Finally, someone on ballot besides Hobson

Regardless of which side you find yourself supporting, the Rodger Cook versus Mark Kern redux is a positive development for St. Clair County.

The duo faced off in 1997 for Belleville mayor, with Kern defeating the incumbent Cook. Cook, 58, a Republican from St. Libory, has not seen a lot of campaign success since then.

Still, Cook is hitting the taxpayer hot buttons on MidAmerica Airport’s drain on county finances at the expense of law enforcement and other services. He’s also swatting at the patronage hires and closed society that has been county government under the Democrats.

The population shift away from East St. Louis has drained some of the bloc votes on which Democrats have long relied, so who knows? James Clayborne, the second-most powerful Democrat in the Illinois Senate, spent a whole lot of the party’s money and still came within 1,000 votes of being ousted by a relatively unknown former Swansea trustee.

So welcome the campaign for the issues that will be raised and for the simple power of having a choice. We all too often find ourselves at the polling place wondering why we bother when one-party rule and apathy have already voted for us.

This story was originally published December 3, 2015 at 1:00 PM with the headline "Finally, someone on ballot besides Hobson."