Contenders square off at candidates forum

Corinna Cole: Selectman elections nothing more than popularity contests.

Paul Philbrick: If you want to go back to the past, don't vote for me.

LEBANON - Perennial selectman candidate Corinna Cole told residents on Monday that the town's selectman's races have boiled down to nothing more than a popularity contest and bolstered her argument for the town's need for a town manager form of government.

"I've been active in this town since 'Citizen's For a Better Lebanon' years ago," she said, holding a copy of the former town newsletter. "I've run for selectman several timers and people told me they were going to vote for me. Then they'd say they couldn't because they'd known one of the candidates longer."

The comments came during a Candidates Night forum sponsored by The Lebanon Voice at the Lebanon Elementary School.

Cole, as passionate and emotional as she has ever been, made the comments in her opening statements, speaking more about the town manager referendum than herself throughout most of the evening.

Fellow candidate newcomer Leo Richer said he also backed a town manager government, while incumbent Paul Philbrick said a referendum ballot pushing for a town manager lacked details and candidate Paul Nadeau said he was opposed to the town manager model.

The other candidates also gave emotional responses for why they were running, with Nadeau asserting his fulcrum was what he characterized as the shoddy treatment of former road commissioner Larry Torno, who died in February and whose insurance subsidy was canceled by the town when he was unable to work. Nadeau also said he was unhappy with selectmen's push to put money from the road budget into a paving reserve fund this year.

Richer, meanwhile, said he'd run a successful business for years and the town was a business. He said he was tired of seeing so much wasteful spending and said he'll cut the fat.

Philbrick, jokingly, said people think "I'm the quiet one," but added that he likes to research issues and then line them up with current local and state laws to see which is the right path. He also told audience members he presents a clear choice for voters.

"If you like the way the town is going, then vote for me," he said. "If you don't, and you want to go back to the way it was in the past, then don't vote for me, because I don't want to be a part of it."