Elijah England for County Board 2022

Listen to Elijah's interview on Youtube, from which most of this article is written.

Elijah ran for City Council in 2021, but lost in the primaries, saying he got about 300 votes and did not have enough visibility. He says the county board is responsible for roadwork, construction, pension plans, presides over "all the cities" in the county (Karl Coleman says the county is responsible for only the unincorporated areas of Macon County), ensures county agencies are following proper procedures, and handles a lot of the financial aspects of the county.

Political Platform and Priorities

Elijah England says "there's a shift now because of the change in mapping, so i know that a lot of voters on the left are concerned about the representation for the party." (see 2021 Redistricting). Prior to the June 28th Primaries, he was the only Democratic candidate in District 3. We interviewed on July 23, 2022, so Jon Moore had not been slated yet. It is important to him that voters in District 3 have at least one Democratic option.

Elijah wants to stay on top of construction projects, and talked about Decatur specifically having a lot of roads that need improvement. He says the County Board and City Council are currently cooperating on these efforts and wishes to continue this work.

Workers' Rights and good jobs are a major area of concern for Elijah. He'd like to advocate within the Democratic party to prioritize the working class and workers' rights. His concerns include good pay, benefits, and job safety.

Elijah would like like to bring more good jobs to our community. He says "we have factory jobs here and it would be fantastic to have another factory, another two factories, any jobs we can get, but we also want to make sure they're good paying jobs and that they're gonna benefit our citizens the most". He knows there are a lot of jobs currently and is concerned that there are not enough good paying jobs with good healthcare plans.

Elijah says "In Macon County, there's kind of a, a little bit of a differentiation between how certain races are paid and certain races are taken care of, so I think it's good to focus on, like i said, making it equal and equitable, not just making it equal."

He is concerned about the financial impact on the County from the pandemic, and says we need the right team in place to continue some of the projects that have been started. Elijah says some of those projects are in conjunction with Howard Buffett's team.

Elijah believes the top 3 priorities of voters on the political left are: workers' rights (equal pay, safety), county finances, and Democratic representation (due to the redistricting). Elijah believes the top 3 priorities of voters on the political right are: Good job opportunities, a desire for a trustworthy person in government, and Republican representation.

Elijah adds that voters on the Right are concerned there are not enough people working and says voters on the Right view it as "we have all these jobs that are available and people aren't working." Elijah says "I just think the difference in that is those jobs are not necessarily the most attractive positions." See Employment Rates in Decatur, IL for a limited review of local employment data.

Elijah England is concerned that the county redistricting invalidates a lot of voters due to where the district lines are drawn. He says "I know that the Democrats are working on that now, as far as challenging it."

He believes our local zoning laws "could use a good tune up," but does not have specifics on how zoning laws would be changed. He says this would require support from the Democratic party as well as some bi-partisan support from Republicans. He says he's heard of a few people who were considering creating businesses in the area but had trouble due to zoning laws.

Elijah reiterates that he wants to represent the party well, so he can continue the work Democrats have already started regarding workers rights and protecting our citizens from dangerous work environments. He adds that the County Board governs a larger area than City Council & that this position will be a learning curve for him. He says he is up for the challenge.

Political Ambitions and Experience

Elijah ran for City Council in 2021 and lost in the primaries. He said he's considering running for City Council again if this election does not go in his favor. He says "That was a very tough election for me" and the primary caught him off guard. He says "There are pretty good odds that I would run again."

I asked if he plans to stay local or go to state and national politics. He said "The goal for me right now is to stay local. I'm definitely working towards... I think the end goal is to work toward state & then national. But of course national is pretty far away from me now. But I think local and state is a pretty reasonable group and I think I could do that." He says these local campaigns are "stepping stones".

Elijah spent a majority of 2020 and a bit of 2021 advocating against gun violence, working with Pain 2 Peace. He then started the Decatur Urban Justice Center with Corey Walker, former Chair of the Decatur branch of the Black Chamber of Commerce of Illinois, to review legal cases after Illinois passed a bill (SB2129) allowing the State's Attorney to re-sentence offenders in some cases. He says Decatur Urban Justice Cener is kind of a side-project and is still in the works. He said they were "instantly overloaded with paperwork," so there's more work to do there.

Questions from Voters

How will you protect voting rights?

• Making sure we have the right people in the County Clerk's Office
• Be involved with the County Clerk's office
• Ensure the county is acting transparently
• If vote recounts are needed, ensure they are done immediately

What are your budget goals?

• Elijah mentioned the Democratic party's finances taking quite a hit, partially because of the Sheriff's Election.
• Elijah says "I don't know a whole lot about the financial aspects of the Macon County Board and it is a learning curve for me."
• Elijah says we want to find the most affordable way to run the county and believes there is room to reorganize.
• Reduce spending by about 10% to redirect it toward citizens
  • Fund programs at Richland, Millikin, and talent agencies to do job training & help folks find jobs
• He talked some about vacant and abandoned buildings needing to be removed.

What are your goals regarding taxes?

• Elijah says the tax situation here is "kind of bumpy" and he's trying to understand why it's a little bit different than other counties.
• He mentioned the local gas tax (5 cents per gallon, passed in 2016)
• (paraphrase) if we want to reduce those taxes, we can evaluate that when we evaluate the budget
  • we don't have to send it all away to agencies, we could use it to lower taxes

How will you address crime?

• Work toward prevention & find solutions instead of just doing the things we're doing now.
• Elijah says we need enough money flowing through the county to ensure citizens are safe & well taken care of. He says there is a discrepancy between what we spend on our citizens and what we spend on law enforcement.
• He believes there are concerns about police and fear of the police stemming from the national level
• He says shootings are sporadic here
• Invest in communities, in programs that help youth
• He talked, mostly, about there needing to be a plan to address issues & prevent crime and how not enough is being done to prevent gun violence and crime.

What goals do you have regarding cannabis dispensaries? (30m20s)

• He says he has a "complex view of the situation"
  • He says he lived in Oklahoma for awhile and they have some decent cannabis dispensary programs there
  • He says the "springfield economy is definitely boosted"
• He'd like to work with Republicans from a numbers perspective, since dispensaries bring in a lot of funds
• He believes there is an outdated view of what cannabis could bring to a community.
• He supports having cannabis dispensaries in the area & believes they would bring a lot to the table.
• He thinks dispensaries could indirectly help with crime because of the funds dispensaries would bring to the county.

From what sources do you get most of your news?

• He doesn't have a specific source he prefers
• When there is a topic of interest to him, he says he'll look at 5 or 6 different articles, including from both left-leaning and right-leaning outlets to get a fuller view & understand multiple perspectives.
• He doesn't watch much mainstream news on the TV because he believes there is some fear mongering there and prefers more direct sources
• He says his approach to news was influenced by his time at Millikin, which encouraged him to be critical of the source of the news as well as the bias within it.