This is in response to a story in the Sun Journal May 12 regarding the joint Charter Commission and the candidates for the same.

As the article represented, I am a candidate for that commission. However, the article incorrectly stated that I declined to submit answers to the questionnaire. Nothing could be further from the truth.

In actuality, when I attempted to complete the questionnaire online, I was unable to answer the question regarding whether I support joining the cities at this time. The only possible answers to that question were yes or no.

When I contacted the Sun Journal to indicate that I would like to answer that question “undecided,” I was told that I had to answer yes or no, that I could not answer undecided.

I refused to mislead voters by answering that question yes or no.

I have not yet formed an opinion on whether I am in support or against a merger. I believe that it is important to see what a merger would look like before forming an opinion.

I would like the voters to know that I am entering the election with a neutral view toward the situation and I felt that answering yes or no would have been misleading to voters.

Because I was not given that option, I was unable to complete the rest of the questionnaire, but it is not true that I declined to comment on the questionnaire.

Verne Paradie, Auburn