You could have knocked a lot of Republicans and Democrats over with a feather last week: our own Boss Minarik, booted by County Exec Maggie Brooks. (Well, "asked to resign.")

Minarik has been a hardball-playing Republican Party chair, punishing those who resisted him and raising buckets of money. Back in the days of Jack Doyle, though, the debate was whether Steve Minarik ruled Doyle or vice versa. When Doyle was pushed out, it seemed clear: Minarik was the man. And then, so the story went, he brought Brooks in to put a happy face on what the Republicans were up to.

Brooks has certainly been less publicly contentious than Doyle. But throughout her tenure, she has either taken instructions from Minarik - and has acted against her own wishes and better judgment - or she has been in full agreement with him.

She seemed perfectly happy with the race-baiting ads that helped get her elected to her first term. She either orchestrated or went along with the last-minute unveiling of the FAIR plan and the County Legislature's vote on it. She either orchestrated or went along with the selection process for a public defender. She either approved or was content to keep her mouth shut when Republican legislators stiffed the black leaders who protested that process. And it was Brooks, by the way, who lectured Bar Association leaders and Democrats when they objected to that process.

It was Maggie Brooks, not Steve Minarik, who insisted that the county fight the court ruling requiring health-insurance coverage for the partner of an MCC employee.

And Brooks clearly was involved - whether of her own initiative or in obeisance to Minarik - in the Republican meddling in the search for a new MCC president. In a strongly worded opinion piece in the Democrat and Chronicle, she lashed out at MCC search committee members who fought the addition of former County Legislator Bill Smith to the list of finalists.

As he resigned, Minarik said that Brooks has always been in charge. If that's the case, nothing's going to change.

I'd love to see real leadership from Brooks. I'd love to see real collaboration. And I'd love to believe that Minarik's exit means an end to pay-to-play politics. This community needs change. It needs to rid itself of the petty, backwater politics that have ruled Monroe County.

Maybe I've been wrong about Brooks. Maybe she's been chafing under the reign of Steve Minarik all these years, unable or unwilling (out of fear? loyalty?) to lead a revolt. Maybe we're entering a grand new era.

But it's a curious thing, the Minarik resignation. For all of my disagreement with his policies, the man practically gave his life to his party. And like a lot of local pols, Brooks wouldn't be where she is without Minarik. I'd have thought she'd give him a graceful way out, with a public tribute. Instead, she announced that she had asked him to resign. She was "elected on a platform of collaboration," she said, and she needed "party leadership that reflects that."

So the suspicion nags: maybe the heat had just gotten so bad, maybe donors and mainstream Republicans were so upset about MCC, that Brooks had to find a way to distance herself from the controversy.

It won't take long to learn which is the real Maggie Brooks. Will she insist that the Republican partisans on the MCC board - Richard Guon, Richard Mackey, Kenneth Goode, John Parrinello, and Ilene Flaum - resign? Will she press for a non-political board and a non-political presidential selection?

Will Brooks appoint at least a couple of Democrats to the Monroe County Water Authority? Will she insist that Republicans in the County Legislature stop burying every single initiative that the Democrats come up with? (Will art regain its rightful place at the airport?)

We'll soon find out. Minarik's gone. Everything's up to Brooks now.