My turn to introduce myself. This is going to be a little long, but then I've been around longer than most of the other authors.
I'm Linda Bauer, currently Vice Chairman of the Champaign County Republican Party. I've been active in local politics since 1991, when Tim Johnson recruited me to run for Champaign County Board in District 9 (Southeast Urbana). I served on the County Board from 1992 ”“ 2000.
In the past 15 years, I've volunteered my time to the Republican Party as election judge, precinct committeeman, district chairman, candidate, party secretary and vice-chairman, campaign coordinator, and campaign volunteer. I've knocked on doors, made phone calls, sent mailings, planned events, recruited committeemen and volunteers, conducted and attended hundreds and hundreds of meetings, contributed money and spent hours in front of my computer maintaining data about volunteers, voters, precincts, contributors, campaign strategy, etc. I'm the epitome of the "grass roots."
Despite all that, I really don't like "politics." I do believe in public service and good government. I've been committed to public service most of my life as a volunteer or board member for many community organizations. While politics can be one of the best ways to make a difference the community, it can also be mired down in partisanship and power-seeking, which do not contribute to the public good.
A little about my background: My parents are Polish, and they are Holocaust survivors. They were living in a Displaced Persons camp in Germany when I was born in 1948. We immigrated to the U.S when I was two. My parents were granted citizenship in the early 1950's, which automatically made me a citizen. At 16, I applied for my own citizenship papers and took an oath of allegiance to the United States of America. I'm proud to be an American.
My Republican values came from my parents, who are -- Democrats. They came to this country with nothing. There was no help from government programs and very little help from what was left of our family. They had demanding jobs. My father was steelworker (a union man); my mother was a homemaker raising three kids. My parents taught me about hard work, self-reliance, fiscal constraint and personal responsibility, which are the foundation for my own Republican values. My Dad calls me the "black sheep" of the family since I'm the lone Republican, but he was proud of me when I ran for office and has said he'll put up a yard sign if I ever run again. Too bad he lives in another state.
Another value my parents instilled was the importance of education. My two brothers and I all went to college. I have a Master's degree in English and worked in media and public relations for the first twenty-seven years of my career. I've been employed in both the public and private sectors. For the past eleven years, my second career has been in computer technology and software. I am now a geek.
And I'm a grandmother. I have great husband to whom I've been married for thirty-six years. We have two grown daughters and a granddaughter.
Now, back to politics: I first got involved in 1968, during my college years in Colorado. I was a Monfort Girl, part of the entourage for Ken Monfort, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate. Monfort Girls wore cowboy hats, boots, and short skirts, kind of like Dallas Cheerleaders without the cleavage. (I was pretty cute back then.) I wasn't too caught up in the issues at the time, but I did like the outfits.
When my husband and I moved to Illinois in 1979, I got serious about my politics and realized I related more to the Republicans than to the Democrats in Champaign County. I still do.
I'm stepping down as a party officer after the primary this year. After many years of doing so much of the "hands-on" work in politics, I'm looking forward to having more time to discuss issues, ideas, and "why we do what we do." Stay tuned.
