By arbitrarily excluding candidates from the primary process, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows has disenfranchised voters and effectively controls the outcome of Maine’s upcoming presidential election. This decision is dangerously reminiscent of ploys used in the USSR, Venezuela and North Korea, where dissident candidates were jailed or murdered before elections. It’s a ruling routinely employed […]
Alex Lear
Staff Writer
Alex Lear is a lifelong Mainer who has spent 25 years in journalism -- the first 20 as a reporter for newspapers in Damariscotta and Falmouth, then as Opinions section editor for the Sun Journal and now a digital producer with the Maine Trust for Local News. His long-running “Learics” column won first place in the Maine Press Association’s 2023 Better Newspaper Contest. He and his wife Lauren are kept young by their 9-year-old daughter Alaina. Send feedback and suggestions to Alex.
Posted inOp-Eds, Opinion
Rich Lowry: Confession of a public health expert
The former head of the National Institutes of Health during the pandemic and current science advisor to President Joe Biden, Francis Collins, has noted that he and his colleagues demonstrated an “unfortunate” narrow-mindedness.
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Posted inLetters, Opinion
Patrick Eisenhart: ‘I don’t trust Golden any longer’
Voting with rich Republicans appears to be an emerging pattern with Congressman Jared Golden. He was the only Democrat to vote with the Republicans against the Build Back Better bill designed to provide badly-needed services for Mainers and to address climate change. He voted consistently with Republicans against the ban of the AR-15 until he […]
Posted inLetters, Opinion
Carole Richards: ‘My wish for the new year’
My wish for the new year is a return to common decency and morality, to see kindness and caring everywhere. I am hopeful Generation Z will march to the polls this November in droves to say we will not accept inaction in Congress while children are being massacred in our schools. I wish to see […]
Posted inBusiness, Noteworthy
Auburn company raises over $800 in snowsuit drive
AUBURN — Better Homes & Gardens/The Masiello Group raised more than $800 from its Auburn office in its annual snowsuit drive for Promise Early Education Center. The money paid for gloves, hats, boots and more than 23 full sets of snowsuits. As the Head Start program for Androscoggin County, the center aims to provide a […]
Posted inLetters, Opinion
Jacqueline Smith: Excluding Trump from ballot ‘a slap in the face’
How sad and pathetic it is when three individuals and a bias secretary of state can make a decision that affects the rights of all the citizens of this wonderful state (excluding Donald Trump from the primaries). What a slap in the face. Obviously, they don’t believe that we are capable of thinking for ourselves […]
Posted inLetters, Opinion
Penny Haslett: Trump is not for the people
I’m so upset that so many people were angry with Secretary of State Shenna Bellows. I feel she was very direct and stated just the facts. People are so quick to judge without looking up the information. I wish people would take the blinders off and see Donald Trump for what he really is. He […]
