What motivated me to run?

After the General Election of 2024, I realized I needed to do more than just post on social media why electing Trump was a bad idea.  I had to get more personally involved.  I started by attending a Winfield Township Democratic Organization meeting.  From that start came an opportunity to be appointed to an open position on the County Board.  And while I did not get appointed, the process convinced me that I could do more good as an elected official than any other role in the Democratic Party.

I’m a proud U.S. Navy veteran. I served in the Naval Nuclear Program as a Reactor Operator aboard the USS Hampton. That experience taught me discipline, focus, and the ability to master complex systems under pressure — skills that serve me well today. I also earned a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, where I learned to solve tough technical problems — the kind of problem-solving mindset we need in public service.

How else do my skills translate to being a member of the Board?  As an engineer, you learn how to fix things, but sometimes you cannot fix things the way they should be fixed due to lack of parts, time constraints, or lack of funds.  In those cases, you have to do a work around, you have to find a way to get the equipment to work until the opportunity presents itself to fix the equipment properly.  

We are in a moment that the federal government is breaking things, and we need to figure out how to fix them, when the normal way we would fix things are not available to us.  So we need to figure out the workaround until we can fix things the way they were meant to be fixed.

The four main things I would be looking to accomplish as a member of the Board would be:

1. To shore up the County’s ability to protect our civil rights from an administration that is acting illegally, specifically with ICE terrorizing our cities

2. To ensure we can continue to fund the vital social services our constituents rely on if and when the federal government decides to illegally defund our county.

3. To promote financial literacy programs in our schools to give our youth the tools they will need to survive once they enter the workforce.  Illinois is one of the few states that doesn’t require these courses.

4. To promote more budget friendly housing and increase available housing.  The Board currently has an Ad Hoc Housing committee which only meets sporadically.  My goal would be to have them meet more regularly to come up with solutions for our housing crisis.