Portrait of a council candidate: Cop, veteran, public servant, grandfather, alcoholic

Nate Young tackles his demons and asks for the town's vote and its forgiveness ...

BAR HARBOR, May 4, 2023 - From the moment he announced his candidacy for Town Council, Nate Young knew there would be a reckoning for his personal history.

“It goes without saying that I need to address the elephant in the room - my firing from the town in 2014,” he said in a statement released today for public consumption.

”I was fired by the town in early 2014 after a hearing relating to an alleged drunk driving incident. I challenged the validity of the town's decision through the court system, and I lost that case. I accept that. Anything other than acceptance at this point provides me with an opening for resentment to creep in.

“It makes absolutely no sense to enter into a bunch of ‘what if’ scenarios. Those ‘what ifs’ only present as excuses, and I have none. It goes without saying that a significant emotional event, such as being fired, does not ever go away. However, processing and acceptance put it in the right place.

”Two years into my case, things took a dramatic turn. I went down a path of destruction like no other. The pitiful, incomprehensible, and demoralizing behavior I engaged in during that period of time, including an operating-under-the-influence charge and conviction, are owned by me 100 percent. There is no excuse for this behavior. I apologize.

”April 21, 2023 marked my fourth continuous year without a drink. The gift of desperation, along with the wonderful and extremely patient MDI Hospital staff, allowed me to tackle my disease head on. I am aware that my disease is in my front yard doing push-ups and waiting for my return. I continue to work on clearing the wreckage from the past, and the progress I’ve experienced has been very rewarding.

”The voters have to have faith and trust in their representation, and I completely respect that. I present myself as a candidate with flaws.”

His statement sought to set the record straight and to undercut the whisper campaigns which are the town’s favorite vehicle for communication.

You don’t run for the town council without risking every facet of your life being trafficked in such whisper campaigns, even though the local weekly paper chooses to ignore such unpleasantries like being fired for alcoholism.

The Islander has a light touch for such impolite facts, whether it’s the rampant ethical conflicts raging in this town or how the tourism industry wreaked havoc the last two decades or Nate Young’s record.

Has it reported that another current candidate for council actually spent time behind bars for unemployment fraud, a fact reported seven years ago by no less than the then Islander editor who also is running against this person, sharing the same ballot on June 13?

I have reported three times that former police chief Nate Young was fired for his alcoholism, the last one being on March 17. I cannot find such a mention in the Islander since Nate Young announced.

Yet I am the one being accused by the whisper campaign of hiding Young’s infractions from the public. Such is its quiet power.

One island resident wrote in an email, “I see that you are supporting Nate Young as a councilor because he is against the cruise ships, which is fine. But I know from all my readings of your articles that you do not ever hesitate to dig up the dirt on people, but now all of a sudden you are very quiet about Mr. Young's troubling past. I find that uneven reporting.” (I sent her my above article.)

I took no pleasure writing about Young’s history. But when he ran for council in 2021, I saw no way I could avoid his past and still claim legitimacy as a journalist. Our relationship cooled after my report.

But between the caustic volleys, I began to learn how the town works from someone who held the top law enforcement job for 22 years.

Nate Young paid a steep price for some of his learning as well.

More than a decade ago, as chair of the parking and traffic committee he rejected a parking plan for the proposed West Street hotel, because it had not gotten approval from the Planning Board. West Street Hotel was the centerpiece for Ocean Properties, the town’s largest hotel owner.

“It was the cart before the horse,” Young said of parking plan.

In 2014, newly named town manager Cornell Knight disbanded the parking and traffic committee and created the parking solutions task force filled with business people, including Eben Salvatore, Ocean Properties’s chief local operative who would become its chair.

Young was excluded.

As the QSJ reported recently, Young had previously gotten on the wrong side of the Walsh family when he sought federal grants to upgrade the town piers so that the town could get revenues from disembarking passengers. The Walshes had ambitions to privatize the tendering of passengers from cruise ships.

The council under chair Paul Paradis made sure the town pier would not be used for such a purpose.

Nate Young became a liability for the council.

And his alcoholism made for an easy case for dismissal.

For which he accepts full responsibility.

Cornell Knight was a creature of Eaton Peabody, the law firm for Ocean Properties whose executive search practice recommended him. The same practice also found Kevin Sutherland, who lasted 13 months. Cornell Knight retired in 2021. He has since set up shop at? Yes, Eaton Peabody, the same firm suing the town for its citizens mandated cruise ship visitation cap.

Nate Young paid a price for his addiction.

But the Bar Harbor Town Council also has an addiction.

Who is the real drunk here?