... a town with 3300 registered voters having a "Meet the Candidates" night - for 3 candidates running for 2 slots on the selectboard vacated by a recall election? A recall election that itself was the tortured product of 9 months of political mishmash and upheaval?
But tonight, the Town of Paris did. This town is fighting its way back from a place where no town ever deserves to be. We learned the hard way that we have to look - with our eyes, our heads, and our hearts - and see who we are electing to make the decisions that operate our town.
Flood warnings, slush, gale force winds; and still 35 people turned out, at supper time, to hear what these 3 good folks had to say. The moderator was a pinch hitter because of bad weather and travel difficulties for the previously arranged moderator - and she did an outstanding job.
Questions were neither frivolous nor mean; they were real. First out of the chute: Name 3 things you see as priorities for Paris. Responses included finances; governing by law; job opportunities, if we have any say in the matter; informed citizens; civility; citizens being proud of their town. Civility. Proud of their town. Imagine such positive and creative answers.
Harder questions: Staffing our fire department? What about this law suit? Avoid surprise special town meetings? Oversight by the selectboard of the town manager, assessor, and other hired positions? Good, thoughtful, responsible questions. Candidates responded honestly, often saying they didn't have enough information - and, in the balance, for this moment, that was a reasonable response.
Three good candidates. The town deserves them all. Would that we could.
Election day Tuesday March 9. Vote absentee ballot any time between now and then. But don't make the mistake of thinking your vote doesn't matter. If Paris voters have had one painful lesson, it is that a few votes can change a town for the indefinite future. We cannot let that happen again.
Make the effort. Get out there. Get your friends and neighbors out there. Vote.
