The views stated here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the editors of this newspaper. We welcome supporting or opposing views on any published item. Received October 20, 2021.
As long as I have been in town government, we have celebrated our capacity to work together constructively and respectfully across party lines. But the Killingworth Republicans have threatened to take legal action against me and our town attorneys in our “professional capacity and personally” and accused us of acting out of “personal animus” toward Eileen Blewett.
The occasion for this attack was a legal analysis, requested not by me but by our town clerk, to address the question of whether a seat on the RSD17 school board is a town office. This is important because our Town Charter prohibits a selectman from holding another town office. Eileen Blewett is currently running for the Board of Selectmen and the Board of Education, and the town clerk wanted to be able to provide timely notice to the Killingworth Republicans if Eileen could not legally hold both of the seats she is running for.
The town attorney concluded that, under our Town Charter, she could not hold both offices. The Republican Town Committee is welcome to dispute our town attorney’s conclusion, but they could have done so without threatening personal attacks or impugning my motives. That kind of bullying should offend everyone who values our system of government.
Killingworth
