5 Champaign Council Hopefuls Make Their Case for Interim Seat

Five people seeking a vacant Champaign City council seat have interviewed for the post.

But it's still not clear whether the council will appoint one of two people seeking the District 5 seat solely on an interim basis, or one of the three also conducting write-in campaigns for April's election. At least three council members say they will support Linda Cross or Steve Meid, who don't want the seat long-term.

Champaign Mayor Jerry Schweighart contends appointing one of the three also running in April would give them an unfair advantage. Council member Michael LaDue said she agrees, as does Karen Foster.

"It's just an unfair advantage in this situation," Foster said. "It's different if you're an incumbent already and you're running for election and win or lose. It's an appointed incumbency, so to speak."

And write-in hopeful Katherine Emanuel said while she calls herself the best candidate, she also suggests the council not appoint someone running in April.

"Even people I know who are pretty involved in things didn't know who their council member was," Emanuel said. "And I would encourage you (the city council) to not take the responsibility as a governmental representative for selecting the person who will represent the district, but kind of put that responsibility on the shoulders on both the citizenry and the candidates."

Emanuel is running to hold the seat until 2012, along with Paul Faraci and Jim McGuire. At least one Council member, Marci Dodds, said she would appoint of one those three. She said appointing an interim on Feb. 1 means that person isn't responsible for their actions after three months.

"So that means that lame duck isn't accountable to anybody," Dodds said. "Not to the constituents unless they want to be, not to the council unless they want to be, and not to city staff unless they feel like it that day. And I'm not saying anybody here would be like that, I'm just saying that's a real risk."

The Champaign City Council will make the interim appointment Feb. 1, and that person will serve through April.