The Long Way Home 7.12.24

As they encounter potholes, a new policy at their favorite gas station, or get their hackles raised by some government action, I hear people say, “Someone needs to do something about that.” We all say it from time to time, in frustration with problems and having a desire for solutions.

Yet it’s always someone else we think should do something.

My friend and neighbor Arvis Thompson is one of those who does something when she sees something that isn’t right. She’s a wife, mother, and grandmother who has called Colvill, MN (an unincorporated community in Cook County) home since 1976. 

Arvis is a retired county employee but spends some of her free time attending public meetings of the Cook County Board of Commissioners. When she can, she raises concerns and questions with the commissioners. Those questions and concerns are often uncomfortable for county elected officials and staff, but at least she does something.

Arvis is the kind of person that Gloria Steinem would have approved of. Steinem actively campaigned for change. She co-founded Ms. magazine, a platform for feminist voices, and organizations like the National Women's Political Caucus to empower women in politics. 

She once wrote, “When one person stands up and says, ‘Wait a minute, this is wrong,” it helps other people do the same.”

Arvis’s interest in the county board extends to finding candidates she can support for election. Following the 2020 census, Arvis and her husband, Tom, were redistricted from commissioner District 1 to District 4. They voted in the 2022 District 4 election, an election won by current County Board Chair Ann Sullivan. 

When the county opened its candidate filing procedure in May, Arvis started paying attention. She checked with the county daily to see if anyone besides the incumbent had filed for election to the District 4 seat. By June 3, just before the filing window closed, and with no candidate challenging Commissioner Sullivan, Arvis took her filing fee to the courthouse and entered the arena.

On Friday, June 14, barely ten days after she filed her candidacy, she was summoned to a meeting with Cook County Auditor/Treasurer Braidy Powers and informed that her residence and that of 22 of her neighbors were not really in District 4, even though she had voted for a District 4 commissioner candidate in the November 2022 election. They were being moved back to District 1.

State law requires that officials reside in the geographic district they are elected to represent. They only need to establish such residence a month before the election. Powers and the powers that be asked Arvis to commit to relocating inside district boundaries or withdraw her nomination. 

If she does neither, her name will appear on the ballot anyway. If she wins, she won’t be able to serve, which would embarrass and inconvenience many people. 

To be fair, redistricting should only happen after a census. Redistricting that amounts to little more than housekeeping can wait. Between now and the next census in 2030, there will be just two elections for the District 4 commissioner.  

The timing of this county's effort to “correct” a computer error frankly stinks. The optics are bad, not to mention the politics. One need not believe in conspiracies to think that perhaps the juggling of district boundaries had more to do with who filed for election to the District 4 commissioner seat--this community activist who raises uncomfortable questions. 

I greatly respect people who stand up, speak out, and do something to help make our community a better place--whether I ultimately agree with them or not. 

Arvis deserves more respect than she’s received in this case. Someone needs to do something.