Some thoughts on District Representation for Union County II: District Representation will allow our Commissioners to know their constituents' needs.

District Representation is one of the major issues before us in Union County. As we move towards a referendum on this issue, I would like to offer a series of thoughts as to how adopting District Representation will benefit Union County.

One of the real challenges for any elected official is staying in touch with the specific and immediate needs of his constituents while maintining enough breadth of vision to see the big picture and assess long term needs of the community. As the number of voters an office holder represents increases, it becomes harder and harder for a representative to know what the people he represents want. This leaves a representative open to the risk of listening to a handful of voices that claim to represent the interests of their constituents. Sometimes, they do. Sometimes, they represent their own interests rather than the interests of the voters.

While this problem may be more visible at the State and Federal level of government, it is an increasing problem at the local level as well. Consider Union County: The 2008 County Budget will be approximately $216 million dollars. There are any number of interest groups who have the time and resources to hire people whose sole job is to make sure that they get more than their fair share of that just under one quarter of a billion dollar pie. Because their connection to voters is diluted across the whole county, our current Commissioners cannot keep their viewpoints grounded by staying in touch with their constituents. This is not a critique of current or recent Commissioners – it is simply not humanly possible for anyone to stay in touch with approximately 155,000 people (it may be more) on a regular basis.

By moving to District Representation, we will allow our Commissioners to know what their constituents want and need rather than relying on special interests to tell them what their constituents want and need.