A bridge too far?

To The Eagle:

One could perhaps drum up a little sympathy for a political candidate reeling from multiple criticisms and recovering from a star-crossed performance at the Grays River Grange Forum, but the latest retaliatory letter from Candidate Coons truly qualifies as “a bridge too far.” Bill’s opponent had told many of us of his impending candidacy last winter, and actual campaign launch was an unintended consequence of a legitimate complaint letter by Lori Hamp in the March 22 Eagle, giving Brian a graceful entre, which he took the following week. The first two weeks of April brought various critiques from Karen Cressa, Colleen Haley, R.A. Orr, and Don Kinney; then I jumped in on the 19th with a grievance that had been simmering for several years.

Over a month into the brouhaha, April 23, Michael Baccellieri hopped into the fray but his comments were blunted by an instant rebuttal from the assessor, enabled by his old alpaca-raising buddy, our editor. Now we are told “it’s no secret” that Baccellieri launched the McClain candidacy! First I heard of it, and I’d wager that’s true for the other complainants just mentioned. And “tapping his friends” (I’ve met the man once, briefly) to attack Bill, and spying on his wife, and others attacking his integrity. Sounds offhand like a candidate for a “Help! Help! The Paranoids Are After Me” tee shirt.

Then, for a finale, Bill performs a polemic pirouette: scorns Kay Chamberlain’s advice to use his own words, proffers public exposure of Baccellieri’s email correspondence with him (shades of Julian Assange), and tries to bend my words into support for his position. Not a pretty sight.

Howard Brawn

Puget Island