Newcomer Proctor running strong campaign 

Ward 5 Ald. Sam Cahnman is seeking a third term on the Springfield City Council, but to get there, he must take on a wellfunded and well-connected opponent.

Andrew Proctor of Springfield is challenging the sitting alderman in the April 7 election, saying he’ll fight to improve neighborhoods in Ward 5 and across the city.

The race pits a veteran pol against a newcomer who is politically savvy nonetheless. Cahnman, an attorney in private practice, previously served on the Sangamon County Board and was first elected alderman in 2007 and again in 2011. Meanwhile, Proctor works in the Illinois Statehouse, giving him both political acumen and strong allies.

Cahnman, 60, says he is running for office again because he sees several opportunities to improve Springfield. Among his accomplishments are city ordinances banning teenagers from using tanning beds, banning panhandling downtown and creating a charity program to benefit the city’s homeless population. He also pressed the city to apply for state funds to demolish abandoned houses and is currently pushing an ordinance to establish a citywide minimum wage.

“I like to help people solve problems,” Cahnman said.

Proctor, 33, says his neighbors asked him to run. He says his desire to run was crystallized by the presence of two unlicensed halfway houses in Enos Park. Proctor says when he moved his family to the neighborhood, he thought the houses were regulated by the city.

“When I found out they weren’t, I wanted to see why isn’t the city more proactive in regulating these facilities,” he said. “I found out the neighborhood association has been dealing with these properties for six years. I was like, ‘Why?’ ” Proctor previously worked in the state Capitol as a legislative analyst for the Illinois House Republicans, then as a lobbyist for the Illinois Chamber of Commerce before taking a job as director of legislative affairs for the Illinois Department of Employment Security. He says he would use the skills gained from working in the Statehouse to find solutions to issues like unlicensed halfway houses, aging infrastructure and blighted properties. Already he has proposed creating a quasi-governmental “land bank,” which would purchase abandoned properties on behalf of the city to facilitate quicker demolition and resale.

Cahnman says he has already worked to address the issues Proctor has identified, including an ordinance limiting how long blighted properties can be registered with the city before they must be demolished. The alderman adds that Proctor even praised his panhandling ordinance in a radio interview without realizing it was his work.

Although Springfield ward races are officially nonpartisan, this race certainly has partisan undertones. Earlier this week, Cahnman, a Democrat, was the subject of what he characterizes as a hit piece accusing him of proposing an “emergency tax” on homeowners whose fire calls are handled by the Springfield Fire Department. Ward 6 Ald. Cory Jobe, a Republican who is running unopposed but is spending campaign money to influence other ward races, released a statement containing the allegations. In the statement, Jobe stated support for Proctor and called Cahnman an “entrenched politician.”

“This is a fee that residents would be forced to pay after their house burnt down or, for whatever reason, they required the emergency services from the fire department,” Jobe said in the statement. “This proposal is outrageous, inhumane, and shows just how far out of touch Sam Cahnman is with the people of the fifth ward.”

Cahnman responds that Jobe willfully misinterpreted his proposal for political gain. 

“There’s never been an alderman who’s going after another alderman like Jobe is going after me,” Cahnman said.

Cahnman explains that his proposal was for insurance companies to pay, not homeowners.

“This is an innovative, out-of-the-box way to help pay for fire services without raising taxes or fees, thus costing our citizens absolutely nothing,” he said. “Plus, it makes sense. The fire insurance companies benefit greatly from good fire protection – the difference between having to pay for a whole house that burned completely to the ground, or minor damage from a fire put out quickly by professional, high-quality firefighters, like those who work for the Springfield Fire Department.”

Cahnman says he has raised about $10,000, and he walks his ward nearly every evening until dark to meet voters.

Proctor says he has raised about $20,000 in the race and has canvassed all of Ward 5 seven times seeking votes.

“We’re doing an aggressive grassroots campaign to talk to residents, and we’ve been very successful at it,” he said.

Contact Patrick Yeagle at [email protected].

Read a longer version of this story online at illinoistimes.com.