If you live in Topsham and are an unenrolled voter as I am, consider voting for Denise Tepler for the State House of Representatives.

Denise seems to be one of those rare individuals who is capable of learning something new once information about a subject becomes available. She can even change her mind about a law, policy or program once she finds out how it actually effects people in the real world.

I know this because one day Denise came to see me and said she had changed her mind about a proposed law. It wasn’t that the facts in the case had changed, as they were already fairly well known. What had changed was that she had learned how the lives of people most affected by the new law would be made worse, not better.

Some people get a lot of attention because they are loud and make themselves heard, but that doesn’t make what they say true or beneficial. A lot of unenrolled voters like me don’t say a lot, at least not in the hysterical setting of a political debate. Nonetheless, we still have an opinion on how the actions of government affect us.

When it really matters, Denise will almost certainly defend ordinary people and their livelihoods out of common decency, instead of making a decision based mainly on political ideology or some other abstraction. That will make her a good legislator and someone we can trust.

Gary Fogg
Topsham