To the Editor:

When I first became politically aware, I understood one difference to be true: that in the United States, “left” meant “liberal,” “right” meant “conservative.”

Over the last few years, it seems as though the Republican Party and their unlabeled candidate(s), want to play both sides of this political fence at the same time.

In the time leading up to the special election, I and my neighbors were inundated with mailers, notices, calls and drop-bys promoting Paula Benoit. I noticed a few things about these efforts.

One, I switched parties during one of the last two major elections — from Republican to the other major party. As a result, until the recent election, my notices regarding issue updates went from paper, phone and drop-by to email only — at my choice.

Two, a person with 20-60 vision would be hard-pressed to find the word “Republican” or the phrase “Republican Party” on any of the mailers for their candidate. Does she not share the party’s core platform values?

Three, one of the mailers had my name pre-printed on an absentee ballot. If someone who wasn’t me intercepted that mailing and submitted it, wouldn’t that constitute voter fraud, something the Republicans have been railing against in the last two elections?

Finally, some of the calls block their numbers from Caller ID or show numbers that do not exist anywhere in the region. Who knew residents in Montreal were that concerned with issues that concern Sagadahoc County?

If Ms. Benoit and the Republicans were counting on my vote, they’ll have to wait until the polls close to see how I voted. As to whether or not I will return to the fold, I’ll drop them a line, or a few.

Tom Greene
Topsham