On Election Day, Nov. 2, the people of the city of Nashua will vote on Question 2 to decide if they want to continue as the only municipality in the state to allow the governor to choose our police commissioners.

This is not, by any means, a referendum on the Nashua Police Department regarding how well they serve the city, nor is it a referendum on keeping our police department “independent from politics.”

Some people have said that this opens up the system to corruption, and yet no level of government is immune from political corruption. Our state politicians do not have a monopoly on virtue.

Personally, I find it a bit insulting that there are some people who believe that of all the municipalities in New Hampshire, Nashua is the most susceptible to corruption, as every other municipality gets to choose its own police commission, but Nashua is the only municipality in the state that has this process performed by politicians in Concord.

New Hampshire has a long tradition of keeping government functions close to the people, and this is really what this referendum is about.

It’s really about local choice and local control. You are either for it, or against it. There has been a lot of background noise over this issue, but the choice is really easy, if you are for local control by the people, then vote yes on Question 2.