Dwain Berggren, Barb Wysocki's husband, stated incorrectly in his March 9 letter that Bob Kirchner and I would have to abstain from voting on the county budget if elected to Champaign County Board.

That is not true. He also said that Kirchner is the attorney for Central Illinois Dental (CIDES), a nationally awarded not-for-profit organization that provides free dental care to low-income children.

Kirchner is not the attorney for CIDES. Alan Singleton is and has been the attorney for CIDES. Singleton and Kirchner are not even in the same law office. This legal documentation is readily available to any member of the public.

Berggren's claims regarding the contract amount are also false and are overstated by about 28 percent. Wysocki, as chairwoman of the Champaign County Board, should know that.

Voters should also know that the dental program CIDES runs contracts with the Champaign County Board of Health, not with the Champaign County Board.

—Lisa Bell, Urbana, 3/19/2006

In her recent guest commentary, State's Attorney Julia Rietz criticizes county board candidates Bob Kirchner and Lisa Bell for stating that incumbent chairwoman Barbara Wysocki and vice-chairman Steve Beckett want to "expand the jail at significant taxpayer expense" without county board or public input. Yet, her argument is exactly what the Kirchner-Bell campaign has been saying.

Rietz explained that county officials, including herself, the sheriff and judges have already decided that the downtown jail must be closed. Therefore, they decided a county board committee was not necessary if it was going to question their conclusion. That's why Wysocki and Beckett dropped the idea of the committee.

Why shouldn't county board members and the public question that conclusion or study whether it's correct? The meetings regarding jail expansion attended by Rietz are closed to public scrutiny because they, and the minutes or recordings of the meetings, are not subject to the Open Meetings Act.

Like many other issues that come before the county board, it seems the idea under the current leadership is to present the proposal to the board for its rubber stamp at the last minute when it's too late to ask questions or change directions.

This is the same way they've handled the $1.4 million mold problem at the new nursing home. As chairman of the county facilities committee, Beckett has yet to explain publicly why the county, rather than the contractor, is paying for the contractor's expensive mistake.

—Ruth E. Wyman, Urbana, 3/10/2006

Champaign County Board members Barb Wysocki and Steve Beckett are not delivering the type of leadership that most District 9 voters expected. They seem more committed to promoting the agenda of Republicans than to protecting the interests of their own constituents.

A case in point is the capping of county spending on roads like Staley and Curtis roads. With the cap in place, the county will spend four times as much on rural roads as on the roads near the cities. That leaves the city governments to pick up the bill for the rest. With two-thirds of the county taxes intended for roads already coming from city residents, we are being taxed twice over for the same service. Why did they go along with this?

Even worse, the cities are paying the county sales tax revenue on recently annexed properties in line with a 1994 agreement and have already paid over $2 million .

In return, the county was to fulfill its responsibilities for roads on the urban fringe. Wysocki and Beckett voted to rescind the agreement last year without talking to city leaders first. Why aren't they holding the board to its promises?

District 9 deserves county board members who will represent our views and interests. I'm confident that Bob Kirchner and Lisa Bell will provide superior representation and urge other Democrats to vote for them in the March 21 primary.

—Marya Ryan, Urbana, 3/10/2006

I am writing to express my admiration for Bob Kirchner and Lisa Bell who are running for the county board in the 9th District. I worked with Bob and his wife, Gerri, on the committee supporting the bond issue referendum for the Champaign County Nursing Home.

They both worked tirelessly and demonstrated to me an extraordinary commitment to the welfare of the people of this community. Bob has consistently demonstrated a commitment to social justice and the needs of the less fortunate of our citizens.

I find the same commitment in Lisa Bell. Lisa created, and is the executive director, of the Central Illinois Dental Education and Service. She has enrolled over 3,000 kids in the program that provides free or subsidized dental care.

These kids would not have had that care if it were not for Lisa and the 27 dentists she has recruited to participate in the program. In recognition, she was named the American Dental Health Association's Clinical Hygienist of the Year and her program has received the Program of the Year Award from the Illinois Rural Health Association.

In addition, she has volunteered for the Don Moyer Boys and Girls Club, the March of Dimes, the Salvation Army, and the Urbana schools, where she has assisted in classrooms and tutoring. She has made all of these contributions to our community while single-parenting two children. She is an inspiring individual and an outstanding citizen.

