To the editor:

Recent letters to the editor by Selectman Vieira and Spirlet over Article 11 (aka Beach Avenue) are good reason for never electing these two individuals to public office again.  It is apparent to any sane person that these two officials have unashamedly hijacked the Beach Avenue issue, made a mountain out of a molehill, and intentionally fanned the fire of divisiveness and ill-will.  This is an unnecessary distraction, bad for town management, but perfect for two self-serving attention grabbers.

The issue of access over 600 feet — regardless of how you feel about it — might have happened in another town elsewhere.  However, better leaders would have handled things far differently, through thoughtful discussion and administrative action at the board level.  Instead, these two men have intentionally staged this “issue” into a town-wide public drama, complete with the requisite lawn signs. This wholly-transparent, juvenile campaign to “fight for the common man oppressed by the affluent” is an unconscionable lack of leadership.

Good politics is the art of bringing reason and compromise to conflict; intentionally stirring the pot and riling people into some sort of faux crusade is the opposite of good politics.  Regardless of how you feel about the issue at stake, any thinking person who’s followed this unnecessary drama has seen that other members of the select board, such as Michael Sullivan, have indeed approached the issue with calm and science.  Spirlet’s anecdotes of “I’ve seen old pictures of the area” as evidence, and Vieira’s alarmist calls for an oppressed proletariat to take up their pitchforks, are the opposite of responsible politics.  (In Vieira’s letter, a grandiose rallying appeal to “democracy!”…are you kidding me?).

These two selectmen would have us believe that we are all victims of some sort of colonial feudalism, indentured to Acoaxet gentry.  Sure, two years ago some haughty dunce in the Harbor threw the first punch with the now infamous quote “We don’t want those people coming here.”  But it is the responsibility of leaders to rise above bad behavior like this, not take the bait and jump down in the mud, eager to wrestle in it.

Anyone fooled into giving up their Tuesday night to entertain this nonsense has themselves to blame.  One would have been better off saving their time for a trip to the voting booth when Vieira and Spirlet are up for re-election.

Westport is not serving itself by placing people in charge who exploit lightning-rod issues for the self-serving objective of remaining small town bigshots looking for bragging rights at the coffee shop, or a pompous stroll in the Fourth of July parade.  Instead, we need thoughtful, informed, intelligent leadership that has the sense of fiduciary duty to spend time on the truly important issues (budget deficits, carcinogens in the schools, nitrogen in the river, to name a few).  Westport is an actual town; not a high school student government contest.  We need real, qualified, dedicated people to address actual municipal challenges.

If you want a town run by self-promoting blowhards behaving like schoolyard name callers, by all means re-elect Vieira and Spirlet.  If you want genuine leadership that seeks to intelligently serve the interest of the town, do not vote for these two incumbents in the future.  It’s time we put some adults in charge.

Kevin Sinclair

Westport