Primary Election Date: 03/20/2012
General Election Date: 11/06/2012

Who Am I?

I am a highly motivated progressive who slowly began to realize something was wrong with our nation during the right-wing craze over the Clinton/Lewinski non-story. Several things had to take place in my personal life however for me to become motivated enough to finally take a chance at becoming the change this nation needs at the grassroots level. So now I find myself running for public office, county board to be exact. The only prior experience in politics I have is filling out online petitions and sending money to great causes, going up to Madison, WI (three times) during last winters rallies against Scott Walkers attacks upon labor, having been a precinct committeeman since last summer, being a proud member of Occupy Rockford, listening to the many politicians on Thom Hartmann or Ed Schultz over the years, reading several dozens of books like “All Politics is Local” by Tip O’Neil “The Second Civil War” (about hyper-partisanship) by Ron Brownstein, online magazines like Mother Jones and Rolling Stone, and watching real news people like Amy Goodman and Keith Olbermann. I have had several ‘careers’ in my 25 years of working in the world. I have been an over-the-road truck driver, a fry guy, a lawn care specialist, a cab driver, a cook, a newspaper delivery boy, and now a school bus driver. Low wage jobs are all I have ever done. And while they may have not been the best paying, I learned about being responsible with less, about caring for my fellow citizen and coming to realize that there are millions in a similar situation, to being much worse off. When I was working at my very first job at Burger King, I met Chicago Bear great Walter Payton, not once or even twice, but dozens of times to the point where when he came in we were on a first name basis. He once told me that he was but a simple man who was blessed with a gift and got paid well for using it did not make him any more special than me. In other words, just because someone is wealthy or rich (no matter how they got there) does not make that person more important than you. As such, I have a pretty good idea about what is right and wrong with our society and it is rather obvious it is not gays getting married or illegal aliens just trying to etch out a barely meager living. I only hope to live up to the standard of decency in politics as Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has done in his career. I love the idea that he has kicked lobbyists out of his office, held a nine hour filibuster, and will continually push for single payer healthcare. But in the end I just hope to be a positive change for my community.

Why Am I Running?

After listening to radio host Thom Hartmann constantly speak about We the People becoming directly active in our local political scene, becoming a precinct committeeman, showing up at the Democratic monthly meetings, and along with the growing insecurity of our nation both nationally and locally that is hard to ignore and impossible to deny. I decided to try and become the change I seek. Not because I believe those in office today are bad people, but it seems that so little gets done because many elected officials for one reason or another have gotten cozy with their name recognition and the influence it gives them. As such, I neither seek nor want to be a career politician. My hope is to get elected, offer as many progressive ideas as possible over my four year term and get all of them implemented. For those that do not get implemented, at least the seeds will have been planted and maybe that is enough.

Hold Me Accountable!

The number one initiative that I am a believer in is Winnebago County chartering its own bank. It makes perfect sense that the county should be in control of its own money. The concept can assuredly work, as there is already an example in America that has been around for ninety eight years and that is the State Bank of North Dakota. I’m also an advocate for the county to subsidize, as the German government did, solar panels for every home. I would not waste my time seeking business from the outside when there are about 20,000 Winnebago citizens, many of whom I’m sure would love the opportunity to own a small local business (or expand the one they have), started from a small loan from the future county bank. I also want an ethics committee created that would be run by a random selection of any one of the many non-border counties States Attornies.

My DFA values:

Having watched the way our government has been treating the Occupy movement, among so many peaceful and decent movements against war or inequality across our nation has horrified me. Being a part of the local Occupy movement has truly opened my eyes to this cancer within the fabric of our society and I will do everything within my power as a county board member to make sure that the sheriff’s department is not used as a brute force against the citizens of Winnebago County. Nor will I stand idly by while the sheriff is used by the big banks to kick people out of their homes simply because that bank claims the owner did not pay their mortgage. I will request a moratorium and demand to see the original paperwork. The very idea of the militarization of our police forces at all levels makes me sick. We are supposed to be living in a free nation and when we allow ourselves to be so treated we no longer live in a free nation. We live in a time right now where corporations are considered people and money equates to speech. This concept left unchecked will lead to the only possible conclusion; the end of our fragile democracy. I consider it my duty as a citizen and as an elected official of America to help bring this insanity to an end.

My Campaign is People-Powered!

I am the first candidate for County Board (at least in Winnebago County, Illinois) that has a website. Add to that my use of social media like FB, Google+, and Twitter. My opponent is an old school career local politician who gets special treatment from the largest newspaper in this area and is being fully supported by the local Tea Party of Rockford. Some of you might have heard of their leader David Hale. He was the one who searched for and videotaped the 14 Wisconsin Democrats who left Wisconsin last year when Scott Walker began his attack upon labor and then called into Cluster Fox to talk about it.

The other is my being an official spokeman for Occupy Rockford. Having been a part of the movement since day 1, being at all but a couple of rallies, I have made friends and allies in the movement. Many of these wonderful patriots have already helped me gain the signitures I needed to get on the primary ballot. I needed 25, we got 143. At least 20 members of Occpy Rockford have expressed serious interest in canvassing for me (when the time comes).

A side story: The other night at a candidates forum a candidate for Illinois House seat 17th district approached me and began to tell me that a constituent of his needed to find this guy running for County Board named David Soll and get to know him. This interaction occurred far and away from my own county district. Slowly, I am getting my name out there and the Illinois primary is not even happening until March 20th.