I am weary of people who call themselves Democrats and pretend to be concerned about working and poor people and then turn around and vote against a living wage for county employees as Steve Beckett has done.

I hope the voters of the 9th District will elect people of proven concern like Kirchner and Bell.

—Belden Fields, Urbana, 3/8/2006

For three years, from 2001 to 2004, it was a pleasure to have served and worked with Bob Kirchner on not only the full Champaign County Board but on its Justice/Social Services Committee.

I saw Bob's intelligence, his compassion for people's needs, his willingness to give generously of his time to research issues and then his excellent ability to articulate and advocate for those issues.

I especially appreciated his efforts to pass the nursing home referendum and his work with the Democratic majority to guarantee a living wage for all full time employees, to prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of race, gender or sexual orientation, and to fully fund the county health department.

County Board District 9 voters have a choice in the Democratic primary, and I endorse Kirchner and hope that they will choose him to serve again on the board.

—Janet Anderson, Urbana, 3/6/2006

Nicole Robert's letter and the Wysocki-Beckett campaign Web site are misrepresenting my Champaign County Board voting record. Their analysis excludes all my votes during the first 18 months of my 39 months on the board ~V 46 percent of the time I served.

This was a period when the three of us served on the board together, so presumably is most relevant to a legitimate comparison. And why does their analysis include 11 months when I wasn't even on the board?

Since their Web site statistics have changed several times, it is obvious they are manipulating numbers to create the facts they claim.

More important to District 9 voters is a qualitative review of my voting record.

I voted to provide a living wage to all county employees, to prohibit employment discrimination, to establish a county enterprise zone to attract new businesses and jobs and to pass a balanced budget each year.

I served on the board of the county health department and voted to fully support their programs. As chairman of the county nursing home subcommittee, I supported the referendum funding nursing home construction and worked for its successful passage. I led the effort to obtain a professionally qualified racial disparity study and voted with board Democrats to approve it.

That voting record has earned the trust of the Democratic leaders and voters who are endorsing my candidacy for the board. Lisa Bell and I will work hard on the board to keep that trust.

—Bob Kirchner, Urbana, 3/6/2006

Much as I admire Dannel McCollum, I find him wrong in his endorsement of the present Champaign County board chairwoman, Barbara Wysocki.

Dan calls her leadership bipartisan. Is it really bipartisan to be elected by a party-line vote of all Republican board members and just two other Democrats – one of whom was Steve Beckett, who was elected board vice-chairman in this same vote? Is she really a Democrat who is reaching out when members of Democratic Party's county committee urged her not to defy the wishes of the 12 other elected county board Democrats?

Dan made no mention of the issues at stake. Why has Wysocki refused to appoint county board members to a committee that would study jail expansion in open public meetings? Why did she promise to support a racial disparity study and then vote with the Republicans against it? Why did she name a complete novice board member to serve as chairman of the all-important finance committee?

Especially during African-American History Month, we should recognize the slap in the face this Republican-and-mock-Democrat coalition gave to voters who were proud of Tricia Avery's pioneer leadership as the first black and the first woman to lead the board.

Fortunately, Urbana voters in the March 21 Democratic primary election for District 9 have an outstanding alternative. Robert Kirchner, an attorney of enormous integrity, intelligence, and energy, is well acquainted with county issues and committed to look forward. He and his running mate, Lisa Bell, should be elected.

—Joy Thornton-Walter, Champaign, 3/2/2006

The News-Gazette must be supporting Champaign County Board chairwoman Barbara Wysocki's re-election because the newspaper has really been downplaying her recent use of county board stationery and the postage meter to write a campaign letter.

I am surprised by her cavalier attitude. With no apology or expression of remorse, she said "Oh, slap my wrist," and brushed it off as too trivial to require a respectful response. But if Wysocki wrote one campaign letter from her county board office on official county stationery, who is to say she didn't write more? Since she violated state law and the county board's own ethics law, why didn't she at least apologize?

Later in the same week, The News-Gazette reported that Wysocki was using her university e-mail account for her campaign, and pointed out that it was illegal. The article said she responded to the reporter's call with exasperation, and promised to call back with a comment but didn't.

