government

Final election results show Lincoln voted ‘yes’ on Question 2

November 11, 2016

A more complete (though still unofficial) tally of Lincoln’s election results shows that Lincolnites voted in favor of expanding charter schools—and was one of very few Massachusetts cities and towns to do so.

Preliminary results that were sent to the Squirrel on Tuesday night contained a typographical error in the results for Question 2 that seemed to indicate Lincolnites voted against raising the cap on charter schools. In fact, Lincoln voted by a margin of 1,988–1,768 to raise the cap, and was one of only 15 towns to vote yes. The others were Weston, Wellesley, Dover, Sherborn, Manchester, Mt. Washington, Cohasset, Chatham, Orleans, Nantucket, and four of the five towns on Martha’s Vineyard.

The next-closest margin for a ballot question in Lincoln was the vote of 2,018–1,765 in favor of legalizing recreational marijuana.

The tables below show results by voting precinct, excluding blanks and write-ins. Click here to see a map showing the two Lincoln precincts.

Candidates	Precinct 1	Precinct 2	Total
PRESIDENT and VP
Clinton and Kaine	1,820	1,086	2,906
Trump and Pence	328	285	613
Johnson and Weld	97	78	175
Stein and Baraka	24	23	47
U.S. REPRESENTATIVE
Katherine Clark	1,848	1,166	3,014
COUNCILLOR
Marilyn Devaney	1,681	1,065	2,746
STATE SENATOR
Michael Barrett	1,722	1,097	2,819
STATE REPRESENTATIVE
Thomas Stanley	1,332	783	2,115
Stacey Gallagher Tully	643	533	1,176
SHERIFF
Peter Koutoujian	1,733	1,092	2,825

BALLOT QUESTIONS	Precinct 1	Precinct 2	Total
QUESTION 1: Additional slot parlor license?
Yes	392	334	726
No	1,832	1,128	2,960
QUESTION 2: Allow up to 12 new charter schools per year?
Yes	1,186	802	1,988
No	1,089	679	1,768
QUESTION 3: Prohibit confinement of farm animals?
Yes	1,841	1,180	3,021
No	443	304	747
QUESTION 4: Legalize recreational marijuana?
Yes	1,186	832	2,018
No	1,106	659	1,765

Letter to the editor: an important conversation about Town Meeting

November 10, 2016

To the editor:

On Saturday, the town will have an opportunity to come together and hear what is on the minds of town boards and committees, in addition to asking questions and sharing ideas. That is one important conversation. There is another.

This past summer, an important community conversation was resumed. Every so many years, a new generation of Lincoln looks at itself and asks important questions about our decision making process: Town Meeting. Some clearly feel the format is not conducive to inclusion. Others believe it brings out the best of community participation and decision-making. And, as many have said, democracy is not a spectator sport and requires full participation.

But how do we best achieve that when we have a form of governance crafted in the 18th century that is still serving us in the 21st? Are there ways we can improve access to information, debate and decision-making to expand participation? The Town Moderator, an elected position established in the 18th century, stepped to the plate and took these and other questions to the Board of Selectmen on October 24. The conversation’s focus was to explore how we might improve Town Meeting and decision-making. After some discussion, the Selectmen agreed that having a town-wide conversation about fine-tuning Town Meeting was important and urged the moderator to consider how best to move forward.

Other models for Town Meeting exist so that we need not reinvent the wheel. We have neighbors who debate this issue on a regular basis. Years ago, HATS (Hanscom Area Towns—Lincoln, Lexington, Concord and Bedford) hosted just such a discussion. In attendance were other Town Moderators, representatives of the League of Women Voters, Town Meeting members and others. Many towns have created a guide to Town Meeting for their own communities. Our own Town Clerk has created such a guide: “Welcome to Lincoln! A Guide for New Residents.” This is being distributed to newcomers and will soon made available online.

But what more can we do? How can we include new ideas, technologies and innovations? What became clear in the meeting between the Selectmen and Town Moderator is a need for the setting of context to open any discussion:

What exactly is Town Meeting?
Where did it come from and why?
What are the state statutes that establish it, and that also dictate how decisions are made?
What can and what can’t we do to alter voting and decision-making?
And, if we want to make fundamental changes to how we govern ourselves, what would it take to do so?

Once we have established the basic information and “road rules,” we can then begin a discussion of how we might make changes. While no date was set for the Town Moderator to return to the Selectmen to report next steps, it is clear that there is a need, and an important conversation has begun.

