To the editor:

Every candidate, whether endorsed or not, whether party affiliated or not, is an independent person. This holds particularly true in local elections for which the money needed to run a successful campaign is manageable and the issues are right in our backyards, literally. 

Every candidate and elected official has the ability – and the responsibility – to think independently. There are no caucuses among the Town Council or School Committee. For evidence of the independence of party candidates, you need look no further – and there is nowhere more appropriate to look – than the results of votes. For six years, the Barrington Town Council has had 5 Democrats, with far from exclusively unanimous votes. Here are just a few topics for which there has been a split in the past few years: the Monastery property, artificial turf, cannabis, a ridiculous number of flag-related issues, resolutions, its own rules of procedure, committee appointments, ballot referendums, budget lines and the budget as a whole, union contracts, lawsuits, and more. The local Democratic Party has even held split endorsement votes and primary races the past two election cycles.

The School Committee has a different composition. There are two endorsed Democrats, two “independents,” and one person who campaigned and was elected twice as an endorsed Democrat, then left and campaigned for the independents with which they stated they’d form “a new majority.” And while we have a strong example of Democrats voting and serving independently – representing different aspects and a range of perspectives in town – has there been a vote in the last two years in which the “independent” majority of the School Committee has been split? I’m not aware of even one. That doesn’t appear independent, just unlabeled and undefined.

When you vote for Democrats (or Republicans, if any of the candidates were running as such), you are not voting for specific outcomes. You are voting for a specific platform and particular set of values. If a candidate is endorsed, you know that a committed group of volunteers who also believe in that platform have vetted them and affirmed they will uphold those values and that platform. Does that mean they are certain to do so? Unfortunately not – mistakes happen. But, it’s a much stronger sign than voting for unvetted, untested candidates without stated values or a clear framework for making decisions.

Personally, I have just as much reason to gripe about the local party system – my party in particular – as anybody. And I don’t need anything from the Barrington Democrats. But, as a person who believes in the Democratic platform, that of Vice President Harris and Governor Walz, I know that holding those values, and advancing them means applying them at all levels of government and to all lines on the ballot.

Our town has come too far, and our schools have – for many years – excelled too much, to halt our progress now. In the words of our future President, Kamala Harris: “We’re not going back.”

Jacob Brier

Barrington