Willette represents city, not the party
To the editor:
I feel compelled to answer Mr. Robert J. Saucier’s letter regarding Rep. Michael Willette. I am so sorry to see that this decision that Mike was free to make, as are any elected person, has caused such an overwhelming problem for Mr. Saucier. It would seem from the adjectives used such as tyrannical, most unethical, deceitful, hoodwinked, and fraud that he must have got a Roget’s Thesaurus for Christmas.
Now to answer what I think the problem actually is: Mr. Saucier has no memory of past legislators for one and two he apparently slept through the last two years and paid no attention whatsoever to how Mike voted on issues important to him.
Nearly 20 years ago, Perley Dean, a Republican, and Edgar Wheeler, a Democrat, ran for a seat which included Presque Isle and points south. At the close of the election Edgar won by less than 150 votes, and within a similar period of time became a Republican. There was no outrage and use of inflammatory words and character attacks on Rep. Wheeler. He did nothing different than what Mike did, but those times were different and people did not use the “potty” discourse that is seen in the media today.
The electorate did ask questions but left the decision to the legislator, and respected that it was their choice to make. Edgar was then rated as one of the more conservative Republicans when it came to voting, and was re-elected handily twice more.
Mike, on the other hand, has a very middle of the road rating from MERI and this reflects his conservative financial leanings and his more progressive social leanings. Mike like most of us is in the middle on most issues and considers both sides.
To my second point, you seem surprised by Mike’s voting record. It is published in black and white how every vote is cast. If you had paid attention over the last two years you would either agree or disagree with how he votes and then you can decide for yourself he was representing you. If you and any other Democrats who felt he was doing such a bad job had stayed awake, you have a primary. Run for office! Put your convictions out for public scrutiny, like Mike has done. It would seem you must blindly go in and check off “D” for everything because the “R” is always bad.
I have never voted a straight ticket, I choose the person. The person I chose is Mike, the boy I went to elementary school with, the man who served in the military, the guy who lives up the street from me and has a nice family, my friend, who when he asked me to support him I didn’t care what party he was in because he was one of us, a County Boy and I knew he would vote his conscience.
Mike has taken on a tremendous task to represent a community and spend many hours and miles behind the wheel to travel to Augusta and vote on the bills that can help Presque Isle sink or swim. Over that past two years his votes have reflected what the majority of our community has asked him to do.
You may not realize, but Mike asks the people and business affected by a piece of legislation how they would prefer him to vote and then he decides if the bill will have other unintended consequences and then casts his vote. I have many friends who would support Mike regardless of party affiliation because like me we know Mike Willette, and have been the better for it.
Craig R. Green
Presque Isle