Neither the violations themselves nor the apparent indifference by the elected official who committed them should be ignored.

With a snappy headline trying to make it about a 39-cent stamp, a News Gazette editorial condones Wysocki's use of her public office for campaigning. If The News-Gazette or any newspaper trivializes any violation of ethics laws by candidates for public office, how can we expect officials, once elected, to comply with those laws?

—Donald Miller, Urbana, 2/26/2006

Recently, in defending her use of county board stationery and postage to write a campaign letter in violation of state ethics laws, county board chairwoman Barb Wysocki claimed she just "dashed off a thank-you letter" to the university College Democrats' student president.

A copy of this letter was sent to The News-Gazette and is posted at www.countyboard9.com.

In repeated news articles and the most recent News Gazette editorial, the letter has been indelibly characterized as a benign "thank you" note. In fact, Wysocki's letter is clearly a campaign letter, and not a very nice one.

She writes three paragraphs disparaging a fellow county board member solely for political purposes, and apparently has The News Gazette's blessing to use county board stationery to do so.

The ethics laws are designed to prevent such occurrences. County board stationery, which bears the official county seal, should be reserved for government business. It is not a personal political perk for whoever inhabits the chairwoman's office. Out of respect for her current leadership position as county board chair, Barbara Wysocki should be expected to have higher ethical standards.

—Gerri Kirchner, Urbana, 2/26/2006

Champaign County Board chairwoman Barb Wysocki claims that she runs open government that is fair to all people. Her conduct during this past year with regard to the proposed jail expansion was anything but open and fair.

When the jail expansion was first proposed last June, The News-Gazette published an editorial questioning the whole idea of spending another $20 million to expand a jail that was only 10 years old. Several Democrats on the county board agreed with the editorial.

Others, like Steve Beckett, asserted a serious need for jail expansion.

A board committee was going to study the issue and chairwoman Wysocki asked both Republican and Democratic caucuses to select members to serve on the committee.

When the Democratic caucus selected members who did not agree with Beckett's position on the issue, Wysocki scrapped the idea of a county board committee. Instead, she met privately with the sheriff, state's attorney and judges at meetings closed to the public.

This is one of many issues that motivated me to endorse Bob Kirchner and Lisa Bell in the Democratic primary for county board District 9. We need county board members who care about the people they represent, not just the people in power, and are willing to give serious scrutiny to expensive proposals.

Kirchner and Bell are intelligent, hard-working, dynamic individuals who will work to ensure that the public is included in important policy decisions.

—Cope Cumpston, Urbana, 2/24/2006

We urge the Democratic voters of Champaign County Board District 9 in the March 21 primary to support Lisa Bell and Bob Kirchner. They will best represent the time-honored values of our party, serving with integrity and respect for the majority will.

We worked in previous elections for the current board members, Barbara Wysocki and Steve Beckett, but in crucial decisions they have not represented us. For us and many other Democrats, they have violated that trust.

Rejecting repeated efforts for accommodation, they opposed the wishes of all 12 fellow Democratic board members. Joining members of the other party, they voted themselves in as board chairman, vice chairman and committee leaders. We deplore manifestations of an arrogance of power in our governments.

Political parties are important to their members, to democracy and to good government, through selecting good candidates and holding them accountable. Democrats traditionally stand for civil rights, equal opportunity, adequate health care, safe sustainable environment, fair majority rule voting and fiscal responsibility.

Despite their rationalizing utterances of voice and pen – even as a guest newspaper commentary – we do not believe present members are representing the majority will of District 9. Now, they choose to run for re-election as Democrats, whose collegial majority they so openly rejected.

We believe that Bob Kirchner, with exemplary previous board experience, and Lisa Bell, leading the pioneering countywide children's dental program, are exceptional candidates. Dozens of District 9 Democrats, and many leaders of the entire county, have publicly endorsed them.

—Bob & Hazel Spitze
—John & Pat Jordan
—Urbana, 2/23/2006

What was Champaign County Board chairwoman Barbara Wysocki thinking when she approved changing the locks on the supervisor of assessment's office?

According to a recent News-Gazette story, the only way the supervisor can be removed from office before his appointed term expires is if two-thirds of the county board votes to find him guilty of malfeasance.

