2008 Woodie Awards
BU graduate loses in race for Columbia County treasurer
Ali Myers
Issue date: 11/8/07 Section: Front Page
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She gained local political experience working for Columbia County in other capacities. Upon graduating from Bloomsburg, she worked in the Tax-Assessment Office at the Columbia County Courthouse before being promoted to Administrative Assistant/Purchasing Clerk in the Commissioner's Office. After a short time, she was again promoted; this time to Assistant Fiscal and Benefit Coordinator. She has also become a Notary Public.
"Working in the Commissioner's Office allows me to have my hands involved in all the other County offices and I have great knowledge of their operations. I also have knowledge of various local resources to refer people to."
Gensel became interested in local politics during the 2006 election when David Slavick was running for state representative. She was moved to vote for him even though she had never voted when she originally registered to do so.
"I saw a young person actually trying to do something productive and get involved in the political world that I had no interest in." Gensel said. "People are often afraid of change but being from the younger generation we are the future. Slavick was young and grew up in the new technology age and could see things different than elder people that might be set in their ways…changes need to be made or the world will never advance."
On the encouragement of a colleague, Gensel decided to run for Columbia County Treasurer after the current treasurer announced her retirement. Her co-worker believed that she could make excellent changes in the office and get it more updated.
However, she ran into a hurdle. Her opponent was Shirley Turner, who was endorsed by the current treasurer, Senator John Gordner, and State Representative David Millard. Prior to the election, Turner was the Chief Deputy Treasurer and had worked in the treasurer's office for 10 years.
"People feed off that even though they have nothing to do with the operation of the office."
Gensel feels that her computer skills and education set her apart from Turner and considers herself a "taxpayer advocate".
"I can utilize the existing technology and computer software to its full advantage. However, the older people get out to vote and the majority of them seem to be afraid of change and computers. So, I might be scaring them away by promoting the use of technology…even though my main goal is serving the people more efficiently and saving them money as taxpayers."