Many of us wonder how we, as a clearly divided country, can come together to govern at a national level. But we should not doubt that we can and will come together as a community. It is important to find time to listen and share thoughts this Saturday morning at our annual State of the Town meeting, and also to participate when and where we might find an opportunity to discuss how best to fine-tune Town Meeting, and celebrate the civility that has dominated our ongoing community conversations.

Sincerely,

Sara Mattes
71 Conant Rd.

Letters to the editor must be signed with the writer’s name and street address and sent via email to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. Letters will be edited for punctuation, spelling, style, etc., and will be published at the discretion of the editor. Letters containing personal attacks, errors of fact or other inappropriate material will not be published.

Lincoln voters say yes to Hillary and three ballot questions

November 9, 2016

Early election results in Lincoln show that Hillary Clinton won by an overwhelming margin of 83% to 17%. Lincolnites also said “yes” to more charter schools, banning confinement for farm animals, and legalizing recreational marijuana while voting against an additional slot parlor in the state. Lincoln was one of only 15 towns to vote yes on the charter schools question.

Incumbent State Rep. Thomas Stanley (D) handily beat independent challenger Stacey Gallagher Tully by a margin of 65% to 35% among Lincoln residents.

Here are unofficial and incomplete results for how Lincoln voted in the 2016 presidential election as of 10:30 p.m. on Election Night from Town Clerk Susan Brooks. Click on a ballot question to see the Boston Globe’s statewide results.

PRESIDENT	# Votes	Ballot Q: Yes	Ballot Q: No
Hillary Clinton	2,906	—	—
Donald Trump	613	—	—
Gary Johnson	unknown	—	—
Jill Stein	unknown	—	—
U.S. REPRESENTATIVE
Katherine Clark	unknown	—	—
COUNCILLOR
Marilyn Devaney	unknown	—	—
STATE SENATOR
Michael Barrett	unknown	—	—
STATE REPRESENTATIVE
Thomas Stanley	2,215	—	—
Stacey Gallagher Tully	1,176	—	—
SHERIFF
Peter Koutoujian	unknown	—	—
BALLOT QUESTIONS (yes/no)
QUESTION 1: Additional slot parlor license?	—	726 (20%)	2,960 (80%)
QUESTION 2: Allow up to 12 new charter schools per year?	—	1,988 (53%)	1,768 (47%)
QUESTION 3: Prohibit confinement of farm animals?	—	3,021 (80%)	747 (20%)
QUESTION 4: Legalize recreational marijuana?	—	2,018 (53%)	1,765 (47%)

Lincoln DTC endorses Clark, Stanley, Barrett

November 7, 2016

To the editor:

The Lincoln Democratic Town Committee endorses Katherine Clark for U.S. Congress, Tom Stanley for State Representative, and Michael Barrett for State Senator.

Massachusetts and Lincoln have been well served by Congresswoman Katherine Clark. She distinguished herself in leading a protest on the House floor with Representative John Lewis to chastise the Republican led Congress for its refusal to pass two responsible and common sense gun safety bills.

Most recently, she successfully collaborated with Republican Congressman Glenn Thompson to pass her bill for Strengthening Career and Technical Education—a cause that has been advocated actively by the Lincoln Democratic Town Committee in the hope that workers in declining industries can learn and succeed in the 21st-century century economy.

Representative Tom Stanley speaks softly and doesn’t always advertise his accomplishments, but he has represented Lincoln well, particularly in support of the town’s application to pursue funding requests for school facility improvements, and representing Lincoln’s interests in funding requests to offset Lincoln’s costs of providing services to the Hanscom Air Force Base residents, all of whom live within the town of Lincoln.

Senator Barrett has been a leader in climate change and clean energy and has continued his fight to pass bills aimed at combating climate change, create energy diversity, and achieve energy sector compliance with the Global Warming Solutions Act. He has also introduced bills to change the current fixed rate income tax to a more equitable graduated income tax, and to repeal the sales tax exemption for jet fuel. He has been named Legislator of the Year three times and has been honored as one of the 10 best legislators in Massachusetts.

The Lincoln Democratic Town Committee is proud to have such a strong cadre of elected legislative officials. We encourage Lincoln voters to re-elect them.

Sincerely,

Barbara Slayter (co-chair, Lincoln Democratic Town Committee)
7 Trapelo Rd.