But the matter was never brought to the full board. Instead, Wysocki met with two other board members, decided to place the supervisor, Kurt Deedrich, on paid leave and then took the drastic step of locking him out of his office.

I have no idea whether the employee complaints about Deedrich are true. But, even if they are, that does not justify any county leader acting as Wysocki did.

This story was reported in The News-Gazette just two days after a guest commentary that claimed Wysocki and board vice chairman Steve Beckett have leadership qualities unmatched by other board members. I think it would be more accurate to say that they have abused their power of leadership too many times.

Bob Kirchner and Lisa Bell are running in the March 21 Democratic primary for county board to replace Wysocki and Beckett. Both Kirchner and Bell are well-known for integrity and can be trusted to take seriously the legal responsibilities of public office.

—Bernadine Evans Stake, Urbana, 2/19/2006

In December 2004, Barbara Wysocki, Steve Beckett and Brendan McGinty seized control of the Champaign County Board by collaborating with Republicans to depose the incumbent Democratic leadership, claiming that their intent was to change the way the county board does business.

Unfortunately, this rhetoric does not match up with reality. Once installed as county board chairwoman, Wysocki promised to remove cronyism from the appointment process.

Why then was Wysocki supporter and fellow District 9 member McGinty rewarded for his vote in the leadership contest with a cushy position as chairman of the finance committee, the most powerful committee on the county board?

This was despite the fact that McGinty was a brand-new member of the county board. McGinty's appointment was a classic example of back-room quid pro quo politics.

Wysocki also promised to foster a climate of cooperation by bringing a more civil tone to the county board.

If this was the case, why did McGinty author a bitter commentary in The News-Gazette laced with harsh personal attacks against fellow county board members Tony Fabri and Tricia Avery and Urbana Mayor Laurel Prussing?

Empty rhetoric does not make for good governing. Fortunately, on March 21, the Democratic voters of District 9 will have the opportunity to hold Wysocki and Beckett accountable for their litany of broken promises and failed leadership.

—Justin Cajindos, Urbana, 2/18/2006

n a recent column, Tom Kacich quoted Champaign County Board member Steve Beckett as saying, "I don't represent Urbana. I represent a county board district," and, "the problem with these people is that they want us to pretend that the people outside of Champaign-Urbana don't exist."

Nobody is suggesting that Beckett's county residents outside of Urbana shouldn't figure in his voting. However, since 93 percent of the registered voters in District 9 live within Urbana's city limits, it's not surprising they wish he would vote their interests more often.

For example, Beckett and Barb Wysocki voted against their constituents' interests when they cut funding for roads that District 9 residents regularly use. That vote will harm Urbana's future growth and tax-base expansion.

Two Democrats challenging them, Bob Kirchner and Lisa Bell, would have honored the county's long-standing agreement with Urbana and maintained that road funding. Further, Kirchner and Bell do not support current efforts to spend up to $30 million on an unnecessary jail expansion project.

Beckett and Wysocki cut the road funding, and Beckett has already stated support for jail expansion. Their decisions on these issues illuminate the differences Democrats face in this primary. On March 21, I'll vote for Kirchner and Bell. They understand who their constituents are and what they care about.

—Ben Grosser, Urbana, 2/16/2006

I read with shock, dismay and anger the article about Curt Deedrich.

Glen Stanko--a former candidate for circuit judge--characterized the actions of county board members Barbara Wysocki, Brendan McGinty and Greg Knott and Assistant State's Attorney Susan McGrath as "political."

That it is. Steve Beckett voted with the Republicans against Deedrich's appointment as supervisor of assessments, and Curt was appointed over his objections

Wysocki, McGinty, McGrath and Knott, who acted unlawfully in changing the locks and illegally placing him on leave, should be investigated for this misconduct and their abuse of power. McGrath is an attorney in the office of Champaign County State's Attorney Julia Rietz.

If McGrath acted without authority, she should be fired. If she acted with Rietz's approval, Rietz should explain why her office participated in this unlawful act.

Beckett's and Wysocki's vindictiveness must stop.

First, they went after Patricia Avery and Tony Fabri. Now they are going after Deedrich.

They continue to abuse the privilege of public office and now have exposed the county to liability. The taxpayers should not suffer for their misconduct.

—O. Fred Harris Jr., Champaign, 2/13/2006