Whose Library Is It Anyway?

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Rice spent about $200 of her own money, and Jewett $3,000 of his. Griswold spent almost $24,000. "Kathy Griswold got the real power," says Rice. "The No vote wouldn't have happened without her spending all the money."

Griswold says she put $7,000 on her credit card--part of it since repaid by other donors--and threw up a website, protectourlibraries.org. It didn't mince words: "Protect our libraries from the $65 million bond. Demolition is wrong! The limited benefits are not worth the almost $130,000,000 costs over 30 years."

In a "frequently asked questions" section of their website, new library backers pointed out that the $130 million figure assumed an absurdly high interest rate. They also protested other "misinformation," including an anonymous "talking points" memo that claimed the planned auditorium was a conference center in disguise.