Dropping Out

Well, I was thoroughly trounced in the School Board race on Monday, and while I'd like to say it doesn't bother me, it does have a certain impact.  Losing is never something to relish, and I've experienced more than my fair share of losses over the years.  It's time for a change of course.

There is a lot to be learned from losing, and to be perfectly blunt I'm sick of the lessons.  It is clear at this point that running for office is a waste of my time.  It is a lot of hard work and it's not fun anymore, so I see no reason to continue on this fruitless path.  I doubt I will ever run for elected office again.

There are far better things that I should be doing.  If I weren't wasting time on these failed elections, I could probably write a lot more, or at least sleep easier at night.  So, I'm dropping out of the political pool.  I will leave the field to those more suited to the life, and more popular with the electorate.

It is good that I step aside now, before I am too worn down by political strife, for I could grow bitter and resentful were I to linger amongst the polls for too long, finding no victory in what I do.  For sure, I will find my fortune elsewhere, and I shall henceforth return to my writing exploits, where I truly shine.

In conclusion, I'd like to thank my supporters, as few and far between as they may be.  I am sorry I could not carry the day for you, and truly I hope you continue to support me in my non-political endeavors.  Remember, the winner in writing, as in politics, is not always the person with the best words or the right ideas, but the person with the most friends willing to campaign for them.  I have sadly been lacking in both fields for far too long.  It is time to redirect from the ballot box to the book rack.  Please, speak well of my published works, and grant me victory in the marketplace!

And remember, an Amazon.com review is a great stump speech for any book.  Visit my Amazon Author Page, and pick out one of my books to review!

Robbinston Votes Monday

This coming Monday, Robbinston will be holding town elections, and our annual town meeting, which addresses our annual town budget and other vital functions of local governance. It is a fairly straightforward procedure, and I don't expect a lot of controversy.

In past years, we've had lengthy debates over such controversial provisions as adding a locked gate to the school parking lot, and eliminating a street light. There was also the grand battle over the "early payer discount" for property taxpayers, which I waged for years on principle. I felt that those who saw fit to pay their taxes ahead of schedule deserved a 2% rebate, and there were a few years where this rate was approved. Before my efforts, the traditional rebate was 1.5%, so it wasn't such a big deal, and may have amounted to an extra thousand dollars for the town. This year, the rebate will likely end up being 1%, which is what it has been the last few years.

The only contested race this year is my own, for the School Board. I'm running against an incumbent who voted to close the school last summer, despite the overwhelming objection of the townspeople. Despite his actions, he still has a good chance of winning reelection, as he's shaped up in recent months and has a devoted block of supporters.

Hoping to drum up some last minute support, I've drafted the following letter, which I'm mailing out to a few people in town. My monetary situation is precarious at the moment, and I'm almost out of stamps, so I unfortunately can't send it out to everyone. I hope people will share this.


My Fellow Robbinston Residents,


I'm writing to let you know that I'll be running for the School Board this year, and I hope that you'll vote for me. I believe we have a good school here in town, and I'd like to see that it remains open, so our children can still be educated here in our own community. Growing up, I attended Robbinston Grade School, and I currently have 2 children there, so maintaining the school as a quality learning environment is vitally important to me.


My opponent for the board is Thomas Critchley, and while I'm sure he's a good man, we have had philosophical differences regarding the school. Last year, when our school was threatened with a funding problem, Mr. Critchley voted to close it, feeling our children could get a better education in Perry, Eastport, or Calais. It wasn't even a cost-savings measure, as the tuition we'd have to pay to send our kids to another school would exceed what we're paying to keep our hometown school open. Fortunately, the other two board members, with encouragement from the townspeople, voted to keep it open.


I know Mr. Critchley only wants the best education for Robbinston students, just as I do, but we clearly disagreed last year on where they'd get that best education.


I believe we need someone on the School Board who will not work to shut our school, but will work to keep it open and make sure it is the best place to teach our kids. That is why I'm running, to assure that we have another voice on the board that will advocate for the continued existence of our school, and fight to make it better. That may be tough at times, with limited resources and restrictive government mandates that often undermine rural communities, but I'm prepared to tackle whatever gets thrown our way.


