Please tell us about yourself:
My name is Marc Girdler and I am The People’s Mayor of Decatur. I am an activist and sub, while my hobbies include getting high, smelling scented candles, romantic evenings, psychotronic cinema, eating out at DiNardo’s, and a luxurious bathtime skincare ritual. I also enjoy laughing at good comedians, such as Mike Lindell, Dan Caulkins, and Chuck Kuhle. I believe in consent-based ethics and view healthcare, housing, food, and water as basic human rights. Bada bing, bada boom!
Please list any endorsements:
I was endorsed by The Bloomington-Normal Club of the Communist Party, Democratic Socialists of America activist Allan Max Axelrod, and former Congressional candidate Frank Smith.
What do you believe is the role of a Decatur City Council member?:
A famous hero once said, “I’m here to chew bubblegum and kick ass, and I’m all about of bubblegum.” While we aren’t in a John Carpenter movie, I do believe the job of a council member, though “part-time,” should be a position used to tirelessly advocate for our community. Not to get your friends and relative jobs, socially network, or go on power trips, but to serve the people and build a stronger community. A council member should be thinking about all citizens and neighborhoods, not just their next country club cocktail. I also believe the council should listen to citizens and take their concerns to heart, not ignore them like the current council does. Julie Moore Wolfe even told WILL in an interview that she wouldn’t even take the voices of all of Decatur’s citizens into consideration when making decisions. That kind of disdain toward our community needs to end.
Please tell us your platform and key areas of focus for the Decatur City Council:
I want to help Decatur become a cannabis kingdom, which would allow us to grow countless new jobs of all kinds, rather than rely on a handful of large corporations to anchor employment opportunities. Dispensaries, cultivation, transportation, infusion, cannabis cafes, cannabis competitions, and more could be Decatur’s for the taking, but the current council is trapped in the 80s and the failed war on drugs. In addition to a wealth of opportunities for ownership and employment, cannabis businesses would help begin the process of healing communities that the harmful and again, failed war on drugs have harmed.
I also want to undo some unfair policies pushed by the thieves of joy on the current council, one of which is that four members are needed to add an item to the agenda. This is an oppressive and harmful policy that serves the lockstep four-vote majority currently in place, designed to silence any opposition and ensure that only their agendas are served, leaving the other members and the community out in the cold. We can change the policy to reduce that number to two and restore fairness. I also want to restore public comment on ALL agenda items and remove any “civility” language from public comment policies. These ridiculous rules were put into place to lessen the voice of the people and should be overturned as soon as possible.
I also want to see Decatur move toward being a compassionate, progressive community that looks to the future, rather than dreaming of the 80s. Rockford has been able to eliminate chronic homelessness and aside from classist views from the current city council, there is no reason Decatur can’t follow suit. But we also need to work on ensuring other basic human rights are upheld, such as healthcare and access to food and water.
