County Board Candidate - District 6

Questions & Answers

What is the importance the County Board to your constituents?

County board handles a lot of the nitty gritty stuff that actually impacts the lives of people in Champaign County. It is the arbiter of how the county's money is spent, and has oversight of county buildings (including the jail and nursing home) and roads. It ain't glamorous, but it's one of the local bodies that's impacting you directly on a regular basis. If you're a person who cares about where your tax dollars go and what kinds of programs and structures are being put in place around you and your family (and your kids, if you have them), the county board is making a lot of those decisions. I want people on that board who think about social justice and policies that disproportionately affect black communities when they're talking about cash bail issues or whether to build a new jail. As hard as people find it to read up on the candidates they can vote for, I think it's incredibly important to know the character of those who represent you. So read up, y'all!

What is a key policy difference between you and your Primary Opponent[s]?

I think my connection to a younger demographic--particularly people who have rarely or never voted in a primary--is a key difference. I can relate to having to decide whether massive student loans were going to be worth the cost in the career path you're considering. I've seen firsthand the impacts of the opioid crisis devastating our younger demographics, and understand the impact that social media and connectivity are having on our kids. Talk to anyone below thirty and they are too busy worrying about loan payments and working two jobs to worry about much else. I think young voters are looking for a refresh in many political bodies. Voters are looking for younger and more inclusive candidates in what's shaping up to be a wave election. A lot of people my age or younger have mentioned that they've never voted in a primary before, or that they've never paid attention to local races. As young people are seeing certain things happen on a national or even state level, we're seeing younger candidates emerge; trans candidates are running and winning; younger women--and particularly younger black women--are stepping into races and helping our state houses and our city halls look a little more like an accurate cross-section of our country. Working with young kids and young adults--in the music realm, especially--has been one of the great joys of my life. It's been great to hear from so many of them that they're registering and that they're eager to vote for someone they've interacted with as they've grown up and who they know shares their feelings on things like intersectionality. I'd like to see this be the best turnout of under-30 voters our district has ever seen in a primary, and again in the general.

The Champaign County Public Nursing Home and the County Board have been featured in the news heavily this past year, how do you feel about this and is there anything voters need to know?

Hah. Yes, heavily featured is an understatement. I don't think there's anything on the county level that people know more about or have strong opinions about. For my own part, I'm a strong advocate of keeping the nursing home public. I think a particularly bad combination of managerial blunders and outside effects (like the state budget crisis) put the home in a far more precarious position than it should be in. And that's an attractive situation for those who want to get rid of the home because they don't consider the welfare of some of the county's most at-risk citizens to be their responsibility. But, as this process has unfurled, we've seen SAK's management make important changes and improvements, and we've seen the census creep up and employee turnover slow. Confidence in the nursing home is a huge part of what can make it successful, and that confidence has been lacking in recent memory. I'm eager to see how SAK's continued oversight impacts the home and its finances. I think having their level of professionalism at the helm while keeping the home under public control is a wise choice. As I've knocked on doors and attended events these last months, this is the thing people want to talk about the most. There's a recent optimism that wasn't present before, and I'm still finding that our district still supports the idea of a public nursing home.

Is there anything else you would like to say to an undecided voter in Champaign County?

I'm the new kid on the block in this race, but honestly I think that might be a good thing considering how dysfunctional government seems to be to most of us. I've lived in Champaign-Urbana for eighteen years and I've only become a more vocal cheerleader for the cities and this county as time has passed. Having roots in rural Vermilion County (and political roots, at that: My grandfather was a Republican County Board member in Vermilion for many years. He also had an incredible 2'x3' Ronald Reagan wall clock.) but having spent a good deal of my childhood bouncing around the country as a Navy dependent, I've gotten to know most political ethe closely. I appreciate speaking with people whose opinions are different than mine because I want to know what angles I've not yet considered. Both of my parents are still in unions (laborers and operators) and my wife is a dentist; somehow I ended up in the artistic realm, but have always had a passion for nonprofit work. Currently I am on the boards of directors for C-U One-to-One Mentoring (which ALWAYS needs more mentors, so please look it up) and 40 North (which keeps art alive in this county), and I also sit on the City of Champaign's police oversight committee. I consider intersectionality, social equality, and social justice to be fundamental.

The News-Gazette also has a questionnaire answered by all Democrat candidates running for County Board District 6.

You can find that questionnaire: Here.

A video forum featuring each District 6 candidate was hosted by the League of Women Voters, The News-Gazette, and NAACP.

You can watch the full candidate forum: here.