I am disgusted by the attitude shown by Marie Sobalvarro in her campaign flyer, circulated to Harvard residents last week. She writes that she “holds regular meetings with Representative Eldridge to advance Harvard’s positions on key legislation.” Hold on here! While it would be allowable to lobby a state rep as a private citizen, it is condemnable to purport that her private positions are representative of the citizens of Harvard, i.e., the town. Who authorized these meetings and to whom has she reported them? Where are the minutes? What might she already have misrepresented? Her arrogance surpasses even that of the current board. She is pushing her own agenda as that of the citizens and she is not even elected.
In addition, according to the Harvard Press, Marie believes, “The most important aspect of the selectman’s job is to empower citizens to make informed choices. It’s not the job of the selectmen to make decisions.” She could not be more wrong. A selectperson’s job is to listen and to learn from the citizens, thereby making informed decisions without imposing his or her will on the population.
Deborah Skauen-Hinchliffe
Still River Road
