Democrats James Tinsley and Steve Summers are running for seats on the Champaign County Board. We talked with them as part of our ongoing coverage of local public officials.
James Tinsley (District 11)
Smile Politely: What are your connections to Champaign County?
James Tinsley: I was born in Fort Knox, Kentucky. My father was in the military. But both my parents are from Urbana, so I grew up here.
SP: What is your professional background?
Tinsley: After I graduated from high school, I went to Parkland College for a little while, but then I worked a number of odd jobs: for Two Men and A Truck, the Urbana Park District, and Clark-Lindsey. Later, I returned to school, and since then I’ve been focused on being student, first at Parkland College and then the U of I. I study political science.
SP: What leadership or political positions have you held?
Tinsley: I was a student trustee at Parkland College. I also held an internship for Ann Callis’s congressional campaign. Then I was a campaign manager for Don Gerard and a field organizer for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. In my field organizer position, I took on more of a leadership role. I had 20 to 30 volunteers that I was managing at a time. That was an experience that I cherished. I took a great bit of wisdom from it.
SP: How would you describe your political philosophy?
Tinsley: I’m a Democrat. I believe that everyone deserves a fair share and an equal opportunity for attaining what we call the American Dream. Some of the recent issues relating to gun violence or people being arrested for misdemeanor crimes here in Champaign County let us see visually that equal opportunity is not always there. When we see a problem, but we don’t always look back to the root cause of it, and in that way we miss key ways of fixing the problem. From a governmental standpoint, we should be giving the same opportunities to all people.
SP: Why are you running for the Champaign County Board?
Tinsley: The main reason I’m running is that I’m from District 11. I was raised here; I have a lot of family and family friends here. Now that I’m an adult, I see some of the loopholes that are causing people to be left behind by society. I observe what’s happening in my community. For example, the county government wants to commit $38 million for a new county jail. Most of those people come out of my district, District 11. So those are my people: people I’ve watched grow up or who have watched me grow up. I’m running because I don’t want to see the local government put all their chips into producing revenue through the failures of my community. When we sit here and propose $38 million to build a county jail, and not even a million to build programs to reduce recidivism rates, that shows that my community has been written off. My community needs programs to make sure they don’t go to jail. They need opportunities so they don’t face any disparity.
I’m 31-year-old man. I have a lovely woman and a child; I’m in school and trying to find my way into a new career. Theoretically, I don’t have time for this position. But I believe it’s not about whether you do or don’t; instead, it’s about whether you’re willing to make the time. I’m not going to wait until I have time. If I did, how many lives would have been lost in the meantime? I want to make sure opportunities are there not only for myself but for everyone else. I have a one-year-old son. I don’t want the government putting the resources they have for him toward him being arrested when he is 18 years old. I want him, and his peers, to have a proper education so that when he graduates from high school he can go to college or find a job. There is so much more that $38 million could be doing.
SP: What, in your view, are the most important decisions facing the Board in the coming months?
Tinsley: Well, one of the main things is the $38 million proposal for new county jail. Another issue is how we’re going to gain revenue, whether it’s through raising sales tax or raising property tax. I don’t think there should be a new income tax hike. That hurts the low-income sector of the community as well as the small business owners.
One of the things I personally want to accomplish is to find a way to allocate more money to programs to help our children. In District 11, children have too much idle time on their hands. Public education should not be the only source of education. There should be programs outside of school to educate our children.
SP: What would you most like to see change about Champaign County?
Tinsley: Champaign County is a wonderful place. It’s a great place to raise a family. I for one am going to be an Urbanaian forever. What I would like to see change here has more to do with District 11 specifically. I want to see more children going to college. That’s the biggest thing. There are a significant percentage of our children that are being left behind. When we see incidents of gun violence, we often see a person that has been left behind. The root cause of that violence could have occurred when he was much younger and being written off. I think focusing on children will lead to better situations to county as a whole: it will increase our revenue, create jobs, and lower crime.
Steve Summers (District 9)
Steve Summers (District 9)Smile Politely: What are your connections to Champaign County?
Steve Summers: I’ve spent most of my life in Champaign County. I’m a product of the Urbana School system (K-12), as are both of my children. My father Stan was a teacher for 35 years in Urbana and served on the Champaign County Board from 1972-1978. My wife Janet worked in social services in Champaign county from 1980 to 1990. In 1990 we opened Milo’s restaurant with her sister Jane Anderson and my brother-in-law, Obdulio Escobar. Currently, my wife works at the University of Illinois Osher Life Long Learning program.
SP: What is your professional background?
Summers: I have a B.A. in Political Science from Illinois State University and a M.A. in Public Administration from Sangamon State University. I joined LIUNA local 703 while I was in undergrad and worked in the craft from 1977-2014.
SP: What leadership or political positions have you held?
Summers: I was elected to the Urbana Board of Education in 1995 and served until 2011. I was an officer and was president of Local 703 until my retirement in 2014. I’ve served as a Trustee at First Presbyterian Church Urbana, and am currently a member of the board of C-U Schools Foundation. I’m the Democratic Precinct Committeeman for Cunningham 11.
SP: How would you describe your political philosophy?
Summers: I am politically liberal and fiscally conservative.
SP: Why are you running for the Champaign County Board?
Summers: One issue that concerned me was that the County has not adequately maintained all of its facilities. I’d like to see the County Board work on a long range facility maintenance plan. The board spent $150,000 on a assessment of county properties as to their conditions and needs, but there was no order of projects, no prioritization, no judgment of what work was absolutely necessary. There’s currently discussion of building a new jail, with a price tag in the $30 million range. Before the County embarks on new construction of that magnitude, we needs to examine the current facility situation closely and determine what the needs are.
SP: What, in your view, are the most important decisions facing the Board in the coming months?
Summers: The Facility/Jail issue will be important. I’d work toward maintaining the County Nursing Home as a high quality institution, and the Board should be supportive of the recommendations from the newly formed Racial Justice Task Force.
SP: What would you most like to see change about Champaign County?
Summers: I’m very concerned about the number of people that are incarcerated in Champaign County. While I haven’t personally looked at the data, I have spoken with a few folks that have. If part of the reason we have jail overcrowding is due to a significant number of individuals with mental health issues, It would make more sense to provide services, than to build more jail cells. It would likely be more cost effective as well.