Delay is not the way

Why is it taking so long for Standish voters to get a representative? The Legislature is already in session and voters are no closer to knowing who represents them.

It’s been five weeks since Nov. 7’s election determined Mike Shaw the winner of the race by 13 votes. It’s been four weeks since Gary Moore won a recount by six votes. According to a front page story this week, it’s going to be another week before the House Committee on Elections can gather to review the facts and circumstances surrounding the Standish election. And that’ll merely be an initial hearing. No decisions, we hear, will be made at that time.

Why the delay? This election, in which 3,400 hard working, tax-paying Standish residents voted, should be expedited. It should have been decided several weeks ago. It shouldn’t take months to decide who got more votes. Two weeks should be enough time to determine an outcome. If we prize our electoral process as we say we do, then why do voters have doubts about voting machines, and the recount process? The foundation of our representative system is looking more like a pile of shifting sand.

The delay reminds us of the 2000 election between Bush and Gore. Skeptics have since said Bush was “selected” by the Supreme Court, not elected by the people. Will skeptics in the Lakes Region be wondering the same thing when either Moore or Shaw is eventually sworn in? We hope not, because both men deserve better.

Party politics has certainly swooped in over Standish, and we wonder how much the men are truly in control of their race now. If they even wanted to concede, could they? Or would party leaders swipe the white flags from their hands?

Naples family needs your spirit

Our Christmas spirits were dampened this week after learning of a Naples family struggling to make ends meet. According to a front-page story, the Edwards family has had a tragic 2006.

In January, they came home to a burned-out house after spending a day of fun at Sugarloaf Mountain. Then they hired a contractor who packed up and left without finishing the job – and stole their money in the process. (The lawsuit is pending.) Now, just before Christmas, they learn that their insurance company, which owns the trailer they’ve been living in the last year, will be taking away the temporary residence in January. The house is still under construction, months away from completion, yet they have no money to keep building. And they have nowhere to go.

People in the Lakes Region: Here’s your opportunity to turn a family’s living nightmare into a Christmas miracle. Every dollar will help, and that dollar could come from you. What a gift of hope you could give!

To donate, call the Edwards family at 693-3925. If you don’t feel comfortable contacting the family directly, Billi Lynn Burke, a woman who is helping raise money for the family, can be reached at 693-4663.