The difference between the White House and a Maine sewer district

Sam Smith - Taking a short break from national politics, I spent some time today reviewing the candidates for a local election here in Maine, namely members of Freeport Sewer District board. Among the candidates: · Michael Ashby is a clam digger who wants to make sure “we have clean water for everyone.” And he …

My two years as a politician

Sam Smith - In 1974, a liberal Minnesota congressmember, Donald Frazer, manged to sneak into DC’s home rule bill for elected advisory neighborhood councils. We became the second city in the country with them. Washington DC's advisory neighborhood commissions would represent a unique counter-trend in American politics, away from a century-long growth of political institutions …

The issue that’s killing the left

Sam Smith 2010 Rasmussen Reports has come out with a fascinating poll that goes a long way towards explaining why not only liberals are doing so badly, but the left in general, the Democratic Party and Barack Obama. Here's what the poll found: - Forty-three percent of U.S. voters rate the performance of their local …

Local democracy as well as local lettuce

Sam Smith, 2009 Voting for the first time in Maine, I have had the pleasure of another first: an election in which 50-70 percent of voters in my town agreed with me on six out of seven referenda (including supporting gay marriage). There was one city council member running unopposed and I haven't heard yet …

Bringing democracy to the ‘hood

Sam Smith WASHINGTON'S advisory neighborhood commissions came out of a time that seems distant today, a time before 9/11, George Bush, the closing of DC's public hospital and the socio-ethnic cleansing of DC. Sure, we were still recovering from the riots, but the very word 'recover' - one you don't hear much today - implied …