Letter to the editor: elect Tully as Lincoln’s state rep

November 6, 2016

To the editor:

When I first heard Stacey Gallagher Tully was running for the office of state representative, I immediately fired off an email asking her to join me for coffee. She was quick to agree to meet with me and I am writing to ask you to consider giving her your consideration in the election on November 8.

Stacey comes from a family with a long history of working on the Kennedys’ campaigns, and Stacey has spent time in D.C. and Georgia working with Jimmy Carter. She too has a long history of public service and is ready to take the step of moving into the legislature. You may have seen Stacey at Donelan’s, at the transfer station or at one of a number of locations. She has come to Lincoln Woods at least two times and at a coffee hosted there last recently she told us of her plans to hold office hours in Lincoln and how much she looks forward to working to bring both communities together to solve issues we have in common.

The obvious issue is traffic. Driving off Route 128 onto Route 20 and then Route 117 is not just a Waltham issue. As most of us know, it has a huge impact on us here in Lincoln. We need a representative that will talk to us, the people of Lincoln, who will work with us, who will be accountable to us. Stacey Gallagher Tully is asking to be that person. She has a proven track record working on senior issues and health issues in Waltham. She has a history of serving the people of her community and would like us to be part of her community.

Contrast this with her opponent Mr. Stanley, who is without a doubt committed to Waltham—but Lincoln, not so much. To be sure, Stanley has helped the administration in Lincoln gain access to the right people in Boston; after 16 years he knows his way around. As for the rest of us in Lincoln, he has been absent. In fact, he is quoted in the recent Lincoln Journal as saying he spends all his campaign time in Waltham. Lincoln is not even on his agenda.

Many of us remember the days not so long ago when we had a state representative who spent time in Lincoln, talked with us, the residents, and worked to serve all of us in Boston, not just the administration. A vote for Stacey Gallagher Tully is a vote for representation of the people, by the people.

Sincerely,

Sharon K. Antia
165 South Great Rd.

ZBA says no to McLean Hospital

November 4, 2016

The Zoning Board of Appeals voted 4-1 on Thursday night to overrule a previous finding that a proposed McLean Hospital residential facility is a permitted use of the property under state law.

McLean bought adjoining parcels at 16 and 22 Bypass Road last spring with the intention of putting 12 beds for boys age 15-21 in the large home on one of the properties. The goal was to have boys with borderline personality disorder live there for several months while receiving dialectical behavioral therapy to help them learn to function better.

Lincoln zoning bylaws prohibit uses other than residential in that area, but McLean claimed an exemption under the Dover amendment, which allows religious and educational facilities in residential areas. Building Inspector Dan Walsh and town counsel Joel Bard agreed with the hospital’s claim that the proposal constituted an educational use. But a group of neighborhood residents appealed to the ZBA, which sided with the residents after a hearing that featured much debate over whether the proposed facility was primarily educational or medical/therapeutic.

“I’m certainly a fan of the notion that you don’t have to have traditional classrooms to have it be educational, and I’m favorably inclined to the idea that education is rolled into therapy, but the Dover amendment is not written in a way to say that education is therapy and therapy is education. This is closer to therapy than education,” said ZBA member Bill Churchill.

“The primary end goal is treatment. The curative aspect is the goal here,” said ZBA member David Henken.

“I do think this is treatment. There’s obviously some education involved, but I don’t think it’s the primary purpose,” agreed board member David Summer.

“I don’t think this is an educational purpose that is the intent of the Dover amendment,” ZBA chair Joel Freedman said.

Board member Eric Snyder said he would vote “based on what he read from various doctors” on both sides of the issue. He ultimately cast the lone dissenting vote.

Freedman had a word of caution for those against the proposal, however. “The idea that Dover amendment is something that has come in and usurped local zoning is something I disagree with very much,” he said. “It’s a good thing when a community like Lincoln has to participate in things… that may be distasteful or may not be what they want. There’s no credence to the idea that there needs to be protection here.”

The ZBA achieved the minimum of four votes that are required to overturn the building inspector’s finding. Board member Kathleen Shepard was not at Thursday’s meeting and Vinit Patel recused himself from the vote.

McLean officials declined to comment after the meeting.

News acorns

November 2, 2016

Sample ballot (click to enlarge).

