Dear Editor:

I believe this election is the most important in my lifetime. Our community, district, state and country is on the brink of civil war driven by political corruption, wealthy technology companies with addictive social media platforms pushing a narrative fueled by the disinformation highway, and a deeply biased media or a media so afraid of controversy it avoids real journalism. Bankrolled by federal COVID money, aka our tax dollars, incumbent politicians are bragging about a legislative record that did nothing but throw a multi-billion dollar windfall towards programs, policies and handouts that didn’t fix anything. The Democratic political ads bragging about fiscal responsibility is disgusting.

Enough is enough. Politics is local and we need wholesale change.

I support Tricia Warren for Maine House District 48 (Boothbay, Boothbay Harbor, Edgecomb, Southport, South Bristol and Westport Island). I know Tricia and she will make an exceptional state representative. She is smart, well-read, a great listener and an incredibly hard worker. Her strong moral compass and personal resilience will be invaluable character traits in Augusta. Tricia is a practical, fiscal conservative that is desperately needed as we face significant inflation, a looming recession and a hopelessly bloated state budget. She supports trade school programs so we can prepare our children to make a good living and stay in Maine, sensible energy policies that don’t include mandates. She supports the Maine Lobstermen’s Association fight against NOAA and recognizes that the state legislation that provided funding for new gear was yet another financial lipstick job in an election year. Have you seen the Aqua Ventus (remember Enron?) ads in this newspaper? This is taxpayer-funded propaganda to get us to support securing giant chains to the ocean floor off of Monhegan Island to hold an experimental windmill in place (the first of many, many planned off-shore windmills). The eight-foot chain links will chafe the seabed for over one square mile and decimate our fisheries. New gear won’t matter when the fish are gone.

We need common sense problem solvers with integrity in our government. We need Tricia Warren as our state representative.

Patty Minerich

Boothbay Harbor