Melissa Bynum, Harold Johnson are best choices in crucial Wyandotte County election

Wyandotte County’s ability to continue moving in a positive direction could hinge on what voters decide in Tuesday’s election.

Two seats on the Unified Government Board of Commissioners are being contested. Melissa Brune Bynum and Harold Johnson are highly qualified candidates who would work well with Mayor Mark Holland and his supporters on the commission to improve neighborhoods and improve the qualify of life while cleaning up some long-standing problems.

Their opponents, though, are likely to cause problems.

Bynum is running for the District 1 at-large seat, which has been vacant because of a deadlocked commission ever since Holland became mayor and left the seat in 2013. The former publisher of the Wyandotte West newspaper, Bynum has spent more than two decades working on behalf of neighborhood causes and non-profit groups in Wyandotte County. She understands the county and its residents and is willing to make tough decisions to support continued progress. She is currently executive director of the Shepherd's Center of Kansas City, Kan.

Her opponent is Mark Gilstrap, a former Kansas state senator who recently retired from the Unified Government Finance Department after a 33-year career.

Despite his long tenure on the public payroll, Gilstrap has adopted an increasingly anti-government posture. That stance, which included opposition to adequate school funding, led then-Gov. Kathleen Sebelius to back Democrat Kelly Kultala in a primary for Gilstrap’s Senate seat in 2008. Gilstrap lost that primary and subsequently became a Republican.

If elected Tuesday, Gilstrap could be expected to team with other opponents of Holland on the commission to oppose needed changes, such as finding efficiencies in the Fire Department.

Only 23 votes separated Bynum and Gilstrap when they emerged from a seven-candidate primary in March.

In the race for the 4th District seat, Johnson is running against incumbent Tarence L. Maddox.

Johnson’s credentials are exceptional. He is a former commercial banker who worked with small businesses and nonprofit groups, and now is senior pastor of Faith Deliverance Family Worship Center, which is in the 4th District. He understands his community and would serve it with dignity.

The same cannot be said for Maddox, who has been an embarrassment in office. He has been censured twice by the Unified Government Ethics Commission. He made the news for a tirade at LegoLand at Crown Center, and misused his office by threatening to have city staff inspect a convenience store owner after a dispute with its owner.

Wyandotte County continues to make economic progress and is fortunate to have in Holland another capable mayor who is working for the good of the county and its citizens and not a collection of special interests. Votes for Bynum and Johnson would make that work easier.

This story was originally published April 3, 2015 at 1:44 PM with the headline "Melissa Bynum, Harold Johnson are best choices in crucial Wyandotte County election."