More than one-quarter of voters cast early ballots

As of Wednesday morning, 28 percent of the Lincoln electorate has voted, according to Town Clerk Susan Brooks. Though her office has not been tracking ballots cast by registration, the largest segment of the Lincoln electorate is unenrolled (53 percent), followed by Democrats at 36 percent and Republicans at 11 percent. Registered voters can cast their ballots in the Town Clerk’s Office (16 Lincoln Rd.) through Friday, Nov. 4 at 4:30 p.m. Hours for voting are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and until 8 p.m. on Thursday.

Order pies by Thursday to benefit L-S teachers

The deadline to order Thanksgiving pies from the Foundation for Educators at Lincoln Sudbury (FELS) is Friday, Nov. 4. Online and paper orders are welcome. Proceeds support grants to Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School faculty and staff, allowing them to pursue their professional and personal interests and passions. Click here for the online form, or here to download a paper form. Pies will be available on Tuesday, Nov. 22.

Minuteman mulling middle-school career exploration program

Minuteman High School is looking for feedback from in-district middle school families on whether their children might like to participate in an after-school career pathway exploratory Program, possibly to begin next spring. The program would provide a wide variety of career exploration opportunities and an opportunity for middle school students to identify early on what they love to do and what they do well.

Minuteman will hold an informational evening on Wednesday, Nov. 9 at 4 p.m. in the Paul Revere Room for parents and guardians. Register for this event by taking a brief online survey. Lincoln has voted to leave the Minuteman district, but the departure does not take effect until July 2017.

Lectures on Israel/Palestine

The GRALTA Foundation continues its exploration of the Israel-Palestine conflict with two lectures in November. Boston College sociology professor Eve Spangler will speak on “Understanding Israel/Palestine Through a Human Rights Lens” at the Lincoln Public Library on Thursday, Nov. 10 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 13 in Bemis Hall at 2 p.m. Her popular seminar, “Social Justice in Israel/Palestine,” culminates when she leads a trip to the region during BC’s winter break. There is no charge, and light refreshments will be served.

Tea and gift ideas with children’s librarians

Join the children’s librarians for tea, scones and book suggestions for holiday gift-giving for grandchildren and other young readers in your life at a Grandparents’ Tea on Wednesday, Nov. 16 from 4-5 p.m. in the Lincoln Public Library Tarbell Room. This event is open to all adults, not just grandparents.

Officials discuss ways to tweak Town Meeting

November 2, 2016

How can Town Meeting be made more accessible for busy parents, the homebound, and others who might like to attend but can’t? Town moderator Sarah Cannon Holden and selectmen brainstormed several ideas at the board’s October 24 meeting.

The topic came up after several residents discussed the matter on the LincolnTalk email list over the summer (list members can find the discussion thread by clicking here—login required).

While some in the LincolnTalk discussion celebrated Town Meeting as a shining example of New England participatory democracy, others said it was inefficient and did not allow for maximum voter participation.

“The current system is akin to holding an election that instead of giving people options, forces them to take an entire day off of work/family/obligations and sit in a room for 5-7 hours before eventually casting a vote at a not-previously-determined time,” one resident wrote.

Another wrote that the notion of Town Meeting as it’s now conducted is “fairly antiquated” and “seems to indicate that citizens should adapt to the arbitrary choice of government administration instead of adapting the administration of government to the needs of the citizens.”

“Civic engagement is important, yet I would think a true democracy would find ways to give everyone an opportunity to participate,” wrote a third resident who endorsed the idea of mail-in voting.

At the selectmen’s meeting, Holden and other noted that Lincoln can’t change its form of government without an act of the state legislature. Like the majority of the 351 cities and towns in Massachusetts, Lincoln has an open town meeting form of government (54 have a city/town council and 36 have a representative town meeting, according to the Massachusetts Municipal Association). However, there is some leeway in terms of the timing; Town Meeting can be held over two or more evenings, for example.

Other ideas suggested at the selectmen’s meeting included video-streaming the entire meeting so people could watch remotely and come in to vote when an item of interest came up, or expanding the consent calendar. The consent calendar is a list of warrant articles that officials have deemed non-controversial beforehand and that are voted on as a group, with the exception of individual items for which a resident has requested a separate discussion and vote.

Holden noted that Town Meeting is already divided such that finances and bylaws are usually discussed and voted on in the mornings, with public policy issues coming after the lunch break. She also noted that she does her best to encourage shorter presentations by town officials and trying to limit the length of discussions, though “it’s hard to cut off [a resident] in a sense arbitrarily” or by a set number of minutes or comments.

