[Peace] Comments on the March 17 primary

[C. G. Estabrook]

[Prepared for AWARE ON THE AIR by James Manrique]

...my quick picks of highlights:

on the Rep side
US Senate: Peggy is ok. But the local Reps don't really like any of the candidates, they say that they are all Dems in Rep clothing.
IL-15 (Rantoul & Mahomet & rural areas of Champaign County): Chuck Ellington is pretty solid. He actually has fairly good views in terms of the importance of improving healthcare (he doesn't support M4A, exactly, but he did make it a direct point to bring up how critically important it is to improve healthcare and make sure that people can get care when they need it rather than last minute)

on the Dem side
IL-15: They're all kinda whatever. Kevin Gaither is a perennial candidate that has soured some folks in the past. John Hursey is a total non-politician candidate, running mostly to say "there is always another option, and anyone can run" sorta angle. Craig Morton might be good. Erika Weaver may be a little corporate, not sure.

IL-13: No brainer, Stefanie Smith by a long measure. Betsy still refuses to even acknowledge M4A. Stefanie is rough around the edges, and her followers may include some rabble-rousing-radicals, but at least she is able to be a voice for "leftist" issues.

Circuit Judge: Ramona Sullivan, hands down. She is an active public defender, helping on the frontlines with some of the most disenfranchised citizens in our county. I'm not sure anyone could match that experience, in terms of compassion for the average or low-income person. I would very much avoid voting for Troy Lozar. He is a former prosecutor and is very much "tough on crime". Ruth Wyman can speak spanish fluently, which is an excellent trait for the bench, but she has a little bit of a questionable past, and her rating from the bar association wasn't great, the only candidate in this contest to get "Not Recommended". David Moore isn't too bad. Don't have a lot of negative to say about him, other than he isn't Ramona.

Circuit Clerk: No strong feelings. These are both excellent people, (Susan McGrath and Robert Burkhalter) and either one I'm sure would do a fine job. Susan does have a bit of a past in the local democrat party, but I don't think that past would at all impact her performance of this office. Robert also has a ton of experience in this office, and is really down to earth. They've both put in a lot of honest work for this spot. It really just comes down to personal preference.

County Board: It's very much "old guard" vs "young dems". CB6, I really liked that Charles Young called out the ways the young dems operate (very much like a clique, you are either in, or you are outcast). But honestly, DeShawn Williams might be a slightly better candidate overall. Hard to say. 
CB8. Again, I really like some instances in the past where Rosales has called out the young dems. But on the other hand, I'm not sure he's much better himself, and I'm not sure that he's got much done recently (in the candidate forums, many of his accomplishments seemed to come from the 1990s). Tho Emily is strongly in the "young dems" category, I still think change sends the message that the voters are willing to vote you out if you aren't getting enough done. So, I'd go with Emily on this.
CB9. Cynthia Fears refused to debate Jen Straub. That alone should be enough to tell you something. Jen is part of the young dems, but less deeply connected, and seems to be a more open & reachable candidate.
CB10. As with Charles & Rosales, I like that Connie Dillard-Myers publicly calls out the dems and their scheming ways. That is needed. But I'm not really sure Connie is that good at actually getting things done, or strong progressive values. Mary King is much like Jen, only loosely connected with the young-dem-establishment, and Mary seems like she has a lot of good ideas & visions for the county board.


-james.


On Thu, Mar 12, 2020 at 10:07 AM C. G. Estabrook <carl at newsfromneptune.com> wrote:
James—

I’m afraid I’m going to have to cancel tomorrow’s tv program (Friday 3/13 at noon).

If you’d like to write out some comments on the election, I’d love to post them to the AWARE email lists.

Sorry to have to do this. Thanks for your patience. —CARL
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/peace/attachments/20200312/9d678ec1/attachment.htm>