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Michael Cianchette is a Navy reservist who served in Afghanistan. He is in-house counsel to a number of businesses in southern Maine and was a chief counsel to former Gov. Paul LePage.
Sobering.
That’s the best way I can describe the final report of the Independent Commission to Investigate the Facts of the Tragedy in Lewiston.
I spent Tuesday evening reading the entire document. The tragedy was heartbreaking; the report was heartening.
For all the chaos of the presidential election — border czar accusations, claims that “Project 2025” would create a horrific autocracy, literal assassination attempts — the Independent Commission represents what good government looks like.
A qualified group took their time acquiring and working through the available evidence. They worked at a measured pace to get to the heart of the matter, rather than quickly deciding they knew best and could answer the questions without doing the work.
The gravity of the tragedy demanded it. And now we have the report. From it, we can inform policies moving forward.
I would encourage everyone to take the time to read it with clear eyes. Don’t bring your preconceived notions about gun laws, mental health, law enforcement, or military service to the table. There is a lot to learn from it.
One is that both the new “waiting period” and expanded “background check” laws passed by the Maine Legislature would have had absolutely zero impact on the tragedy. Robert Card II, the shooter, tried to buy firearm accessories but was turned away after reporting he had been hospitalized.
The guns he used he already owned. Legally. He even went through the process of buying a gun safe to keep them secure.
The most gut-wrenching thread in the report was that countless people knew Card was losing his grip on reality and becoming dangerous. He threatened to fight several long-time friends. He made numerous thinly veiled threats because he suffered from delusions that people were calling him a pedophile.
Hindsight is always 20/20, but the number of missed opportunities where people could have intervened and prevented the tragedy are shocking. Whether it was his military commanders, Somerset County deputies, mental health professionals, friends, family, or others, concerns about Card abounded.
Yet the report details when people, time and again, failed to follow through with legal or medical intervention.
That is another learning from the report. One of the issues identified with Maine’s “yellow flag” law was a lack of process for our courts to deal with problems arising in other states. The Maine Legislature rightly remedied that this past session.
The commission was not created to recommend policy changes, but rather uncover the facts of the tragedy to inform the decision making of elected officials. It is what good government, despite horrific circumstances, looks like.
Their final report can, and should, be read by every legislator elected this November. Beginning with a base of knowledge and information is critical to good policymaking. It is a model that should be copied in less dire straits.
When it comes to our economy, the Maine Economic Growth Council releases periodic scorecards providing real information — and identifying real challenges — to help make Maine prosperous.
In their last report, they identified our labor force, kids’ educational attainment, and the cost of energy as areas where we are headed the wrong way as a state.
The next crop of legislators should read that report, too.
Making policy often gets lost in a morass of talking points, interest groups, and emotional feelings. But cutting through all of it to deal with the world as it is — not as we wish it to be — is critical to solving real problems.
The Independent Commission to Investigate the Facts of the Tragedy in Lewiston took a sober look at what really happened. That is what good government looks like. We could use more of it.