Holden acknowledged that there was an overflow problem at the Special Town Meeting in 2012, when hundreds of people showed up for an important school funding vote. She announced the vote about 15 minutes ahead of time knowing that the auditorium doors would have to be closed first, since it was sure to be a hand-counted vote as opposed to a voice vote. However, some people were not able to get in because of the crush, and although there was overflow space in the gym next door, it’s unclear whether they were signed in, so they could not vote.

Selectman James Craig said the most frequent suggestion he had heard from those with school-age children was to have a defined time period for all voting, such as 1-2 p.m.

Pushback from selectmen

“I’ve been going [to Town Meeting] since I was a kid, and I have a sort of instinctive sort of pushback” to this sort of change, Selectman Peter Braun said. “This is an important event in our community. It’s really important for people to hear each other and see each other and participate in democracy that a war was fought over originally. I feel a little personal constraint over saying ‘show up when you feel like it and vote when you’re here’.”

Lincoln is not the only town facing this issue. Other towns have tried things like having Town Meeting over two days, “and they all say it doesn’t seem to matter, you get the same response. He suggested that Holden do a benchmark study of “what other towns are doing to try to address these issues.”

Nevertheless, Lincoln’s Town Meeting participation rate is one of the highest in the state, Town Administrator Tim Higgins said.

“This will sound a little harsh, I have to admit… but I have a really hd time understanding why someone can’t hire a babysitter, and one with a car if necessary” for chauffeuring children to activities, said Selectman Renel Fredriksen, noting that she always attended Town Meeting even when her children were very young. “It’s one day a year… if you had a wedding, would you skip it because you had to go to a soccer game? If someone says ‘I can’t go because of X,’ then you’re clearly making it a lower priority than whatever X is. It doesn’t parse for me.” Citizens should know the issues and “show up if they care, and if you don’t care, that’s fine,” she said.

“There’s some truth to that, but at the same time, I do feel like we need to listen,” Craig said.

“The issue is accessibility and disenfranchisement of people who don’t have the ability who literally cannot attend Town Meeting, not their level of care or concern about town issues,” resident Margit Griffith said. “When you’re looking at opportunities to vote, you have to look at people who can’t—not won’t, but can’t.”

At the close of the discussion, Holden said she would look at having more items on the consent calendar, and perhaps distributing more digestible information (in print and online) ahead of time as a way of shortening presentations and questions at Town Meeting.

ZBA expected to vote on McLean proposal this week

November 1, 2016

After two public hearing sessions, the Zoning Board of Appeals is expected to vote Thursday on whether McLean Hospital’s proposed Bypass Road facility is a permitted use for the property.

The ZBA heard arguments surrounding the appeal of a group of residents on September 29 and October 20. Both the appellants and MCLean also filed numerous court cases and letters to bolster their positions. Among them were three statements from Lincoln physicians arguing that dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) for boys and young men with borderline personality disorder constitutes a medical use and should therefore not be allowed.

Earlier this fall, a neighborhood coalition hired attorney Michael Fee to appeal the town’s building inspector finding that the proposed 12-bed residential facility is allowed under the Dover amendment, a state statute that exempts religious and educational organizations from certain local zoning bylaws. McLean says the use is primarily educational and not medical.

Definitional differences

The two sides disagreed about the definitions of terms such as “medical,” “educational” and “therapeutic.” For example, gym memberships are often paid for by healthy plans, but psychiatrists and psychologists are allowed to see patients in home offices.

They also disagreed about the exact nature of DBT. “DBT is described on McLean’s own website under the tab ‘clinical services.’ It seems like an educational use implies teachers and students, not therapists and patients,” Smith Hill Road resident Dan Pierce said at the October 20 ZBA hearing.

“BPD is a brain disease with emotional dysregulation as its hallmark and underlying documented brain abnormalities as its basis,” psychiatrist and South Great Road resident Lynn DeLisi wrote in a letter to the ZBA. “It is clear that persons who receive recognized treatments for this disorder do so in order to have their symptoms treated, not to be ‘educated’ on how to function with them.”

But McLean’s Dr. Philip Levendusky had a different view. At the September 29 ZBA hearing, he said DBT teaches “learning-based behavior change techniques integrated with relevant social and carefully managed biological, a.k.a. psychopharmacologic, strategies” and that it teaches mindfulness, emotional regulation, distress tolerance and behavioral flexibility. On October 20, he reiterated that DBT is educational because “we’re trying to teach them ways of reframing what their impulses are and other ways to handle things.”

