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News-Gazette, Tuesday, January 24, 2006, A-9 Board positions are not very powerful Tom Kacich's Jan. 15 column identified Steve Beckett and me as the "two most powerful members" of the Champaign County Board. As good as that title might look on my letterhead--The Most Powerful Barbara Wysocki, County Board Chair--we don't rank that high on the "power" scale. Where would we get so much power? We couldn't persuade Democratic colleagues to elect us chairwoman and vice chairman last year; this year there are some Democrats opposing our re-election. The Republicans who voted us into board offices didn't give us a deal (and vice versa). Knowing we vote Democratic, they could hardly give us privileges in their caucus and power over their consciences. So Steve and I aren't powerful politicians. We aren't bosses commanding obedience and votes. No. This year, we simply have tried to act in the spirit of the old American ideal that public officials should serve the public, and officers of legislative bodies should also serve their fellow legislators instead of trying to boss them around. We believe the chairwoman and vice chairman’s offices best serve as neutral communications centers and non-partisan service departments with “regular hours" and good people on call. That’s what our customers--county staff, board members, and citizens–want when they do business with their government. We think the offices work best when we--their temporary employees--serve everyone with civility and impartiality and keep county business in clear view, running efficiently in proper channels. We believe the voters and their elected representatives should be the most powerful members of county government. BARBARA WYSOCKI |