Richard Cleary. Dick Atlee.

Carrie Jones

Apr 26, 2026

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Support Hannah Pingree for Governor

To the Editor:

I served two terms in the Maine House of Representatives. While I was there, I voted for Hannah Pingree as Majority Leader and then as Speaker of the House. I will vote for her twice more, in the June 9th primary and in the general election, to be Maine’s next governor.

I want to tell you why.

When Hannah was Speaker, the Legislature passed a budget with two thirds of the House and Senate voting yes, Republicans, Democrats, Greens, and Independents alike. That does not happen by accident. It happened because Hannah listened, because she was fair, and because people on both sides of the aisle trusted her. Not everyone agreed with her all the time, but they respected her.

Maine is in real trouble right now. People cannot find housing they can afford. Families struggle to get basic health care. And too many of our leaders seem more interested in picking fights than solving problems. Mainers deserve better.

Hannah has been through this before. She led the Maine House during the 2008 financial collapse, when the housing market fell apart and the state budget was a mess. She kept people working together and got things done.

That is exactly what we need today. Someone who knows how to lead, who does not back down from hard problems, and who treats people with respect. Hannah Pingree is that person.

Richard Cleary

Bar Harbor

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Open Letter to Representative Golden on Iran Realities

Representative Golden:

I have developed a good deal of respect for your nuanced approach to legislation. However, with all due respect, I wish to make three points with regards the erroneous assertions in your two latest “Dear Mainer” emails.

First, Iran was *not* a threat to us at any time before we attacked it on February 28, as has been well documented by both the Intelligence Community over the years, and Jack Kent (who was well equipped to know) upon his recent resignation. Iran has a clear history of using military force only when attacked, such as the catastrophic war we induced Iraq to commence in 1980. Further, in any escalation, it has only escalated as a response to being confronted with escalation. If you received “briefings” indicating Iran was a threat, these were clearly informed by the relentless false Israeli “intelligence” propaganda that got us into this war.

Second, Iran didn’t attack the U.S. itself or its allies — until we started and then escalated the conflict. It then attacked the U.S. bases and facilities in those countries that were specifically being used to support our attacks, which is not unreasonable to expect in a war. Meanwhile, we attacked schools and hospitals and universities in Iran.

Third, we cannot defeat Iran. The Administration’s claims that it has destroyed Iran’s navy, air force, and missile capability are false. We destroyed large surface ships, leaving the underground small fast vessels and submarines intact. We destroyed a large number of Chinese-made aircraft decoys. And we haven’t begun to touch their vast array of underground missile launching and manufacturing facilities, despite thousands of bombings. We have simply demonstrated that in this modern era of small missile and drone warfare, we are no longer the power we once were.

What’s left are Iranian power stations and desalinization plants, the destruction of which, like schools and hospitals, are war crimes by the international law regime we (and Israel) so often ignore. Iran has been very clear that if we embark on that escalation, they will do the same to all those facilities and oil production infrastructure in the Mideast. The havoc and suffering that that will unleash on the world (including us) is incalculable.

If you fail to grasp these realities, that suffering will be on you.

Dick Atlee

Southwest Harbor