After the Democratic mayoral debate hosted by the Stephenson County Democratic Party, I reached out to both Ronnie J. Bush and Walter Hayward to further address some common questions. Read about my interview with Mr. Bush here.
At the beginning of the interview, Bush explained to me that he wants to establish a mayor’s youth council. He explained that the youth council he is envisioning will “mirror how the city council is set up.” Bush explained that he is researching and “looking at what other cities are doing” to establish similar youth programs. He hopes that his youth council will help young people “learn about city government” and “learn about things that are going on” in local government and the community. Bush told me that he wants the youth to “create their own vision and their own goals.” He further explained that he “has a problem with…adults who always try to come up with things for kids instead of listening to them.” Bush also told me that the first thing he wants the mayoral youth council to do is to organize a “teen summit with all the youth in Freeport.” Teenagers would plan the summit themselves and organize their own needs and desires, Bush said.
I asked Bush if he would be interested in working with Freeport High School’s new career pathways program to develop internships for students interested in politics and government. The program is designed to give high school students a career direction that provides them with experience and connects them to community members outside of the classroom. Bush said, “Yes, I am, anything involving youth I am definitely on board with.” “Whatever I can do to help and support, I’m going to do that,” he elaborated. Bush has years of experience working with students of the community. He has been a football coach and has been hosting a back-to-school event for students for the past twenty-six years to hand out backpacks of school supplies. He reiterated that leaders must stop “overlooking our youth” and “must take some time to listen” to young people.
Bush said, “the police department and the fire department are very dear to me.” He explained that his father was a policeman and his brother was a fireman. As Bush discussed during the Democratic debate hosted by the Stephenson County Democratic Party, he wants to see community policing come back. From his time serving as an alderman, Bush noticed that the people of his ward had an elevated level of trust in the police when Freeport had community policing, which is why he would seek to reimplement the program as mayor. Throughout the interview, Bush often restated his desire to rebuild trust between the community and local government; his mission to return to community policing is one part of his plan to “build that trust.”
Bush also explained that he wants to replace members appointed to the Social Justice Committee by Mayor Jodi Miller. He told me that a lot of the members who were appointed “shouldn’t have been on” the committee. He told me that some of the individuals on the committee are “friends” of the mayor and explained that the current administration “always calls on the same people.” Bush wants to find new people through an application process and by utilizing community members he has met throughout his years of public service. Bush said he seeks people who he knows “haven’t been involved before.”
Bush told me that he wants the City “to work hand in hand with the Greater Freeport Partnership” in order to attract businesses. He also explained that he wants to start up a “business summit” so that he can hear concerns from local business owners and “listen to their recommendations.” Bush was adamant that Freeport must take in the concerns of businesses who are already in Freeport, rather than just work on finding new ones.
I also asked Bush to address the concerns of community members who feel that a Democrat would not be able to beat Mayor Miller and her money. Bush explained that it comes down to their difference in campaigns. He explained big money will “cram your mailbox, send you fliers, put up big posters” but “not one time will they knock on your door and talk to you.” He explained that grassroots campaigns, such as his, will knock on doors and actually listen to the people they seek to represent.
Citizens of Freeport have expressed concern that wealthy locals such as Brian Stewart, who owns much of the property that is rented out to businesses and offices, are controlling elected leaders of Freeport. Bush told me that this issue “has always been a concern” of his. He explained, “We really need to investigate because they were against landlord registration.” Bush, contrastingly, said that he “strongly supported” the city council’s decision to approve landlord registration. He told me that “we need more people who will not be easily swayed” because “it is my belief, and the belief of many others, that some elected officials have been persuaded to vote in favor of wealthy locals.” Bush expressed his concern that when local wealthy landlords sponsored “a slate of candidates during the 2015 election” they were successful “in getting their candidates elected.”
In closing, Bush said that he wants all Freeport voters to know that “as a former alderman, and now a county board member, I have the experience.” He said that he wants to “walk into the mayoral seat with my experience.” Bush encourages everyone to go out and vote because “with low voter turn out, you’ll never get change.”
“Farah Tolu-Honary is a graduate of Freeport High School and now studies political science and international relations at Beloit College. Issues most important to her include climate change, income inequality, and foreign affairs.”
