AUGUST 26-SEPTEMBER 1, 2004

		LocalSpeak The power of Paula Ex-Democratic chairman discusses the sometimes ugly world of politics as told to Jason Webber Paula Ross, 54, served as the chairman of the Lucas County Democratic Party from 1997-2004. She was voted out of the position in May as a result of the efforts of the Coalition of Concerned Democrats, a group unhappy with her leadership. She still serves on the Lucas County Board of Elections. She has a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Cornell University and a master’s degree in business from the Univer-sity of Toledo. She has been married to her husband, Johnathon, for 33 years, and the couple have three children. Environmental issues were what really got me involved in politics. I was always vaguely interested, but after there was a serious accident at the Davis-Besse plant, I decided to get active. I was worried about the environmental impact of having a nuclear plant so close, and at the time, I was studying business. I was also interested in the economic impact of nuclear energy. After I got involved in some citizens groups, I found that all the political power was in the hands of the corporations, and that in order to be more influential, I had to take a different route. After I did some work on independent campaigns and worked as the Toledo organizer for Ohio Citizen Action, I got involved with the Democrats. In 1997, I was elected chairman of the party. I threw myself into the position 150 percent. I found that the harder I worked, the more responsibil-ity I was given. I attempted to bring more women and young people into the election process, and I think the success of that brought a backlash. Someone once said to me, "There’s nothing wrong with the ‘good ol’ boys’ system as long as you’re one of the good ol’ boys." There’re a lot of people in our community who are used to being in power and don’t like sharing that power. In Lucas County, we’ve elected many untraditional individuals, such as women, young people and minorities. Yet, the majority of those members of the committee that chose new leadership (Coalition of Concerned Democrats) are traditional white males. I think I was able to bring to local politics a combination of the motivation that comes from really believing in issues and the pragmatic skills that I was able to use from my master’s degree in business. It’s a balancing act, but both are really important. The only justification for being involved in politics is wanting to make a difference, and the only way to do that is to take it seriously, be organized and pay attention to the details. A lot of success in politics is just plain, old-fashioned hard work. In the meantime, I’m having a wonderful summer, and I certainly wish success to all the candidates and hope the party is able to help them win in November.