Snipes reflects on time on Kankakee County Board

KANKAKEE — Robert Ellington-Snipes has been a fixture at Kankakee County Board meetings, off and on, for more than 30 years.

Snipes’ current 14-year run as a board member representing the city of Kankakee is coming to a close. Snipes, 64, lost to Anthony Crutcher in the spring Democratic primary, and Crutcher, who was unopposed in the general election on Nov. 5, takes over the District 18 seat in December.

Snipes was reflective on his political career, but he isn’t about to call it quits for serving the public as an elected official.

“I would consider this a comma, not a period,” said Snipes after Tuesday’s County Board meeting. “That means there’ll be some things in the future.

“Definitely, [it’s been] a unique experience in that one we’re dealing with going a little over three decades you’re looking at of being in politics, period. We look at the transition of old school, middle school, and now the new school train of thought, of which new school was good in some aspects.”

Snipes made a point that “new school” in terms of politics is when you use the term, transparency, it should mean totally open, but sometimes it might denote what you want the public to believe.

His next run for political office might be another run at Illinois State Representative for District 79 as a Democrat. Snipes ran in the primary in March for the 79th District and finished third among four candidates. Billy Morgan, of Monee, won the race with 2,138 votes, while Snipes garnered 514 votes (11%).

“I’m still looking at the state rep in about two years,” he said. “We’re evaluating that.”

Snipes said he’s proud of the work he’s done in helping the Kankakee County Housing Authority in getting new developments, including the soon-to-be-opened Liberty Lodge on South Washington Avenue for veterans.

“In my years I have been elected, I have worked with Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, anybody,” he said. “I’ve represented them all because once you get into corridors of government, politics really ends after the election, the real work of being in community service begins.”

Fellow Democrat Larry Kerkstra, who represents District 23 in Bradley, said Snipes is a man of conviction.

“He’s always willing to give an opinion and advice and assistance,” Kerkstra said. “He’s going to be missed. May not always agree with him, but he never always agreed with me. He’s a good man. He has the experience of being on the county board, working with different people. He may be back, who knows? But I for one, if he does come back, we’ll be more than welcoming and happy to see him.”

First elected in 1990 for one term, Snipes won election again in 2000 for a term. He then defeated Republican Beth Zacharias in the 2010 General Election for his first contested win. Snipes had served on the board ever since.

Snipes, a 1978 graduate of Momence High School, said someone once told him all politicians do is lie, beg and steal. He had a snappy retort.

“I said, I come to find out, in order to be a good politician, you must lie, you must beg and you must steal,” he said. “You must lie awake at night going through countless documents to sustain or enhance the quality of life of the people you serve. You must beg when people’s money becomes defunded. … I don’t know one politician that don’t steal, because we have to steal time away from our family, our friends and things that we want to do, to attend special events and come to the needs of the people, which is the heart of our Constitution.”

https://daily-journal.com/news/local/snipes-reflects-on-time-on-county-board/article_65b230a8-a20d-11ef-bfb8-738926b2d927.html