
By Greg Halbleib
BLOOMINGTON – A candidate for McLean County Board favors a civilian board to handle complaints about the sheriff’s department and elimination of the Bloomington Election Commission.
Steve Suess is the Libertarian nominee for District 8 on Bloomington’s west side. Suess said he would like to see a board similar to what’s in place in Bloomington.
“Bloomington (police) has a public review board looking over them now, and Normal is going to have one in the future,” Suess told WJBC’s Sam Wood. “Let’s see the sheriff’s office have the same process where there is an independent board looking at complaints against the sheriff’s office.”
PODCAST: Listen here to an interview with Suess by WJBC’s Sam Wood.
Suess said the Bloomington Election Commission is an extra layer of government.
“It’s duplicative government. There’s no reason to have two election commissions in town,” Suess said. “You might say it’s important to have an independent election commission as opposed to letting the county clerk do it because the county clerk is a partisan position. If you want a county-wide independent election commission, the only way to do that is to first eliminated the Bloomington Election Commission.”
Suess faces Democrat Shayna Watchinski in the November election.
Greg Halbleib can be reached at [email protected].