Part of a Election Mailer for Sarah Michniewicz for City Council District 1 Seat That Was Addressed to this Voting Resident of District 1 by Name and Address Last Week. M. is in the Middle of the Group.
Like many of you, during the last few weeks, my mail box was flooded with election promotional material for today’s city council election. They all looked pretty standard – the usual format and quotes similar to past years.
But last Friday there was one mailer in my mailbox that broke that mold for this blogger and voting resident of District 1.. It came from the campaign of Sarah Michniewicz, (“M”) who is running for District 1 city council seat.
M. is photographed with a congenial group of lobstermen on one side of the mailer. That somewhat provocative, in your face, photo sparked my interest. Lobstermen are deeply engaged in issues these days. One of them is the offshore wind array initiated by the state of Maine awaiting approval from the Feds. A second issue in which lobstermen are engaged is NOAA’s intended restrictions on lobstering strategies designed to protect the scarce right whale population.
In 2019 former, now whiny, and always thin-skinned, job hopping. who once mouthed obscenities at this blogger during a city council meeting, city manager Jon Jennings, convened a lengthy series of intense meetings at city hall on behalf of lobstermen. The numerous meetings focused on lobstermen’s concerns about access to the waterfront because of possible new hotel development, parking issues, etc. Precious lobsters would suffer dramatically due to the slow moving summer traffic on Commercial Street they said. This blogger attended most of those meetings. This blogger wrote about them herein. M. did not attend any of those meetings. And why this blogger wondered – why didn’t she attend them? As an apparent advocate for the lobstermen, why didn’t she attend these meetings? Why didn’t she testify on their behalf?
My immediate thought was: where does M. stand on these issues? This voting blogger would really like to know. The responses to these questions says a lot about the mindset of a potential city council member. So I emailed her last Friday evening asking her these questions. I told her that I intended to post her responses on my blog when I received them. I also asked her several other questions that are of interest to this resident of District 1 and perhaps to others as well. Where do you stand M? For the preservation of the waning whale population and the future of wind power in Maine? Or with the lobstermen – many of whom are ‘take no prisoners’ opposed to both?
Guess what! I never received a response to my questions. Nor did I even receive the courtesy of an acknowledgement my questions had been received. Courtesy? Don’t know her. Don’t want to know her.
“Tough topics don’t have to divide us. In fact, the harder the problem the more important it is to focus on the work, not the politics or personalities, in order to come together and find solutions that move us forward.” That is a quote from M. election mailer referred to above and photographed above as well. That quote appears on the left side of the mailer.
Hypocrite Sarah? Maybe that’s a better title than: “Committed Thoughtful Balanced.” Accessible Sarah? Transparent Sarah? Probably not those either.