Editorial

It must be hard. To have demonstrated service to the Town of Gray through
work on the Gray Town Council for six years, three of them as Chair. To
have shepherded issues such as Pennell and town-wide rezoning to a point
at which a sense of satisfied completion must have been imminent. And then to see political reversals, shift in direction, and discussions among
current Council with which you do not agree. It must be frustrating for
former chair Pam Wilkinson to see that the Pennell issue is not going the
Wilkinson-way.

A great deal of emotional investment and political capital was expended by
the former chair on those issues and others over her tenure. It is no
different for any councilor, Selectmen, or Board member in any town who
leads his or her board through thick and thin...only to leave either
voluntarily or not and then see the new members take a tack with which you
do not agree.

How the former elected members and especially the Chairs of those Boards
behave in the aftermath of their departure is telling. Former presidents
have an unwritten policy to avoid political comment on their successors'
activities. Local outgoing Chairs do, too. I remember talking with one
local outgoing Chair who had overseen the Board through very difficult
times. I asked if she would continue to participate through audience
comment, or on a committee. Her answer: No. She felt that she had had her
time to contribute and that pursuing her agenda now would be a disservice
to those who were elected to succeed her. The best thing she could do now,
she had told me, was step away and let the new Board take its course
without interference or armchair quarterbacking from her.

Classy.

While I encourage citizen participation with their government, that
standard is a bit different for outgoing Chairmen and women. They should
lead by example and then step aside with grace and dignity, allowing the
newly elected members to fully grow and then lead by their own example.
That's the political cycle of life. And it is the classy thing to do.