COLUMN: Take advantage of privilege: be an informed voter

On April 6, the polls will open for local elections in Columbia and Boone County — mayor, City Council seats, School Board members, various boards and local ballot issues put to the people for a vote. The importance of local elections was impressed upon me in the 1970s by a politically astute Capitol Hill acquaintance, former House Speaker, Thomas P. (Tip) O'Neill, whose oft repeated declaration "all politics is local" should be taken to heart by the electorate.