Petitions Are Now Available

Why? Why do fewer and fewer people want to run for public office in Fairfield and Wayne County?

I mean we have groups of people who have banded together for causes, and yet, the best way to carry a cause across the finish line is to put your name on a ballot.

There’s an opportunity for you to take out a petition and put your activism into action. Petitions are now available for city council and school board seats in the spring election. Let me tell you as a former village board member in my hometown---it is a commitment and it is eye-opening.

The single most thankless job on the planet is that of school board member. You get paid nothing and you get nothing but static from parents, teachers and maybe even a stray journalist or two.

So, let me answer the question I asked at the top of this commentary. Why don’t people run? It’s too easy to stand along the sidelines and complain. Also, business owners have the most to lose if they run and hack off a portion of their constituency----i.e. their customers---because of a controversial stand they are forced to take as a board member.

And then finally, the final nail in the coffin of local political activism---social media. Every yahoo, who might not even live within the community----or who isn’t in your school district----can sound off, call you out to thousands and put your personal phone number on-line. Who needs it?

I can answer that. We need that. Without courageous citizens who want to serve on the county, city, park, library and school boards, the work of government doesn’t get done.

Please think about getting a petition and running for office. It’s the courageous thing to do. Petitions are due for filing in mid-December.