Let voters decide Cambensy’s candidacy

We are pleased that the Michigan Board of Canvassers has seen fit to approve the petitions submitted by Sara Cambensy to appear on the November ballot as an independent candidate for the state senate.

The decision Monday reflected a staff recommendation from the previous week. The state board, in effect, sent Cambensy's candidacy for the 38th state senatorial district to the voters to decide.

In our opinion, that's exactly who should decide.

All of this can trace its roots -- publicly, at least -- to local resident Linda Donckers, who had submitted a challenge to Cambensy’s candidacy in July based on reports that Cambensy had signed petitions as circulator which she did not personally circulate, along with other reported issues.

Those other reported issues included, but were not limited to, Cambensy's relationship to the Democratic Party (she is a long-time Dem running as an independent), that Cambensy campaign manager Jason Chapman was ineligible to circulate petitions and that Chapman's signature was forged.

While Donckers and her group can still appeal the Board of Canvassers decision to the Michigan Court of Appeals, we hope they don't. Let Cambensy present her case for election directly to voters, who will have the final say. Period.

Here's something else. Cambensy should name who, specifically, makes up this shadowy cabal who are out to get her. She has, on several occasions, referred to an unseen group working against her.

And on one occasion, she even said, "There is a small group of Marquette County Democrats who have been nothing but nasty to me."

Are these so-called Marquette County Democrats the ones who are behind the petition complaints? We have become so accustomed -- and comfortable -- with politicians making claims and accusations against each other, we seldom require them to put up or, well, shut up. It makes sense that her fall campaign include disclosure of those people.

The bottom line from where we sit: The truth will always set you free, even when that truth initially causes embarrassment and unease.