#1 2010-04-08 00:36:44
Everybody give a sigh of relief in honor of the people of Wareham, who made wise choices in SouthCoast's most high-stakes election of the season.
Voters set their sights on change, electing two new members of the Board of Selectmen, Stephen Holmes and Cara Winslow. The newcomers ran on pledges to cure the malignancy that grew within town government over the last few years, and Wareham certainly needs the cure.
As the top two vote-getters, they ousted a pair of incumbents, Bruce Sauvageau and John Cronin, who contributed heavily to the board's culture of secrecy and vindictiveness. The Plymouth County District Attorney's Office determined that the board violated the state's Open Meeting Law no less than 16 times in 2009.
This newspaper has taken no joy in reporting a series of events that cast the lovely town of Wareham in an unflattering light. Nor have we rejoiced in writing editorials about each new assault on transparent, accountable government or the outrageous witch hunt against employees disguised as a computer audit.
It is our duty, however, to report on the workings of government, good and bad, and to ferret out violations of the public trust whenever possible.
We hope this tumultuous period in the town's history is beginning to come to an end.
Wareham is blessed with active community involvement, diversity, and people who care about what happens to their corner of the world. Those are the people who chose to read about the candidates, to attend meetings, and to cast their votes on Tuesday. They turned out in higher-than-normal numbers for a municipal election.
We commend them and congratulate the winners. Holmes and Winslow made excellent candidates, and we anticipate they will serve Wareham well.
Their next step should be to ascend to the office with humility, to refrain from pre-judging their fellow selectmen, and to concentrate on the future, not the past.
We, too, look forward to a brighter day.
Offline