Levendusky is senior vice president for business development and communications and director of the Psychology Department.

“It’s a great business model [to put a residential facility] in a beautiful town next door that’s too weak to resist its exploitation,” said Brooks Road resident Arthur Anthony. “There’s a lot of profit there. The Dover amendment was not intended to be a cover for big business to exploit neighborhoods and towns.”

Along with an hour of therapy each day, the facility will require 15 hours a week of classroom activities, which are “not a tagalong, not a passing fancy—it’s completely integrated,” Levendusky said, adding, “this is three to five times more educational activity than we have on Cambridge Turnpike.”

Although prescription drugs can be administered and there will be a doctor and nurse at the Bypass Road site, they will not monitor vital signs or perform any other medical procedures,” Levendusky said. Likewise, there will be classrooms and meeting rooms rather than medicalized treatment rooms. “There will be a small medical and recreational component, but I’m hoping you’ll find this is primarily educational,” he said.

The Bypass Road building will be locked “based on [neighbors’] concerns, not based on the profile of the kids,” Levendusky said. Teenagers who are actively abusing substances or who have a police record will not be permitted.

McLean is applying for licensure for the Bypass Road facility from the state Department of Early Education and Care, which also licenses other children’s facilities including day care centers, McLean’s 3East inpatient facility for teenage girls (which is also licensed by the Department of Public Health), the Perkins School for the Blind and the Home for Little Wanderers. Because its residents are adults, McLean’s facility on Concord Turnpike is licensed by the state Department of Mental Health.

The whole issue is murky enough that “you can be intellectually honest and rigorous and come down on either side,” former Planning Board member Bob Domnitz, who was in the audience, told the ZBA. “This project is almost certainly headed to court, so you have to ask yourself, ‘What would residents want us to do?’ The answer is to follow the zoning. I don’t see why a local board would approve this in the absence of a clear mandate or requirement to do this. I’m asking you to keep this trust intact.”

The residents who appealed the building inspector’s decision are Steven and Linda Kanner, Robyn Laukien, Daniel McCarthy, Jay Gregory, Douglas and Lisa Elder, Ted and Nandini David, Beverly and Daniel Peirce, Michael and Lisa Gurrie, Lara and Arthur Anthony, and Mark and Sarah Crosby.

Letter to the editor: some are working to rig the election

October 31, 2016

To the editor:

Yes, the election is rigged—but not how you might have heard.

Hillary Clinton is the only responsible choice to elect as our next president. As NYU research professor Dianne Ravitch wrote yesterday, Clinton is far more qualified for the presidency than Donald Trump, who is completely unfit for the position. She is better educated, more experienced, more thoughtful, wiser and more knowledgeable. She has a demonstrated commitment to the well-being of all Americans.

Conservatives have worked hard to rig this election against Clinton using distortions, ridiculous conspiracy theories, and outright fabrications to which she has been subjected for decades. That strategy has used a continuous vilifying narrative by conservative candidates, surrogates, media and Internet bloggers to incite their base and brainwash themselves and the public. They are now threatening voter suppression and intimidation at the polls.

Most recently, last week’s accusation by Republican FBI director James Comey represented a further example of the continuing litany of unsubstantiated attacks, this time in violation of the Hatch Act.

Another example are the failed Benghazi hearings that dragged on for years at a cost over $7 million for the sole purpose of denigrating Clinton. Compare that with the hearings run by former Massachusetts Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill following the 1983 Beirut terrorist attacks that killed over 258 marines and U.S. personnel during the Reagan administration. Those hearings lasted only two months and produced meaningful bipartisan recommendations to avoid such attacks in the future.

Now Republican Congressmen and senators have said they will hold a Clinton administration hostage by subjecting her to continuous investigations for the duration of her term. Democrats must elect a majority to Congress if they are to achieve a constructive and functional government for a change.

Finally, the New York Times says in its endorsement that the best case for Secretary Clinton is not that she isn’t Donald Trump, it’s that she has the capacity to rise to the challenges this country faces at home and abroad. Americans deserve a grown up president. A lifetime’s commitment to solving problems in the real world qualifies Clinton for this job.

Sincerely,

20R Gary Davis
Indian Camp Lane