New County Office Holders

As newly elected Democrats take over several County offices this month, they'll probably be busy transitioning from candidate promises to the reality of the jobs. The News-Gazette had several interviews since the election that I'm going to link here, as well as the GOP's look towards the 2020 County races:

The new County Executive position: A post election interview and an analysis of the fallout by Tom Kacich.

Political newcomer Kloeppel ready to get to work as first county executive
...
Kloeppel, who has a master's degree in social work, served for 15 years as community services director at the Champaign County Regional Planning Commission, and she's been doing consulting work since retiring from the RPC three years ago...

Kloeppel said she plans to spend the next few weeks before taking office in December getting ready for her first organizational meeting with the county board and getting started on how to undertake a strategic plan for the county — her highest priority for year one.

Auditor: A post-election interview:

Third try's a charm for new Champaign County auditor
...
Danos will be the first CPA to be elected to the office in Champaign County, and he thinks that made him particularly qualified.

He currently works in the private sector, and he said in the lead-up to the election that he plans to use the office to "tighten internal controls, improve the financial reporting process, and to strengthen the ongoing audit of the accounts payable."

He also said he hoped to create a more detailed invoice system for county spending, limiting wayward spending by government employees.

Clerk: A brief post-election interview (excerpt below) and an extended interview on a variety of issues from transition tension to upcoming county issues he'll be facing.

Ammons calls for boosting voter outreach after winning clerk's post
...
As county clerk, Ammons has said he will insist on a pay freeze for countywide elected officials.

Among his other vows: to implement a citizen commission to oversee elections when the county clerk is on the ballot; to devote $5,000 of his salary each year to voter education and outreach; and to continue his opposition to Illinois' participation in Cross Check, what he called a "voter-suppression program."

Sheriff: An interview with the new sheriff, a list of goals from his swearing in, and also an interview with the long-serving retiring sheriff on the issues he faced coming into the job and challenges he faced here

There's a new sheriff in town — and he has a new chief deputy
...
Heuerman said his experience working under Walsh as a road deputy on second and third shifts was good. His relationship with Jones, who was his lieutenant, was not as good and part of the reason he moved on to his position at Lake Land College in Mattoon, where he is program coordinator and adviser for the criminal justice program. He is also a part-time police officer there.

Heuerman has bachelor's and master's degrees in criminology and a doctorate of education in community-college leadership. He is also a member of the Illinois Community College Board.

With the election over, Heuerman said he and Barrett are putting together an agenda to improve morale in the department and get things done like consolidating the jails, trying to limit the number of mentally ill people who are jailed, getting more deputies hired, and increasing training for deputies and correctional officers.

and

'Changing of a new era'
...
His short-term goal, he said, is to increase morale in the office. More than a dozen deputies, correctional officers, investigators and administrators were among those witnessing the installation of the new boss. Also present was his new chief deputy, Shannon Barrett, who is leaving her job as an Urbana police officer to be second-in-command at the sheriff’s office.

Heuerman said his most pressing longterm goal is to consolidate the downtown jail with the Lierman Avenue satellite jail, something he concedes may not happen in four years.

He also has to make two promotions to sergeant this month. One of those will replace John Carleton, who retired last week as the sergeant over courthouse security officers after 26 years of service. The other is a needed upgrade for patrol as deputies switch to working 12-hour shifts in early January.

Treasurer: A brief interview right after the election:

Prussing credits Democrats' teamwork for treasurer victory
...
Prussing is now looking forward to being part of a strong financial team for the county, she said. That includes herself and two other Democratic winners, newly elected county auditor George Danos and new county executive Darlene Kloeppel.

"I think it's going to be a real strong financial team with the three of us," Prussing said...

Prussing, perhaps best-known for her three terms as Urbana's first woman mayor, chalked up 34 years of elected office before losing the 2017 primary to current Urbana Mayor Diane Marlin. Prussing's been county auditor, a county board member and a former state representative in the 103rd district.

Republicans look towards the 2020 races:

Champaign County Republicans working on 2020 vision
Less than three weeks after a brutal election outcome for Champaign County Republicans, they're looking down the road at the next big challenge.

That is: How to avoid another blue sweep of countywide offices in 2020.

Six Champaign County-wide offices will be up for election when Americans choose their next president — county coroner, county recorder, circuit clerk, state's attorney, circuit judge and county auditor.

Democrat George Danos won the auditor's office in the Nov. 6 election for a two-year unexpired term — which places the office back in play in 2020. And Circuit Judge Jason Bohm said he'll be running as a Republican in his first election after being appointed to the bench earlier this year.

Three other countywide offices up for election are currently held by Republicans — Circuit Clerk Katie Blakeman, Coroner Duane Northrup and Recorder Mark Shelden — and all three said they plan to run again in 2020.

A great deal of information and their concerns at the full article here. One issue that started a bit of a firestorm in Democratic Party circles were their comments on student voters being less informed on local issues:

Given his promise to always vote his conscience first and his party second on the county board, Rector said he found it disappointing that many voters didn't do their homework.

"These students on campus are so bright, and all they went by — they were told that Donald Trump is horrible and don't vote for any local 'R,'" he said. "I applaud them for voting, but they need to do their homework."

A particular challenge for Republicans at the local level, Shelden said, is that the average students who live outside the area but vote in Champaign County naturally gravitate toward national politics.

"For the Republican Party, we absolutely need to have a better message for younger voters," he said.

Tom Kacich had some various samples and analysis of split ticket voting on campus versus a rural district to illustrate the concern here. Many of the local arguments included the view that students aren't sufficiently tied to the community or informed, with a serious rural versus campus divisiveness. Democrats argue that they live and pay taxes here (even if through rent) and countless alumni stay and make the Champaign area their home. Others wrote letters to the editor that insulting the intelligence of our best and brightest isn't a good way to win them over:

The problem is, none of that is true, and all of it is insulting. To suggest that individuals working tirelessly to earn Ph.D.s and master's degrees are too stupid to know who to vote for is not a winning strategy. To disparage those who spend a significant amount of their time and spending power locally as "not local enough" is to admit that Republicans aren't comfortable with the reality that they are a diverse and dynamic community more than capable of acting in self-interest.

If Republicans want to win future elections in Champaign County, they need to do some serious soul-searching. Stop insulting the intelligence of young voters; 2020 is on the horizon, and if you thought we were motivated before, wait until Trump is on the ballot.

Well, they agree on the perils of 2020 for the GOP. So there's one thing.

It's worth pointing out that the tax revenue from property taxes, sales taxes, etc do add up. From a recent Tom's Mailbag:

No matter where you live in the County or Champaign-Urbana area, that's no chump change.