GOP County Board Candidates Back Two Ballot Items

Republicans running for the Champaign County Board are endorsing two referenda going before voters soon.

The slate of six first-time candidates say while the job of County Auditor is crucial, elected leaders in that office are treating it as a mere 'political stepping stone' with few responsibilities. The County Board last week opted to put an item on the April ballot asking voters whether they want to make that position an elected or appointed one. But the GOP candidates note that the incumbents in their districts opposed the ballot item.

District 8 candidate Jim Phillips says it's a false dichotomy to say making the job an appointed one won't mean the person doing it doesn't represent the people. "I don't think it's a question of democracy vs. not democracy," said Phillips. "It's a question of - 'do the voters want to make this decision themselves, or would they rather delegate it to their already democratically elected representatives on the County Board, who are in a position where direct voter interaction much more important because you're supposed to be making decisions, you're supposed to be representing the will of the people."

The GOP candidates are also backing a non-binding referendum on November ballots to reduce the number of county board members from 27 to 22, and changing the number of multi-member districts from 9 to 11. District 7 candidate Sher Hempel says the mix of future candidates alone would be worth the change. "There's no doubt that each of the 11 compact, contiguous districts would have a diverse mix of socioeconomic, ethnic, professional, and amateur backgrounds, affording a potential competitive slate of candidates in future elections," said Hempel. "The rural areas will be able to fulfill the equal population requirement with smaller, compact, and contiguous election districts, and not have to reach deeply into the city precincts in order to fulfill that requirement."

The other candidates are Bill Glithero and Andrew Timms in District 6, Stephanie Holderfield in District 1, and Mary Jo Reik in District 5.