The Androscoggin County commissioners have not responded to the “news” coverage or editorials issued by the Sun Journal about county affairs in recent months, but the editorial published Oct. 29 cannot be left unanswered, being, as it is, so tainted by factual errors and misleading representations of the true state of affairs.

The editorial stated, “After its drawn-out drama over a deputy, the commission has decided again to attempt to assert authority in an unfortunate way.”

This statement falsely suggests that the commissioners acted wrongly in exercising caution over filling a new deputy position and in resisting the sheriff’s unlawful attempts to take matters into his own hands. Readers would not know from that, or from the rest of the Sun Journal coverage, that the commissioners had good fiscal reasons to go slowly on creating that position, and when they were sure it was fiscally prudent, they did so.

Meanwhile, it was the sheriff who sued, not the commissioners. After a trial, Justice Wheeler in Superior Court ruled that the commissioners were 100 percent correct in their legal position. The Sun Journal coverage hardly noticed that the commissioners were completely vindicated in that unfortunate suit that they did not initiate.

Now the editorial takes the commissioners to task because elected officials from Auburn failed to fulfill their statutory duties regarding elections for the budget committee, and then sued the county over their own gross negligence. The Sun Journal missed that fact, too. The commissioners have not sued anyone, or threatened to do so. Auburn filed suit, not the commissioners. We are defending the suit because Auburn’s legal arguments, shifting blame from itself to the county, are wrong. The commissioners take compliance with the law seriously, even if the Sun Journal does not.

The editorial made another mistake by saying, “The committee can nominate members from those towns to fill out its roster … Except the stubborn county commission is threatening to sue the committee for allowing Auburn, Poland and Minot to have representation.” As already noted, the county is not suing anyone, or threatening to.

The county simply pointed out the law does not permit the budget committee to “fill vacancies” under those circumstances. The statute does not provide for it, and was never meant to, since it assumes elected officials will do their duty and participate in the caucuses. The only power the budget committee has is to appoint members to fill unexpired terms when a member drops out for some reason. This is not the situation here.

We know the Sun Journal and Auburn do not care about following the law, but the commissioners cannot take it so lightly.

Elmer Berry, chairman, Androscoggin County Commission

Helen Poulin, commissioner