Dear Editor:

I am writing to ask everyone to get out and vote in the upcoming election. Democracy requires participation, and mid-term elections are often decided by a small portion of voters. Do the work to investigate the candidates and exercise your responsibility to send leaders of character, vision, and foresight to represent you in all levels of government. The results of my investigations are outlined below:

At the local level (Woolwich), I am supporting David King to remain on the board. To his credit, Mr. Adams has remained active in town affairs since his recent unsuccessful, challenge of Mr. King, and, while I commend him for that, Mr King’s long experience has clearly broadened and tempered his vision. I trust him to continue to provide Woolwich with thoughtful, reasonable leadership during this time of churn.

At the state level I would like to see Allison Hepler represent District 53 in Augusta. Allison’s hard work, positive energy, and commitment to the people of Woolwich have yielded good results over the course of her years on the select board. She is committed to the environment (aka future generations) and she would try to focus the state government on doing things to improve Maine citizens lives, rather than support the short sighted policies of the current governor, as Jeff Pierce has done.

For the Maine Senate, Eloise Vitale has done a great job; let’s keep her working for us. In the same vein, Janet Mills’ successful opposition to Governor LePage’s attempts to circumvent the rule of law have earned my vote.

At the federal level, Chellie Pingree represents us with distinction in the House of Representatives, and should be returned to it. Although I am proud to be a (fiscally conservative) Democrat, Angus King is doing exactly what I think is needed in the U.S. Senate. Angus has strong principles, is rational, and can explain why he thinks what he does about important issues. Most importantly, he abides by his principles.

If you are still reading this, thanks for your patience and perseverance!

Francis A. King

Woolwich