PEORIA, IL -- Here's the second and final edition, hopefully, of my coverage of the Peoria County primary races. It follows the third candidate forum I have attended, held Feb 20, and sponsored by the Greater Peoria League of Women Voters.
The election is March 15, and early voting and grace period voting, where you can register and vote at the same time, has already begun. Information from the Election Bureau can be found here.
Every Democrat voting in the primary will choose between two women for Peoria County judge, with the winner to face Republican Tim Cusack in November.
The two candidates are Jodi Hoos and Sonni Williams. Both are qualified by their experience, but both have troubling conflicts of interest and questionable law cases in their pasts. See my story on them below for the details.
Williams Hoos Photos by Al Harkrader
At the League forum they were asked whether they would recuse themselves if asked to sign a warrant involving one of their conflicts -- for Hoos the Peoria County State's Attorney, and for Williams, her husband's law firm and the city of Peoria, now her employer.
(The background: three judges signed warrants so the city of Peoria could conduct a police raid on a citizen's residence for the supposed crime of posting Twitter comments mocking the mayor of Peoria. Guess they had never studied the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and its clause on free speech. Let's hope whoever wins this judge race has learned a lesson from the Twittergate fiasco, also well covered in this blog.)
At the candidate forum, Williams said she would recuse herself. Hoos was vague saying "it wouldn't be a conflict" under Illinois law, for her, as a former Peoria County prosecutor, to sign warrants from the police, with the implication they could be backed by the State's Attorney's office.
State's Attorney Jerry Brady has endorsed her, and held a joint fund raiser with her.
So -- who to vote for? Williams is preferred.
(Compare this coverage with the lame story in today's Peoria Journal Star -- no mention of the real issues in this race.)
Here is the recording of the judges race.
The Republican race involves a doctor vs. a lawyer! They are competing for the nomination in District 11 of the Peoria County Board, a far north district gerrymandered for the Republicans. No Democrat is competing for this seat, though one could be slated after the primary.
The lawyer is Chris Crawford, late of the Peoria District 150 School Board where he served a five year term, rarely speaking, looking bored, and supporting the disastrous superintendent who resigned before she could be ousted after a board election in 2015. This service does, however, give him somewhat valuable experience as a public official.
His opponent is physician Gregory Adamson, an orthopedic surgeon who told the League audience that he also holds an MBA. He apparently has never served in a public office.
Crawford Adamson Photos by Al Harkrader
Both want lower taxes and spending cuts where possible. Crawford would sell the county's nursing home. Adamson said it loses $5 million a year, a sum that apparently is not true, according to board member Allen Mayer, who attended the meeting in the audience. He said it made a profit of half a million dollars last year, and had figures on his cell phone to show the budget information.
The nursing home is valuable, in that it charges somewhat lower rates than other nursing homes in the area, and is their competitor, at least in theory, keeping rates low for everyone.
Adamson was more nuanced in his answer to this question, saying selling "should be looked at" along with other options including a change in management.
Adamson also did not know what a TIF district is, when asked a question about TIFs. The widely used term means tax increment financing districts, that deny governments such as school districts and the county, most of the tax funds from development for 23 years, using the money instead, at least supposedly, for other development.
Crawford is suspicious of TIFs, from his school board experience. Adamson then responded, questioning "sweetheart deals" such as the city's Warehouse District, and said he's "skeptical" of these deals.
Crawford promised to attend every committee and board meeting and study the material beforehand, which can take a lot of time. Adamson didn't comment on that, and that may be problematic for him if he has a busy medical practice.
So -- from this one forum -- Adamson has not attended the other two forums -- he seems preferable, but can he do the service this position requires? He needs to be pinned down on this by his constituents.
Here is the recording of the County Board candidates:
The candidates for Peoria District 150 School Board in District 3 did not attend this forum, but have been at previous forums in person or on the phone. Dan Walther has been endorsed by Change 150, and that's good enough for me to prefer him.His opponent is Terry Spayer.
The winner will be elected in this non-partisan race. That means a voter can take a non-partisan ballot to vote only in this race, if the voter does not want to take a Republican or Democratic ballot.
Recordings of the forum will be posted here later, along with photos of the candidates.
-- Elaine Hopkins
Thanks for the helpful coverage of these local debates which no one else seems to cover.
I did a little fact checking myself on the nursing home. On page 20 of the county budget, Heddington Oaks 2016 estimated revenue is $11,925,745 and that is verified on page BH17 also.
On page 27, the estimated expenditure for Heddington Oaks (costs) is $16,844,460. Revenue less costs = profit. Unfortunately, in this case it equals a NEGATIVE $4.9 million dollars.
The last year full actual figures (as opposed to estimates) is available is 2014. On page 20 of the county budget, actual revenue was $1,295,255 + $5,218,146 + 5,013,777 = a total revenue of $11,527,178.
On page 27 the actual 2014 expenditures (costs) were $17,546,298. So in 2014 Heddington Oaks had a NET LOSS of $6,019,120.
So Greg Adamson did his homework and Allen Mayer was incorrect.
What is more is that Change 150 opposed no D150 school board member than Chris Crawford. He was president of the board during their attempt to sell Peoria Stadium to a super Wal-Mart and he supported Grenita Lathan's reign of terror completely. If Crawford did not LISTEN to parents and teachers on the D150 board, how can we expect him to listen to constituents on the county board?
Posted by: Scott Nowlan | March 07, 2016 at 05:19 PM