This is in response to a story in the Sun Journal May 12 regarding the joint Charter Commission and the candidates for the same.
As the article represented, I am a candidate for that commission. However, the article incorrectly stated that I declined to submit answers to the questionnaire. Nothing could be further from the truth.
In actuality, when I attempted to complete the questionnaire online, I was unable to answer the question regarding whether I support joining the cities at this time. The only possible answers to that question were yes or no.
When I contacted the Sun Journal to indicate that I would like to answer that question “undecided,” I was told that I had to answer yes or no, that I could not answer undecided.
I refused to mislead voters by answering that question yes or no.
I have not yet formed an opinion on whether I am in support or against a merger. I believe that it is important to see what a merger would look like before forming an opinion.
I would like the voters to know that I am entering the election with a neutral view toward the situation and I felt that answering yes or no would have been misleading to voters.
Because I was not given that option, I was unable to complete the rest of the questionnaire, but it is not true that I declined to comment on the questionnaire.
Verne Paradie, Auburn
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