About the Authors
This website is a collaboration of two friends in Madison County from opposite parties who agree (and disagree) or more things than most would imagine.
—
Mark Von Nida has spent more than 10 years as the County Clerk for Madison County, running the County’s elections and maintaining a host of important records (birth, death, marriage, annexations, county board actions, property tax rates, etc). Many people don’t know that Mark has a patent for a ballot secrecy sleeve that helps protect the privacy of voters’ choices from the booth to the ballot’s insertion into the ballot box. Mark has also gained recognition for switching Madison County to a new, more reliable voting system and introducing one of Southern Illinois’ most popular early voting systems.
Mark is serves in leadership with the National Association of Clerks, Recorders and Election Officials, the Illinois Association of County Officials and the Illinois Association of Clerks and Recorders. He previously worked as the office administrator with the State’s Attorney’s Office. He’s a graduate of SIUE and a veteran of the US Navy. He and his wife Debbie and two children live in Granite City.
—
Allen Adomite is an Alderman in the City of Troy and the Director of Government Relations for the Illinois Civil Justice League. Adomite has spent the past ten years working in public policy, including more than five years on civil justice reform. He is the principal researcher and author of several important studies and reports regarding the civil justice system and judicial campaign financing in Madison County and the State of Illinois. His work has been featured by the American Tort Reform Association, as well as cited by the Manhattan Institutes’s Center for Legal Policy, ABC’s 20/20, the Washington Post and the New York Times.
Allen also worked for more than three years as a staff member with the Illinois General Assembly. He is the Treasurer and a founding board member of the Paul Simon Museum in Troy, as well being a member of the Troy Lions Club and the Troy-Maryville Chamber of Commerce. Allen graduated from the University of Missouri School of Journalism and has completed his Masters in Public Administration from SIUE. He and his wife Susan reside in his hometown of Troy.
—
Two authors needing a place to talk politics, policy, and float new ideas. A Democrat and Republican looking to see if it’s possible to “disagree without being disagreeable,” and in the process maybe agree more than disagree.
