Guile, guise, and local confusion

To the Editor;

Under the guise of “local control,” the activist group PROACT is trying dupe Piscataquis County residents into giving them more control over the locals. Believe me, if the latest from Center Theater was truly about local control, I would be the first to jump on the bandwagon. Nothing has been more frustrating to the County Commissioners than being powerless, save to protest, against the onerous mandates dictated by the Governor.

This newest campaign against the commissioners is rife with guile as it promises more local autonomy when the truth is county government derives its power from the Legislature and no charter will change that. The state constitution must be amended to relinquish that power to the county. The truth is PROACT wants the power to form a commission over the commissioners, break the county down into as many small districts as they can to stack the county offices, and the power of recall in case they don’t approve of who the county residents vote in.

This is the same group that has spent the past year terrorizing local residents who didn’t agree with the Governor’s mandates, who sat outside our local businesses taping local patrons’ behavior, and reporting them to the Governor, benefiting from the Governor’s bounty system. Local businesses now face hefty fines because of this, frankly, UN-American behavior. Now, they want locals to give them control over their County Commissioners.

Instead of three Commissioners, it will look more like a legislative body and guess who pays for all those extra salaries. If you don’t elect the “correct” candidate, that candidate will have to serve his or her term under the constant threat of recall. Yes, PROACT wants all the local control to run straight through them, and if the voters of Piscataquis don’t stand up to them, Piscataquis will be left with a whole bunch of confusion.

Commissioner Andy Torbett

Atkinson