be deadly to marine animals and shellfish of commercial value. Not to mention it can be a danger to humans eating contaminated shellfish.
Far more detrimental is the intention of mass export from aquaculture farms, which have shown to displace fishermen whose livelihoods once depended on traditional commercial fishing. Aquaculture is not the solution to overfishing or sustainability. It could prove to be detrimental to Maine’s society.
Jack Martone
West Dennis, Massachusetts
NRA versus Bloomberg in Maine
Krysta Lilly in her April 1 BDN OpEd warned us that we are about to be “barraged with anti-gun propaganda by the out-of-state gun control group called Everytown for Gun Safety.” Don’t be fooled by that title, she warns. Everytown is really “a New York City-based group funded by billionaire Michael Bloomberg.” How deceitful.
But wait. Lilly is a former legislative assistant for the National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action, an out-of-state organization that can be counted on to be spending big bucks in the upcoming referendum debate.
On the other hand, this column was published on April Fools’ Day. Maybe it’s just a joke.
Paul Gray
Castine
Ranked-choice voting restores majority rule
In elections where there are more than two candidates, a common occurrence in Maine, it’s possible for a candidate to be elected without being the majority winner. The winner simply has to have the most votes. This is problematic. In the last 40 years, only two of the 11 elected governors have won by a majority vote. That means that for 32 of the last 40 years, Maine has had a governor for whom the majority of the voters didn’t vote.
The fact that ranked-choice voting restores majority rule represents just one reason why I support it. Compared with other alternative voting options, ranked-choice voting is the most cost-effective and efficient method to achieve majority rule through the use of an instant-runoff counting process. Furthermore, with ranked-choice voting, voters no longer need to feel like they have to support a strategic choice because the candidate they really want can’t win.
I encourage all Maine voters to learn more about ranked-choice voting and how it can restore the voice and the power of the people.
Ashleigh Briggs
Bangor