Candidate Information

I've updated some of the local race information with additional links to candidate interviews and news coverage. Here's just a bit of what has been added:

In the County Board District 6 and District 10 races, Smile Politely has had interviews with the Democratic Primary candidates. In District 6 they have interviews for Dr. Charles Young and DeShawn Williams. And in District 10 they have interviews for Connie Dillard-Myers and Mary King.

Smile Politely started out with an overview of the Judicial races in the primary:

In just over a month, on March 17th, Champaign County and the rest of the State of Illinois will have their primary election. Though the Presidential election is obviously important to focus on, it’s equally pressing to consider our options at the local level. If you’re not one that pays attention to politics in general, you probably have a tendency to overlook these races until there are a bunch of names on a ballot, some of which you might recognize from yard signs. I was once this person. We don’t want you to be that person, so we’ll spend the next couple of weeks highlighting a few of the races that you should be paying attention to. Smile Politely does not do endorsements, so it’s up to you to sort out who you feel should represent you in these county level offices. First up, the race for circuit judge in Champaign County. 

More at the full article here. More at our Judges page here. The News-Gazette had coverage of the latest State bar polls where legal peers rate judicial candidiates:

Of seven lawyers running for two Champaign County judgeships, three have been not recommended for office by their legal colleagues.

Of the four Democrats who want to be their party’s candidate for the vacant seat of now-retired Judge Michael Jones, Urbana attorney Ruth Wyman was “not recommended” in the Illinois State Bar Association poll released Friday afternoon, netting the lowest rating of any judicial candidate in the Sixth Judicial Circuit...

The lawyers who choose to fill out the ballots are asked to also rate candidates on their integrity, impartiality, legal ability, temperament, court management skills, health and sensitivity to diversity and bias.

More at the full article here, including some comments by those candidates who explained their disappointment with the poll and how voters should interpret the results. The article gets into the general methodology of these polls where one could understand where their arguments are coming from.

There are still a lot of opportunities to learn more about the candidates in the Champaign County Voters Alliance non-partisan candidate guide, from their campaign links, or at one of the many meet and greet events happening all over the area. Generally if you look at the candidate's social media or website they'll have the latest information on upcoming events you can attend.

This past week there were two meet and greet events that involved County candidates for office and more than a little drama. I'm still trying to piece together exactly what happened at the downtown and campus events, but so far it seems that the county candidates were caught in the middle of local party factionalism. The downtown incident had more to do with the U.S. Congressional race and the Party divisions at that level. The campus incident appeared to involve the local County Democratic Party leadership clashing with student leaders. More details to come as (or if) I can sort through the rumors and verify anything informative.