Tag: Lewiston

A Hazy Shade of Winter

~ Randy Seaver ~ 1 Comment

Some people see racism around almost every corner.

I am not one of those people, but . . .

Two days ago, the city of Saco and its neighboring communities were shaken by a violent crime that resulted in four suspects shooting at each other from their cars while traveling on Elm Street.

At the first press conference, Saco Police Chief Jack Clements described the suspects as “four Hispanic males”

One of the suspects involved in Friday’s shooting. Photo: Saco Police Department

It didn’t take long for bigotry, half-assed assumptions and hatred to begin spreading all over social media.

While I can certainly understand why many people expressed fear and concern, I cannot believe how much hatred is brewing in my own community.

Several people used the incident to underscore their disdain for President Joe Biden and his immigration policies.

Within two hours of the incident, Facebook was being flooded with racist rhetoric, such as: “See? This what happens when you have open borders.”

Or this: “Saco used to be a nice, peaceful town until these people came here and ruined things.”

The woman (a self-described Saco native) who posted that last comment conveniently forgets that Friday also marked the 25-year anniversary of Ashley Ouellette’s murder. Ashley, a 15-year-old Thornton Academy student, was found in the middle of the road by a passing motorist.

I remember covering that story. I don’t recall anyone blaming President Clinton. Of course, that terrible crime took place long before Facebook was invented.

If a Hispanic male commits a crime in southern Maine, he must be an “illegal immigrant.” He must be “one of those people.” Really???

These suspects have yet to be identified. How do we know where they were born? Maybe they were born at Boston General hospital. Maybe they were born at Maine Medical Center. Who knows?

Many people just assume if a Hispanic person is involved in a crime, he or she must be an “illegal immigrant.”

I hate to break the news to you: It’s entirely possible that these four men are United States citizens just like you and me.

I can’t prove that, but you can’t prove they are “illegal immigrants,” either.

Maine is vastly a rural state, in fact the most forested state in the country. Our violent crime rates are much lower than many other places.

For those of us who grew up here, things like the murder of Ashley Ouellette or Friday’s shooting incident are jarring – not at all common.

Imagine how people in Lewiston, Maine felt a few months ago when a mass shooting took the lives of 18 innocent victims.

The city of Lewiston is also home to a growing population of Somalian refugees who came to America seeking a better life. They are people “from away.”

The funny thing? The Lewiston shooter was a white guy. A United States citizen. A military veteran.

In fact, the overwhelming majority of mass shootings (7 or more random victims) are committed by young white men.

See? Members of the Abenaki tribe nailed it 300 years ago, when they said this place has gone to hell since these people from away came here.

The vast and overwhelming majority of Saco residents are some of the most decent, kind, generous and intelligent people you could ever hope to meet.

But sadly, the idyllic community of Saco is just like every other place: home to a few ignorant and insecure souls.

Money for nothing

~ Randy Seaver ~ 2 Comments

Ben Chin (Sun Journal Photo)
Ben Chin (Sun Journal Photo)

There were a few lessons to be learned this week for campaign operatives and political junkies in Maine.

1.) A financial war chest does not necessarily win an election;

2.) Voters in small communities become weary of aggressive campaigning that lasts for more than two or three months; and

3.) Negative campaign tactics still work, despite the fact that most people will say negative campaigning is a turn-off.

Lewiston’s mayoral race, in which Robert Macdonald won a third term, garnered national media attention. Tuesday’s run-off results were reported by media outlets across the country, including NBC News and the New York Times.

Although Ben Chin, a progressive Democrat, got the most votes during a five-way race for the mayor’s seat in the November 2015 election, a runoff election was required by the city’s charter because he did not capture at least 50 percent of the vote.

Democrats tend to favor run-off elections and/or a concept known as ranked choice voting, but Tuesday’s results bit them in the ass, when Republican Macdonald came out on top, 53-47 percent over Chin.

What would have otherwise been a small community election became amplified when the campaign took an ugly turn in October.

Several signs that featured a caricature of an Asian man were hung on buildings in Lewiston. Those signs contained a blatantly racist message: “Don’t vote for Ho Chi Chin. Vote for more jobs not more welfare,” according to the Lewiston Sun Journal.

Is cash really king?

Robert Macdonald (Portland Press Herald photo)
Robert Macdonald (Portland Press Herald photo)

Because of the national attention, Chin’s campaign was able to raise a whopping $87,800. Maine Democrats wanted to send a message and large amounts of money poured in from all over Maine and across the country. Chin, the political director for the Maine People’s Alliance, was able to turn on one of the state’s biggest political machines.

In total, Chin’s campaign raised roughly 15 times more than Macdonald’s campaign, which raised $5,800.

By contrast, in the city of Biddeford, a typical mayoral campaign raises somewhere in the neighborhood of $10,000. This year, however, Mayor Alan Casavant raised a paltry $1,270 and spent $818 of it to secure a third term. He got 2,494 votes at a cost of roughly 33 cents per vote.

Chin garnered 3,826 votes; spending nearly $23 per vote. Macdonald, on the other hand, garnered 4,398 votes; spending roughly $1.32 per vote.

Chin edged out second-place finisher Macdonald in November, but Macdonald won Tuesday’s runoff, despite being outspent roughly 15-1. Why?

Almost every one I speak to about this race has a different theory, but I think voters were turned off by an incredibly aggressive campaign that was raising so much cash from outside of the city.

It was a bit over the top.

Voter fatigue?

According to the city of Lewiston’s web site, 33.5 percent of the city’s registered voters cast ballots in the November election. That number dropped slightly on Tuesday, when 32 percent of the city’s voters cast ballots during the runoff election.

By contrast, slightly more than 30 percent of voters in Biddeford cast ballots in that city’s 2015 mayoral election.

Mayoral campaigns in cities like Biddeford or Lewiston usually have a shelf-life of between two or three months. Tuesday’s run-off election added another month to the process. I heard stories of voters being weary of door-knocking and incessant telephone calls.

Sometimes, too much of a good thing (grassroots campaigning and cash) can be a bad thing.

One friend of mine recently speculated that Lewiston’s voters are conservative (and perhaps just a tad racist). He failed to explain how Chin, a progressive Democrat, came out on top in November if a majority of Lewiston’s voters are bigoted or conservative.

In fact, Lewiston, which is a lot like Biddeford, has historically been a bastion for conservative, traditional Democrats (mill workers and Franco-Americans).

Macdonald, a former police detective and Vietnam War veteran, is  a blunt speaker and has a propensity for being “politically incorrect.”

When you consider all these factors, it’s no wonder that a small Maine city’s mayoral race attracted national attention.

It was a campaign that defied conventional wisdom, and it offered some lessons for all of us.