By Joe Ragusa

BLOOMINGTON – A woman from Ellsworth is running as a write-in candidate for the District 2 McLean County Board seat.

Diane Benjamin of Ellsworth told WJBC’s Terry James that she’s running because spending at the county level has gotten out of control and people would rather leave the state than continue to pay high taxes.

“This pattern keeps repeating all across Illinois,” Benjamin said. “If we don’t get spending and taxes under control, Illinois will never recover.”

Benjamin said another reason she is running is because she opposes the East Side Highway.

“I just heard over and over again (during a public hearing) that we don’t need it, we don’t want it, it’s a destruction of farmland, it’s too close to houses,” Benjamin said. “It seemed like the county board was just deaf. They weren’t listening to the people.”

Three others are running write-in campaigns on the Republican ballot: Scott Murphy of Downs, Mike Sumner of Downs and Garth Nicholas of Heyworth. Matt Sorenson will still appear on the ballot because he did not remove his name when he resigned last month amid wire fraud charges.

Joe Ragusa can be reached at [email protected].