Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – A big check – $150,000 – from the Central Illinois Building and Construction Trades Council helped launch Springfield Mayor Misty Buscher‘s re-election campaign Friday evening at Boondocks Pub.
She may be on good terms with Big Labor, but working with the aldermen sees more troubled waters.
“I try very hard,” the mayor said in an interview after her formal announcement. “For political purposes, there are some aldermen who do not want to support me. I believe there was one (Ald. Roy Williams) protesting – tonight – my mayoral campaign because they want to play politics. In that horseshoe, we should not play politics; we should play policy.”
A sign two protestors held across Dirksen Parkway from Boondocks accused Buscher of censorship and militarizing the police department, the latter referring to the purchase of a military-style vehicle.
Asked what from her first term educated her the most as she envisions a second term, Buscher said she was “shocked at how ill-prepared we were for the derecho (in June 2023) and the response. Now, what people don’t realize, is the emergency operations center that I created, we get updates from the National Weather Service every day. We activated that facility just this year maybe seven times.”
Other accomplishments of her first term, as she stated from the stage, include: completion of Scheels Sports Park, improved programs for the homeless, reduced crime, near-100 percent staffing of the police department, online applications for developments, and introduction of the BEACON first-response program when there is a mental health emergency.
Among the trials, all early in her term, she cited the derecho, her husband’s life-threatening illness, and the unrest over the Sangamon County police killing of Sonya Massey. But she said there was never any question she would run for a second term.
The municipal election is April 6, 2027.