I hope you will stop by Robbinston Grade School on March 26th to give me your vote, and encourage others to do the same.


Sincerely,






Martin T. Ingham

Standing for the School Board

When it comes to elections, I'm something of a wildcard.  Whenever I run for office, I find myself fighting my own nature, which is to hide behind a keyboard and write my thoughts.  Public speaking will never be my forte, and going out to lobby for votes is always a stressful chore.  In the past, I've found that I just can't be shameless, and that has cost me in the arena of "popularity contests" that we call elections.

Yet, despite myself, I find it impossible to abandon the call of duty.

Daring to venture once more into the fray, I've decided to run for the Robbinston School Board.  The school board isn't always a "big" deal in my little town.  It's basically a volunteer position you have to get elected to.  Yet, while it isn't a position most people seek, it is very important for those of us who care about our children's future.  We need to make sure our kids get the best education possible without bankrupting the taxpayers in the process.  That is understandably a tenuous proposition, with restrictive funding guidelines and limited capital in these hard economic times.

Robbinston Grade School is one of the best schools out there, public or private.  We have a good learning environment, with teachers who are caring and attentive to the students' needs.  I want to keep it that way, but I can't do that from the sidelines.  Therefore, I must step up, and hope the townspeople will give me their trust.

Last year, we had the big "closure" spectacle, where the current board threatened to shut the school down and tuition our kids to neighboring schools.  The plan to shut it down would have actually cost $5,000 more than keeping our school open, but the threat was still made.  One board member used it as political posturing, to wake up the voters to the reality of an unavoidable tax increase, but another member seemed genuinely interested in shutting the school down.  He thought our kids would get a better education in a bigger, consolidated setting, and he's the one who's up for re-election this year.

I can't make any big, grandiose promises.  I'm not going to cut everyone's taxes in half, nor am I going to magically double funding for the school.  What I will do is fight to my last breath to keep the school open, and do everything possible to minimize the impact on property tax rates.  It's the least any school board member should do.

This isn't my first race, and it won't be my last.  I may hate the idea of another election, but there are times that a man must make a stand, and yet again here I am.  The only question is, who will stand with me?

When School Boards Attack

On June 1^st, my little town of Robbinston had an important school board meeting.  Word was, they were going to close our grade school, which currently educates our K-8 kids.  Thankfully, that potential tragedy was averted, but it took 3 hours of debate and citizen outrage before the decision was finally made to keep the school running and begin budgeting.

After the meeting, I wrote the following letter that was published by local papers:

The latest Robbinston School Board meeting was certainly spirited.  Though, that's bound to happen when the school is threatened with closure.  I'm glad to say we avoided that unsightly circumstance, and that our little school will continue to give our kids a quality education in the coming year.

The harsh reality is, Robbinston property taxes will be going up, but this is not because our School Board decided to keep the school open.  In fact, it would actually cost several thousand dollars more in tuition to send our kids to another school, not to mention the cost of either maintaining or bulldozing the existing school building after we closed it.  The State mandated us to raise more money for the school this year (courtesy of School District Consolidation).  So, we're looking at a 7 mill property tax increase, no matter what.

The big question many of you may have is, if it'll cost less to keep the school open, why was the School Board proposing that we close it?  Well, they technically weren't.  They wanted to put it out to referendum, and let the voters decide, though that was a very risky thing considering the common perception that closing the school would somehow save money.  It wouldn't, and we'd be throwing away our local control if we ever did abolish our school.

We elected our School Board to make tough decisions, and that is what they did.  While they came into the meeting poised to send the closure referendum out to the voters, they heard the cry of the people in attendance, saw reason, and did their jobs.  The board eventually voted 2-1 to keep the school running and begin the next year's budget. 

When it comes down to it, the School Board had no desire to close our school.  Rather, they decided to use the threat of closure as a terror tactic, to get people's attention.  The board wanted to educate the voters about the ultimate costs involved with educating our children, and let them know they'll be paying either way.

Putting school closure on the ballot would have been a risky gamble, and I'm glad they recanted from it.  The Robbinston Grade School really is the core of our community, one of the last remaining pieces of infrastructure our town has.  To discard it would be foolhardy and devastating to the future of our community.