photo by: Contributed

Brad Chun

After receiving enough signatures from members of the community to get on the November ballot, Brad Chun will be running for the Douglas County Commission as an independent candidate in the general election.

Chun will be running for the seat in District 2, which includes North Lawrence, the eastern Lawrence area around downtown, Grant Township and the portion of Wakarusa Township north of Lawrence. This district has a Democratic primary contest on Tuesday, Aug. 6, and the winner of that race, between incumbent Douglas County Commissioner Shannon Reid and current Lawrence City Commissioner Lisa Larsen, will face Chun in the general election this fall.

Chun has lived in Lawrence since 1992 and moved to North Lawrence in 2005. He is a local business owner and glassblower, owning Kaw Valley Glass at 313 E. Eighth St. Chun has done glassmaking for 27 years, teaching the community and selling a variety of art pieces.

Chun told the Journal-World he had a political awakening after some of his neighbors started talking about leaving to go to a cheaper area.

“I started to figure out how taxes were really affecting people that were riding the line financially,” Chun said. “As the economic downturn kind of came over the last few years, I started to get involved in trying to figure out why that was happening.”

Chun said some of the things he hopes to achieve if he is elected to the County Commission are combating rising taxes by finding ways to lower the mill levy and reevaluating the county’s budget. Additionally, he wants to tackle issues involving land use, “energy farming” and open spaces.

When it comes to renewable energy, Chun said he is in support of these technologies, but he disagrees with the location that’s been proposed for a major solar farm project in Douglas County. He also doesn’t approve of the idea of utility-scale wind farms, which he said come with several hidden costs.

Overall, Chun said he feels like small townships and rural areas are underrepresented, and he’s excited the county is expanding from three members to five to potentially give those areas more of a voice.

“There have been issues where things are brought before the commission as consent agenda items, and those are not open to public comment,” Chun said. “I feel like we can put the brakes on and really get input from the community and shine a light on all the books.”

Chun also said that the process of collecting residents’ signatures to get on the ballot was “such a great process to really talk to them and go outside my normal sphere.”

“People are so hungry to be able to relate their concerns to someone that would actually listen, and it just became the momentum that pushed us over the lines, signature-wise,” Chun said