This letter is in response to a letter to the editor by Daniel Kempton printed Wednesday.

I want to thank Mr. Kempton for his kind words that I am “an effective and committed political leader.” Since my husband was his colleague for many years, he knows I had the finest teacher. He should also know that I do not hit “somewhat below the belt,” as I know he would not direct his campus group to do anything illegal. It is unfortunate that the Northern Star did not publish my letter to the editor responding to Casey Toner’s Sept. 9 article.

In that article, Mr. Toner reports that Eric Johnson, president of the NIU College Republicans, urged deputy registrars to determine a student’s political affiliation – Democrat or Republican – before they decide to register them to vote. According to Mr. Toner, “If they said ‘Republican,’… the student would be registered. But if they indicated Democrat, the registrar would magically run out of registration sheets.”

In my letter to the editor, I stated, “If true, this is a blatant violation of Illinois state law regarding the responsibilities and activities of deputy registrars and grounds for removing registrar credentials from Mr. Johnson, those individuals willing to follow this illegal strategy and the NIU Republican organization.” Knowing that such action is a violation of Illinois state law, I requested that DeKalb County Clerk Sharon Holmes immediately investigate these allegations and take appropriate action. I did not make any allegations.

I then went on to explain that in the United States, those in political life have two major responsibilities: The first, and, I believe foremost, is to promote active participation in our democracy by all citizens. That’s what democracy is all about; everyone has a right and responsibility to have his or her voice heard. And that’s why deputy registrars are strictly prohibited from engaging in partisan political activity when they are registering new voters.

Our second responsibility is to engage in discourse, debate and other campaign activities to help citizens decide how to vote. This is also a very important – but clearly different – responsibility.

In fact, I was surprised to learn from a Sept. 17 article by Kartikay Mehrotra that there was a written document at the College Republicans’ Aug. 31 meeting seeming to support Mr. Toner’s comments in his Sept. 9 article.

I hope that we as a country, and particularly we as Americans, have not become so cynical that we readily accept this kind of politics as “just the way it is.”

We’re better than this, and those who aren’t should be held accountable for their actions.

Eileen Dubin

Chair, DeKalb County Democratic Central Committee

DeKalb County Board member

Editor’s note: The Northern Star decided not to print Eileen Dubin’s previous letter because editors had spoken to her for the Sept. 17 story and incorporated her comments into the article.