Wife of former East St. Louis mayor says she’s a qualified candidate on her own merits
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Jo Anne Parks, the wife of former East St. Louis Mayor and Township Supervisor Alvin Parks Jr., has thrown her hat in the ring for an open city council seat.
Board of Elections records show Alvin Parks filed the petition on behalf of his wife.
There are two open seats on the East St. Louis City Council. Along with Parks, two incumbent council members, Roy Mickens and Ryan Cason, have also filed for the April 6 election.
Jo Anne Parks says she is stepping up now because she is tired of the way her city is being run.
“I’ve always been very active behind the scenes in East St. Louis, and I am concerned about what I see as a citizen,” she said. “I stayed in the background because Alvin was in the front and I had a very demanding career.”
Her husband, Alvin Parks, has been barred by the Illinois Board of Elections from running for election because of $167,000 worth of fines tied to campaign finance violations. He attempted multiple times to settle the outstanding balance, most recently offering $88,005.50 last January so he could campaign for precinct committeeman in the city’s 24th District, a position he eventually won as a write-in.
He’s served on the city council, twice been the city administrator and has worked as a business administrator for East St. Louis School District 189.
Parks said his wife is a qualified city council candidate on her own merit.
An East St. Louis native, Jo Anne Parks has worked more than 30 years for the U.S. government and was the first Black person to be promoted to a director level when she took charge of Defense Contract Management Agency at Boeing St. Louis. She’s been involved in multiple professional and civic organizations, including Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, and was once named the Racial Harmony Phenomenal Woman of the Year, among other awards.
Jo Anne Parks said the time is right for her to enter public life because her children are grown and she has more time.
She also said she has been energized by seeing other Black women “rise up” during the recent presidential election “and say enough is enough.” She made specific reference to Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams.
“Seeing all of the Black women emerge in the recent political campaign lit a spark under me,” Parks said. “I saw all of these Black women stepping up and coming out in this past election and getting it done set me on fire. When a spark starts the fire, the fire quickly spreads to other weeds. That’s what happened to me.”
She said her goal is to improve the quality of basic services to East St. Louis residents and to work on changing the city’s image.
“I get excited about what I can do,” she said. “There is not one single locally elected female. We have female precinct committeemen and we have a lot of female residents here.”
Parks said she believes there is an antiquated ideology within East St. Louis’ male-dominated political scene and that more women need to get involved.
“I don’t think they think we have the brains to be in decision making roles and that’s antiquated,” she said. “I can hear my late father saying nothing beats a failure but a try. I have nothing to lose by putting my name in out there.”
Parks knows she’ll face skepticism as a candidate from those who don’t support her husband, but says she’s prepared.
“I think he tried to do a good job. I’m his wife,” she said. “I know there are people who don’t like him and tried to make him look bad, but I want people to judge me for me. I have a track record on both sides of the river.”
This story was originally published December 26, 2020 at 7:00 AM.
