She's often absent.

After Amy Webster was elected in 2019 on the strength of $85,000 in campaign spending organized by the Blair County Taxpayers' Alliance, entrenched forces in the Courthouse moved quickly to limit her influence. Democrat Laura Burke and Republican Bruce Erb (who had barely squeaked by Bruce Kelly into second place in the Spring Republican primary) openly conspired to deny Webster the commissioner chairmanship, traditionally afforded to the top vote-getter in the election. Even before Webster took office, they had installed a new chief county clerk — Marzoni's Restaurant manager Nicole Hemminger — apparently with explicit instructions to make things as difficult as possible for Webster.

Although she was in a minority position, with her two co-commissioners overtly hostile to her and her political agenda, Webster was nonetheless in an excellent position to advance the interests of her own constituency simply by using her bully pulpit to keep the people informed. Her supporters knew she would be outvoted, but that wasn't the point. She need only remain vocal, work hard and keep popular focus & pressure on County government as she had promised to do. She was the dissident candidate, after all, promising to shake things up in the Courthouse and be the eyes & ears of the common taxpayer.

Alas, it became immediately apparent that Webster was ill-suited to the task. In a series of four meetings with the Taxpayers' Alliance leaders soon after she became elected, Webster was distracted, distraught and despondent. Understandably, she complained bitterly of her treatment in the courthouse. She expressed frustration that Erb and Burke would be able to block any of her proposed appointments to committees & task forces. She felt that the County Clerk was denying her access to critical information, or ambushing her with it at meetings to make her appear unprepared. The Alliance offered to assist her with research & communications, but was very careful not to pressure her in any way. She would have to weather the storm on her own, turning to her voters for support when necessary. The last meeting ended about three months into her tenure as commissioner.

Weeks later, however, Webster appeared utterly paralyzed. She shrugged off Alliance suggestions that she urgently begin communicating with the electorate, and that she make time every week to visit her constituents -- especially in the Cove, where she had won overwhelming support based on promises she made to individual donors that she would not ignore that part of the County, as many commissioners had in the past.

By end-2020, consistent complaints emerged from the courthouse that Webster was often late or absent entirely from meetings. She seemed reluctant to take on work. She wasn't communicating properly with key courthouse figures to whom she had critical responsibilities. Notes from her office to the public were irregular, infrequent and never addressed the issues she was elected to grapple with.

Her supporters in the Alliance grew frustrated, but resolved to refrain from criticism, hoping Webster would eventually find her feet and start work on delivering for her constituents. It never happened, and by early 2022 it was clear that electing Webster had been a tragic mistake.