Decatur Vote Illinois
Feb 15, 2024: Decatur Vote is Temporarily Closed. See the announcement.

Reed Sutman

Reed Sutman

Who am I?

I'm Reed Sutman. I am the founder of Decatur Vote. I am the sole programmer of the website and the sole journalist reporting for Decatur Vote.

I've lived in Decatur all my life, except for a 3 or 4 year period in Bloomington.

I'm a bit of an introvert. I like to play video games with my best friend, mostly Fall Guys & Fortnite. I enjoy reading (mostly non-fiction), though I only make time for it when I visit the library.

I'm passionate about software programming and politics. I have two nieces I love very much, and three siblings. I care much for my family, and friendships are probably the thing I value most in life.

I live with depression and anxiety, and have done so for several years now. It's a constant in my life that I have to manage every day.

My Politics

I hold strong views about many issues, and I have many opinions that are not so strong. Decatur Vote is not a platform for furthering my political goals, so I think it's important readers know my biases. If you know my biases, you can better identify when they slip into my writing.

So, let me start with some conflicts of interest, then get into my opinions on some controversial issues.

I am a co-founder and member of Decatur Illinois Pride (formerly Decatur Pride), an LGBTQIA+ organization, and have served in several leadership roles.

I am a co-founder of Central Illinois Abortion Coalition and currently serve as the elected chair. CIAC is a grass roots organization looking to support Abortion Rights.

I have been an active member in the Central Illinois Democratic Socialists Of America and still attend some meetings and have positive relationships with some other CIDSA members.

I have volunteered for the Macon County Democrats and sometimes attend meetings. I have positive relationships with a few members of the Dems, and have hung out with Karl Coleman (the chair) a few times in a personal context.

I founded and ran Macon Zero, an organization first interested in promoting Zero Waste, and later interested in various off-mission issues, before dissolving in 2020.

I'm not going to enumerate my opinions about specific elected individuals and candidates for office. I try not to let those opinions affect my writing, but I'm sure they do. However, I will enumerate my positions on political issues.

Local Issues

First, local issues. Some of my opinions are well-informed, and some are more feelings-based.

I think cannabis dispensaries should be allowed. I don't like Howard Buffett's influence in local politics. I think the City spends far too much money on policing, compared to other services. I believe DPD officers escalated the traffic stop of Jamontey Neal, which led to Neal's death.

I think the new library parking lot was a waste of money. I don't think the new Firehouses were a good investment. I once posted in support of the Lincoln Park Advocates, though I don't know enough to hold an opinion today.

I believe there is a lot of elbow-rubbing in our local politics and organizations. I don't think it's corrupt or illegal. I do think it is a brand of elitism and gatekeeping, which likely influences how tax dollars are spent.

I probably forgot some local issues, but let's move onto broader political topics.

Broader issues

I support transgender rights and am non-binary myself (I use they/them pronouns). I support the Black Lives Matter movement, but am not well informed on the organization. I am opposed to mass incarceration and am not fond of our system of policing.

I'm not quite a police abolitionist or prison abolitionist, but I believe their roles in society should be very limited, in favor of preventative and restorative measures like reducing poverty, teaching skills, addressing mental health, etc.

I believe systemic racism is real, still present in society today, and that the past racism is still causing racist side effects today.

I believe COVID is real and serious, and that COVID vaccines are reasonably effective. I think COVID lockdowns were reasonably effective, but they also had many negative side effects. I'm not decided on whether the lockdowns were worthwhile. I think mask mandates were a good idea before widespread vaccine proliferation.

I'm not a Democrat. I am a "leftist". I don't currently know enough socialist policy or theory, but do believe I am a socialist, though I lean toward the more libertarian side of socialism. If you're horified by this, we probably have very different opinions about what "socialism" even is, and you probably hate something that I don't even believe in.

I see value in the Electoral College and think it should be abolished. I believe Biden is the rightful winner of the 2020 election, though he wasn't even close to my first pick. I think Trump is a liar and a bigot.

I support abortion rights.

I take huge issue with the profits of massive corporations, the hoarding of wealth, and the treatment of workers in our society. I support unions, though I believe unions can be problematic too.

I support the concept of healthcare for all, but I'm not clear on specifics.

I am antagonistic toward patent and copyright law. I think it has a place, but is often misused by the powerful for the sake of profit, and results in massive harm to our society.

There's probably other things I forgot to mention.

Hopefully this gives you some idea of what to look out for in my writing. I'm not here to convince you of any of my views. I'm just sharing them with you so you are better equipped to evaluate the trustworthiness and perspective of my writing.

My Journalistic Values

I have two jobs as a journalist for Decatur Vote.

