The Bangor Daily News may be correct when it calls for a broader view of the election process to include all candidates and not just the major party candidates, but, for groups like Maine Education Association, which you cited in your [Sept. 30] editorial, the question is often one of time and resources.

Where do you draw the line when you have independent, Green Party, Libertarian Party, Taxpayer Party and others popping up?

The NEWS does its best to report on the election even-handedly and there is still a preponderance of coverage given to Republicans and Democrats because they have dominated Maine’s politics for all of this century.

MEA makes the same practical choices. Because we rely on volunteer leaders, we have limited time for interviews. The compromise we made in this year’s gubernatorial race was to offer interviews to each of the majority party candidates and the leading alternative — Angus King, not Pat LaMarche or Bill Clarke.

Unlike other groups whose leadership determines candidate endorsements, the MEA is committed to having a grassroots electoral process for screening and recommending candidates for office.

We set criteria based on our governing documents and develop questions of importance to children and education. We interview the candidates and then share their positions through an all-member mailing. Members are then encouraged to vote for the candidates who will best meet the needs of education, or to vote for “no endorsement” if they are not satisfied with the candidates interviewed.

More than 3,000 educators voted in MEA’s candidate recommendation process; only 267 voted “no endorsement” in the governor’s race. We believe our process is fairer and more democratic than that of any other group in Maine. Idella Harter President, Maine Education Association Augusta