Keep up with Clay through the Media

Candidate glad for democracy
July 17, 2008
MidWeek letter to the editor

As I walk the neighborhoods of DeKalb County, I am struck by how much they have changed. Families are truly concerned about how they are going to make ends meet. Gas prices, food prices, real estate taxes: all higher. Many ask me why their taxes are going up while their property values are going down. Some question why our taxes are as high as many Chicago suburbs. Everyone knows that another home for sale on their street is another family forced to find a cheaper place to live. The mood is grim.

Thank God for elections. They represent, especially in times of economic hardship, a way to express our displeasure at how we are being governed. They represent a celebration of change, a chance to see if some new people might be able to do things better, a perfect opportunity to introduce incumbents to the private sector. If something is not working at home, you try something different. Government is the same. New people bring new ideas and, just maybe, a new beginning. We have nothing to lose and the financial stability of our families to gain.

The office I am seeking is a case in point. In the last eight years, the budget of the Dekalb County State's Attorney's office has more than doubled. Doubled. As this office is funded solely by tax dollars, this means that more than twice as much tax money is being spent than before our current state's attorney took office. That is an astonishing legacy to leave the public.

To be fair, many of the other departments of county government have risen as drastically, and this brings me to my point: We are now paying for a local government that we can no longer afford. We have seemingly been electing public officials whose only solution to any problem is to raise your taxes. Expand their budget. Hire more people. Go find the last tax bill for your home. The proof is before your eyes. No wonder our mood is grim.

But all is not lost. I am actually very optimistic. Americans generally don't stay down for long. Voters eventually catch on and register their displeasure at the polls. High taxes were tolerable when interest rates were low and gas prices reasonable. But everyone has their limit. Surely we won't keep electing the same people who got us here in the first place. When it comes down to saving your home, or keeping your job, November cannot come soon enough. And when it does, its not about Republicans or Democrats, or liberals and conservatives. Its about common sense. I love democracy.

Calvin Clay Campbell, Sycamore,
Republican Candidate for Dekalb County State's Attorney

Good schools keep kids out of trouble
February 2, 2008
Daily Chronicle letter to the editor

Over the past two decades I have studied and worked in the legal community in DeKalb County. During that time I have had the privilege of assisting countless parents and kids who found themselves for one reason or another in our court system. This interaction has allowed me to gain some modest insight into the minds of our youth.

Many of these kids feel lost, lonely or abandoned. Most have both parents working to make ends meet. Many come from single-parent households. Some drift from foster home to foster home. All are stressed. A consistent theme that runs throughout their stories is a seeming alienation from our educational system. Once they have become disconnected from school, they have lost the structure so vital to a happy childhood. The street becomes their school; drug dealers and gangsters become their teachers. The court system becomes the eventual destination for many. Every case that gets filed involving a child represents societal failure on some level.

I share this insight with the public as my way of supporting the DeKalb School District construction referendum that includes the building of a new high school. Building a new school is an investment in our youth that would reap benefits far beyond the obvious physical expansion of a burgeoning educational system. It would send a message to teenagers that we are willing to commit scarce taxpayer funds in an effort to give them the best education it is in our power to provide.

Rejection of this referendum would have the opposite effect. It would leave the middle school and high school kids in DeKalb with the impression that their education is not a worthy investment. It would force them to continue to attempt to get a quality education in an overcrowded and inadequate facility. In the competitive world of education, they would know that other students have a step up on them.

Investing in our youth now might keep them out of trouble later. It just might provide that extra incentive some kids need to stay in school. Kids who stay in school stay out of trouble. Fewer troubled youths mean fewer resources devoted to our already overworked legal system. In the end, more classrooms surely make more sense than more jail cells.

Calvin Clay Campbell, Sycamore,
Republican Candidate for Dekalb County State's Attorney