First is to report information about candidates for office - who's running, what their platforms are, and any information your vote may hinge on.

Second is to hold accountable people and organizations in positions of power. Running a news website, I need to be held accountable too. So do other journalists.

In an effort to hold myself accountable, I share my sources in detail, I try to disclose conflicts of interest, be upfront about my biases, and own my mistakes.

For information about candidates, it's pretty straightforward - I talk to candidates or review information about them online and I report or paraphrase what I learn.

For holding people (including candidates) and organizations accountable, things get trickier. Who do I trust? Who do I quote? Are they a credible source? What does the public need to know? Did I get my information ON the record or OFF the record? Who and when do i fact check?

Often, one of the biggest challenges is prioritizing, because every story is deeper and broader than what I have time to investigate. Second big challenge is deciding what to include or remove from a story, for the sake of understanding and readability.

I value thorough sourcing. I value democracy. I intend to be an ally to the people, which necessitates being antagonistic toward powerful people. However, (I think) getting stories necessitates being friendly toward powerful people.

While I'm not a politician (currently), I believe journalism is a political job. Relationship building gives me much greater access to information. However, using inside information that I obtain off the record would be unethical and damage those relationships.

Such information also may not be well-sourced, again making it ethically questionable to share.

When researching and writing, I'm mindful of many of these issues. I try to report fully & completely. I try to respect my sources wishes. Most of all, I try to put truth above all else.

I know bias creeps into my writing in various ways. I value impartiality on many issues, though I know this isn't always the best approach.

Uncritical impartiality can lead to the leader of the KKK getting mass media attention and propagating hateful messaging. It's wrong to genocide black people, no matter what the KKK says, and I've personally seen clips of the KKK leader on mass media.

I would argue that giving the KKK leader a platform is actually a very racist stance to take as a journalist, rather than an impartial one.

This gets tougher with areas of local politics. Is it wrong to gerrymander the County districts? Would I feel differently if my team had been in control of the gerrymandering?

Is it wrong for an elected official to use the office for personal gain? Is it right to legalize cannabis dispensaries? Is it wrong to ban assault weapons? Is it right for a Sheriff to say he won't enforce a law he finds unconstitutional? If a council member expresses a conflict of interest as reason for his vote, is that okay?

Sometimes there is just not a factual basis for making those decisions. And even if I try to report impartially, my views and relationships will affect who I talk to, what questions I ask, and what information gets reported as "important".

Professional Background

I haven't gone to school for journalism, but I have been writing in various capacities for years. I started out with a mix of technical tutorials and light blogging in about 2010, maybe 2012, though my profession was programming.

I developed some Android apps and one iOS app, my most popular being a work schedule app for Walmart employees. During that time, I provided a lot of volunteer support to other programmers on StackOverflow, and as of February 2023, I've answered over 300 questions and my work has reached over 2 million people.

In 2018, I first got interested in politics and engaging in local activism, along with some biased writing about (mostly) local political issues, which you can see on LoveDecatur.com.

Around that time is also when I started Macon Zero, a not for profit trying to promote 'Zero Waste', which has now been closed. Macon Zero took several off-mission turns, veering into general local issues & we even opened a coworking space in early 2020, and soon closed it due to COVID.

As part of Macon Zero, I planned the first Pride Fest in Decatur, with Astrid Luxe Prater organizing the Drag Show. Then I formed Decatur Pride with some members of the LGBTQIA+ community I met along the way.

I left Decatur Pride shortly before Pride Fest 2019. I returned to Decatur Pride in 2021, and we reconstituted as Decatur Illinois Pride due to paperwork issues with the original org.

During those in-between years I was still working on Macon Zero, local activism, and then I started working on Decatur Vote full time in November 2021, programming the website before launching in July 2022.

For the November 2022 election, I interviewed and wrote up several candidates for office. I believe I covered 15 candidates, and interviewed 9 or 10 of them. I also published a few other articles along the way, linked below.

As of today, February 15th, 2023, I've written up 7 candidates for the April 4th 2023 election, having interviewed each of them in person.

I also started Weekly News Recaps on January 20th, 2023.

Over the years, I've also tried some other endeavors. I wanted to launch a website for Decatur Thrift stores, but I dropped the ball. I prototyped a website for Magic The Gathering, but never followed through on polishing it.

I worked extensively on Open Source Software, but never materialized that into income. I continue to work on OSS, but I don't pursue the marketing side at all any more and focus on my own software needs.

Over these recent years, I've learned how to prioritize better, stay on task, and follow through on (most of) my commitments. I've learned many organizational skills, leadership skills, as well as how to work well on a team - which required me to check my once oversized ego.

Notable Works