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Getting Re-elected Board members, now's the time to start planning your re-election campaign BY ANN M. LONDRIGAN

In the wake of the presidential elections, many local park and forest preserve board members are reminded that their bid for re-election is right around the corner. The election takes place on Tuesday, April 3, 2001. October 25, 2000, marked the first day that a park board candidate can circulate nomination papers. Filing deadlines are January 15-23, 2001.

So, now's the time for park district and forest preserve board members to decide whether they want to continue to serve on the board and campaign for re-election. Gathered here is advice from a professional who teaches political science at Northern Illinois University and two commissioners who have excellent track records for getting re-elected.

David Emanuelson is the director of the DeKalb Park District and a Ph.D. candidate in Political Science at Northern Illinois University. He presented a workshop "Electioneering: The Secrets of Getting Re-elected," sponsored by the Illinois Association of Park Districts, on October 3 of this year.

"Name recognition is the biggest key to getting elected or re-elected," says Emanuelson. "How do you do that? Is it ethical for a park board member to always insist that the names of the board member be in the district's seasonal brochures in a prominent size?

"We do it in DeKalb because we believe we need to make our board accessible. We include their names and e-mail addresses so that people can converse with them."

"People know that I'm involved" says Don Jessen, a four-term commissioner for the Addison Park District. "You've got to keep your name in the public. You've got to do things in the community."

Emanuelson says that 80 percent of the population makes their decision about who they will vote for in a presidential election before going to polls because of all the advertising and heightened awareness. However, in local elections such as a park board race, voters might not know the candidates until a week before the election. "In that regard, the old forms of grass-roots campaigning are very relevant at the local level," says Emanuelson. "Grassroots is door-to-door campaigning. Flyers in people's doors, signs in the yard, having neighborhood coffees and teas.

"Name recognition through mass media campaigning is another technique. Putting names in park brochures, buying ads or using ribbon cuttings or park dedications and other photo opportunities."

Says Emanuelson: "People who are challenging the system know how to do this already. People who are interest-group based who are mad at you and want to get on the board, they've talked to people and you can bet your butt they've got signs up.

"So the intent of my educational sessions on electioneering is to try to remind the current people in power that they need a constituency base while in power. Usually they get elected with an interest group pushing for them. Then their interest group abandons them when they become more broad-based in their concerns for the park district. So they really have to rely on techniques in their incumbency power that the challenger cannot do."

Don Jessen, 64, is in the middle of his fourth six-year term on the board of the Addison Park District. He was first elected in 1981 and has lived in the community since 1963 with his wife, Doris, and their children.

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"Don't get re-elected just to get re-elected," says Jessen. "You have to have the desire, you have to really want to do it."

Jessen also advises: "You have to be open and honest. Don't be sneaky. Walk the streets and knock on doors. If you have opposition, you have to pass out literature, go and speak to them. You have to be visible."

A big advantage for Jessen is his name recognition in the community. Before running for the park board, he was involved — and still is today — with the local Rotary Club and other civic groups. In 1979 he founded the Community Council of Addison, an umbrella organization for all the organizations in Addison, such as the school district, park district, city, recreation clubs, civic organizations like the Rotary and Jaycee's.

"People know that I'm involved," says Jessen. "You've got to keep your name in the public. You've got to do things in the community.

Jessen adds: "I'm very close with the seniors. I talked with the seniors, told them I'd like to get re-elected and one of the reasons was that we still have work to do.

"I'm still (on the park board), they love me and that's it. You can't get out of touch."

Dr. Bruce L. Larson, president of the Urbana Park District, has been re-elected six times since taking office in 1967. Larson is professor Emeritus of Biochemistry and Nutritional Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign. Originally from Minnesota, he and wife. Marge, moved to Urbana in 1951.

"If you are a good commissioner you will be re-elected," says Dr. Bruce Larson, president of the Urbana Park District. Larson believes the same "rules to live by" for being a good commissioner apply for how to get re-elected.

"Above all you have to be honest with the people and never promise something you can't do or is not right.

Larson offers the following specifics based on his track record in Urbana.

Do Your Homework
• "The commissioner has to have a vision for the park district — where it is and what it can be — and this takes homework."

• "You have to read magazines and articles like (Ted Flickinger's boardmanship column in Illinois Parks & Recreation magazine) so you can put this all in your 'computer' and you can talk with people about where the district is and what it could be."

• "Understand the financial capabilities so you don't promise something that is impossible to attain. You aren't running for president of the United States. They can promise everything but that doesn't work for a commissioner in a park district."

"You aren't running for president of the United States. They can promise everything but that doesn't work for a commissioner in a park district." — Dr. Bruce T. Larson

Capitalize on Your Track Record and Your Agency's Accomplishments • "When election time comes around, voters in Urbana like the fact that we have an advisory committee, that advice is coming from other sources." • "They like that in Urbana we have short-term debt. We have no debt outside of three years, so we sell bonds three percent lower than what anyone else gets." • "We have well-studied plans, capital improvement plans. Nowadays you have to have an environmental bent to things, so I have good credentials on environmental issues. Other people can do their homework on these issues."

• "People really like the fact that the park district is cooperating with other governmental units. If a commissioner is one who is known to want to cooperate with the school, with the county, with other people, that goes over very well. People perceive that very quickly and that makes sense."

Announce Your Candidacy Early
• "Don't stretch things out and keep people wondering," says Larson. " File early so that everyone knows you are the candidate.

• "We take the responsibility to find some good candidates, to encourage people to run, if we know someone on the board is not going to run for re-election."

Be Positive
• "Always talk positively about parks. People don't like negative statements, whether they are relative to parks or somebody else."

ANN M.LONDRIGAN
is the editor of Illinois Parks & Recreation magazine and publications director for the Illinois Association of Park Districts.

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