The war of words launched at Bedford School Board candidate Aaron Day and Town Council candidate Matt Philips escalated over the weekend as several “establishment pols” in the swank town to Manchester’s west stepped forward to criticize them for their participation in the “Free State Movement.”

Former Town Councilor Bill Greiner opened fire on the pair without warning in an airing of Our Opinion, a television show he produces on Bedford Community Television.  In comments posted below the production on YouTube, Day criticized Grenier for spouting untruths.  In an interview here on Girard at Large, both Day and Philips say Greiner didn’t speak with them about their candidacies and mocked Greiner for not only his factual inaccuracies about them personally and the Free State Movement in general, but also for describing them as “invaders” and “colonists.”

Upping the ante over the weekend, a flier produced by Grenier and a “who’s who” list out of office politicians and activists who fought to separate the town from the Manchester School District and build its own high school, a move critics say has inflicted massive tax increases on the town, making it much more difficult for it to tend to basic municipal needs, such as road maintenance and public safety coverage.  Road maintenance has suffered so greatly in the town, that a $30 MILLION bond issue to repair the town’s crumbling rights of way is on the ballot for voter approval, as is an item to expand fire protection.  Requests for additional police officers have fallen on deaf ears at both the Town Council and deliberative sessions in recent years.  While the town has grown extensively in terms of population and commercial activity over the past decade, the size of the police force has not.

The flier endorses the opponents of Day and Philips in the coming election, which is this Tuesday, March 11.