Smith focus on crime and taxes

DECATUR, Ill. (WAND) – Dr. Lisa Smith is a first-time candidate running for state representative in a district long held by a Decatur Democrat. Smith is hoping to grab the seat pointing to problems with a crime reform bill and inflation pressures on low-income individuals.

“The community is hurting right now,” Smith told WAND News during a visit to the Northeast Community Fund in Decatur. “We have the high prices of gas, groceries and everything. We also have the school systems that are failing.”

Smith is running in the 96^th district which has in large part been held by Democratic State Representative Sue Scherer. In the June 28^th primary she is running against Prescott Paulin of Decatur. The district is made up of urban areas of Springfield and Decatur with some rural areas that connect the two cities.

She labels the crime reform bill passed in 2021 as “terrible” and says law enforcement agencies are hurting from unfunded mandates passed by the legislature. Smith also wants to suspend taxes on gas and groceries saying those taxes are hurting people of fixed income.