Are Politicians Overstepping in Support of Market Basket Boycott?

Dozens of elected officials across Massachusetts signed a letter Monday supporting a boycott of Market Basket grocery stores while workers push to have former CEO Arthur T. Demoulas reinstated. The list includes more than three dozen elected officials, ranging from mayors to state representatives and state senators.

The group of elected officials are asking their colleagues across the state to join the Market Basket boycott and "stand with it’s employees and with the standard of delivering low priced, quality groceries that Arthur T. Demoulas has set."

In New Hampshire, Gov. Maggie Hassan stated that she was encouraging Market Basket leadership "to continue in that spirit by listening to their employees’ concerns and seeking to quickly address the situation with a focus on keeping their dedicated workers employed and reducing the impact on customers." At a campaign stop in Concord, former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown said he hoped the situation would resolve itself soon. 

While some of the officials have found support for their stance, other voters have said that politicians are overstepping by taking a stance on a dispute within a private company.

For example, reader Joe Veno said that "government politics should have nothing to do with this" and reader Mike Merriman said "government and government officials are really overstepping their bounds by commenting on either side of this issue."

Others readers said that they will join elected officials in the boycott and reader Ruth Montville said politicians are allowed to express their feelings about any topic.

What do you think? Should elected officials chime in on the Market Basket dispute? Or are they overreaching by taking a stance on the issue? Let us know in the comments.