Time to come out of the closet — I am announcing my full support of our mayor, Nick Isgro, and his family, and I call upon on every resident in Waterville to do the same. Decency transcends party affiliation.
Last week former Mayor Karen Heck, along with cohort Hilary Koch, did the unthinkable, or at least unforeseeable. They took out petitions to recall Isgro.
Recalling a mayor is a serious thing. Normally, this is reserved for felonies and other crimes, and not just because you don’t like what someone said. This is an attack on the root of our democratic process settled last November. An attack on American values. I see a small but vocal group dripping with anger engaged in a modern-day witch hunt, a political coup. They cannot win elections so they have decided to abuse the recall process.
Yes, I am a school board member — so what? The school board is a separate branch of government to the City Council.
I believe in taking a stand. It is not easy to stick your neck out, but better than the alternative of being a yellow-bellied coward. Avoiding mob mentality is a good value to instill in our children.
We can all think back to times in history when a few good citizens should have spoken out. If a crowd witnesses acts of violence, it only takes one citizen to step in and help, and others will quickly follow.
The day the recall petition was filed the pen became a sword and our community was thrown into chaos. It’s neighbor against neighbor and we are anything but a tolerant, diplomatic or business-friendly community.
Koch cannot enjoy diplomatic immunity at this point. Once you enter the world of politics you become a public figure, and the rules change for you. A one-sided debate or immunity from others cannot be expected. Make no mistake, Waterville has been plunged into a metaphorical civil war. The gloves are off; forget dipping your toe in the water, I’m sitting in the bath.
Residents need to connect the dots. Members of our tolerant community helped get Mayor Isgro dispatched from his full-time job. This is as sinister as the schoolyard bullies who surround their victim. When a husband — and father of five — no longer has the ability to provide for his family have the ends justifies the means?
Do I have your attention now? Are you still comfortable with this?
Don’t be fooled by the crocodile tears of Colby College Councilors Winifred Tate and Lauren Lessing. Less than five months ago Lessing and Tate actively campaigned against Isgro in his re-election campaign. Koch and Lessing rallied together to stop the deportation of Lexius Saint Martin to Haiti. Koch openly expressed her dissatisfaction of Isgro’s handling of the issue. While a very sad case, the mayor of Waterville does not have the resources to tackle the federal immigration department.
Lessing hypocritically proposes a statement of inclusion and tolerance. This smokescreen is akin to the medieval stocks, a new humiliation. Her touching accompanying essay to fool the reader about how immigrants were welcomed shows how out of touch these new arrivals in our city really are. They know very little of Waterville’s history, but have big plans for the future. The French immigrants were second-class citizens and were treated very badly, even excluded from local government.
Like the early Franco-American experience, this council excludes and berates residents that disagree with their agenda, from hijacking our rental industry to imposing new taxes. They demand total ideological uniformity.
We are going to have to look deep into our hearts as a community and ask ourselves what will be left of us after the dust settles. What example did we set to our children? We must preserve our dignity, as dignity is always the first to leave.
What levels will they sink to next? We have thrown the baby out with the bath water. Can we still in good conscience justify our actions? You can call me a fake Democrat but you will never be able to call me a fake human being.
The parable of the beam and the speck would be a good lesson for our community at this time.
Are you still comfortable with all this? I’m not.
Julian Payne is a resident of Waterville and a member of the school board.
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