Robert King has announced that he will seek the District 10 Champaign County Board seat. King is currently pursuing his doctorate in Public Administration from the University of Illinois at Springfield. He is also the Senior Assistant Director of Family and Graduate Housing at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and has lived in Champaign since 2011. The president of the Parent Teacher Association at Urbana High School and a soccer coach, King is also a mentor in the CU One-to-One Mentor Program and a father of two.
I talked to him briefly about his professional background and goals for his time on the county board, if he is elected.
Smile Politely: How would you describe your political philosophy?
Robert King: I’m a progressive democrat. And I’m someone who supports good ideas. I am a huge fan of really solid ideas and ideas that make the most sense for our community. I recognize that the country’s political landscape is more challenging right now than our local one. Our local political landscape is about getting things done.
SP: Why are you running for county board?
King: When we first moved to Champaign-Urbana, I had the opportunity to watch the county board operate via the local cable access. The conversation got a bit heated on certain issues. I realized there are a lot of issues going that pertain to my community. Then I had some time to spend some time with James Quisenberry, who supports my current run for the county board. We got into conversations about how the board works. My interest became more piqued in the process. The board influences the county as a whole. I want to be part of that and to get more involved in my community.
SP: What is your professional and political background?
King: I came here to work at the University. I work in university housing — specifically, in family graduate housing. I’m also a graduate student in public administration program at University of Illinois at Springfield. I’ve always been interested in politics from a range of aspects. I enjoy macro politics that influence us globally, but I always get more excited about what happens at the local level, when you get to see politics closer to home.
In the community, I’ve been involved in supporting a few different efforts. My wife led an effort on food labeling here in town, and I assisted on that. She was interested in making sure genetically modified food was labeled as such, and I supported her and attended meetings on that issue. I’ve also gotten involved in the local schools and worked with the PTA. I’m currently the president of the Urbana High School Parent Teacher Association. I like to find ways to work within the system to better impact the community.
SP: What do you see as the big issues facing the county board, and how would you address them?
King: We’ve heard a few people say the jail debate and the nursing home debate are the two big issues. I agree that those are what matters most for the county board right now. But my biggest interest in being part of the county board is to make its process and how it makes decisions even more transparent to the community.
In terms of the jail, some folks think that there shouldn’t be a jail. They emphasize how race and other factors influence what jails look like. I get that perspective. But at the same time, the jail has to have a solid infrastructure and space to hold inmates. Those practicalities make the issue more complicated.
I think we should build programs, not jails. I feel strongly about not building another jail for the sake of building another jail. But we have to look at the issue for what it is. If the county jail is in disrepair, and potentially the people in the jail are in conditions that are in not safe, then what are the other alternatives? That’s what I’m interested in. I think there should be programs that would better support people in jail and people coming out of jail. We need another option besides just to build a new jail or not build a new jail. We also need to make sure that people who are in jail are in conditions that are humane.
The nursing home is a bit more complicated. As I learn more, I think we need to track and monitor the finances. We need to find out how we got to where we are now.
SP: What do you love about Champaign County?
King: This community really acts in regards to political issues. For example, I met with a group of folks last night that talked about what we can do to improve conditions for people of color for people in C-U. There is a passionate, activist culture in C-U that is very attractive to me. My family came here primarily for the university, but the community has really grown on us. This is the first place we’ve felt comfortable enough in to plant roots in and feel like we can be here for the rest of our lives. The fact that there are so many people here who really care about the community gave us that feeling.