If residents of Androscoggin County are frustrated with leadership of county government, and want to determine fault, find the nearest mirror. There’s our culprit.

The county’s commissioners, Elmer Berry, Constance Cote and Helen Poulin, were elected largely unopposed. Berry and Poulin triumphed over opponents in the Democratic primaries of 2004 and 2006, respectively, while Cote faced nary a competitor in her 2004 re-election bid.

Only we, as residents of the county, are to blame. We didn’t run, which left nobody else on the ballot.

Critics of governance, when enraged at bureaucratic bumbling, often grumble, “We’ve got the government we deserve.” A corollary has become true in Androscoggin County, in light of the ongoing dispute between the county commission and Sheriff Guy Desjardins.

We’ve got the government most of us didn’t vote for.

There hasn’t been a strong campaign for a top county seat in years, until the race between Desjardins and former Sheriff Ron Gagnon last fall. Desjardins vanquished the longtime incumbent in the Democratic primary and the general election, in which Gagnon campaigned as a write-in candidate.

It’s little surprise then, public support – and our support, too – is with Sheriff Desjardins as he mires through inscrutable dealings with Poulin, Berry and Cote. The trio’s latest transgression came Wednesday, when they refused to even register a vote on the contentious issue of adding a single sheriff’s deputy.

When the vote was called, Poulin, Berry and Cote remained quiet. They neither nodded in the affirmative, nor scowled in the negative. They neither abstained nor decided to recuse themselves.

They did nothing, and then said the matter was closed.

In staying silent, the board spoke volumes about the dictatorial opinion they have of their positions, despite the glaring critical mass of public support they failed to garner for placement there.

Berry and Cote have long records of public service. They have sacrificed countless hours to make our community better. Cote, earlier this year, was rightly inducted into the Franco-American Hall of Fame for all her contributions.

They are besmirching these reputations. The power struggle between the commissioners and the sheriff must end. Residents of rural Androscoggin County deserve an additional patrol deputy, county citizens have funded the position, the budget committee approved it, and the commissioners should allow the hiring.

Then, when the terms of Berry, Cote and Poulin expire, a vigorous bipartisan campaign to replace them needs to happen, to prevent such an unnecessary stalemate from reoccurring.

If we’re going to get the government we deserve, we must all vote on it.