With the Champaign County auditor being exposed as a political slacker, fellow Democrats are forced to distance themselves from Fabri and to reassess the usefulness of the office itself.

"... in six months, you're going to say, 'Wow, I wish I'd voted for him because he's doing a good job." – Champaign County Board member Tom Betz, praising in 2007 the nomination of Tony Fabri to fill the vacant position as county auditor.

That was then.

"His fan club is shrinking." – Champaign County Board member Brendan McGinty, referring to declining support for Fabri following revelations that he rarely shows up for work at the Brookens county building while receiving an annual salary of $83,000.

This is now.

Apparently hell hath no fury like a local Democrat who's discovered that the secret of Fabri's no-show work habits is no longer a secret. Fabri, the auditor and chairman of the county Democratic Party, is discovering that his party loyalists aren't being as loyal now that he's been revealed as a shirker, even though everyone who knew him has known for a long time that he's a shirker.

Isn't it amazing what a little sunlight can do to change the minds of our noble public officials? No wonder so many of them hate it when the public is allowed to learn about the public's business.

But give board Democrats credit for recognizing that Fabri's situation is indefensible – most of them anyway. Democratic county board member Ralph Langenheim said "we've known about Tony for a long time" while another Democrat, Alan Kurtz, chastized Fabri for being "discourteous to people" and failing to "answer phone calls." McGinty describes the situation as "embarrassing." No kidding.

But Fabri is not without defenders of his casual approach. Fabri's fellow Democrat, board member Carol Ammons, suggested that criticism of Fabri's failure to show up for work is a "witch hunt." That ought to tell the voters plenty about the mindless partisanship that exemplifies the attitudes of some of our public officials in county government. To them, a county official who's stealing a living from taxpayers is OK as long as he's from the right political party.

Fabri would be in deep trouble if he was an ordinary county employee. But, remember, he's an elected official, chosen by the voters last November, and he has until 2012 to convince voters that this revelation never happened.

But it appears this controversy has caught his attention.

Fabri initially issued an outright denial, dismissing the disclosures as irrelevant and claiming that "I'm working as auditor every day." He described any claim to the contrary as "not accurate at all."

A News-Gazette examination of phone records revealed that Fabri made or received 185 calls at the desk in his office from March 1, 2008 to Feb. 28, 2009. Other county office holders, the ones who actually come to the office, made anywhere from 1,373 to 3,643 calls. The phone records confirmed eyewitness accounts from others at the Brookens buiding who said that Fabri is rarely there.

Fabri apparently concluded that his denials would not fly. Two days later, following angry comments from fellow Democrats, Fabri conceded that his work performance shows "room for improvement." Now there's a real declaration of regret. Next thing, he'll theatrically concede that he's not perfect.

Aside from the local Democrats' deceit in foisting Fabri on the voters, his lack of attention to his office has raised a real issue – whether the county needs an auditor's office and, if so, whether the auditor should be appointed or elected. County board members Steve Beckett, a Democrat, and Al Nudo, a Republican, are co-sponsoring a resolution to ask voters if they wish to eliminate the office.

Fabri, not surprisingly, defends the need for the office, pointing out its potentially valuable watchdog function. Apparently lost on him is that for watchdogs to be effective, they have to be present to watch.