I have always been taught to believe that our democracy was by the people and for the people.

On Jan. 8, I was unfortunate enough to witness the Hancock County commissioners at work in Ellsworth. What I saw was anything but the democratic process in action.

The question before the commissioners was whether or not to allow a county-wide non-binding referendum concerning Applied Energy Services’ bid to build a coal-fired energy plant in Bucksport. Keep in mind, this is the second time Nancy Allen has brought this before the commissioners on behalf of the Hancock Green Party. The first time, it was turned down on the basis that there was no mandate for the commissioners’ approval, and they weren’t sure of the legalities.

This time the Green Party had collected more than 4,500 signatures of people asking to be heard at the polls. Also, Nancy had obtained an opinion from the previous state attorney general’s office saying it was completely at the discretion of the county commissioners. However, while we all sat in their office listening to Severin Beliveau, the attorney for AES, tell us that voting wouldn’t make any difference to AES anyway, a call conveniently came in from the now state attorney general’s office saying they were not certain a non-binding referendum would be legal.

This leaves me with two questions. Which attorney general does not know the law, the previous one or the present one? And why is AES so afraid of government by the people and for the people?

I’ve never taken part in one of these meetings before, but I learned two things at that one: how to play ring-around-the-rosy, and how to pass the buck. Donna M. Smith Bucksport