News from Dec NDFA Meeting

Written by: Sandra Verthein on Dec 10, 2007 1:15 PM EST

The big news -- Michele Smith is now a Northside DFA endorsed candidate for 43rd Ward Democratic Committeeman! Michele spoke at our November meeting, and was endorsed at our meeting last Thursday. Since we first met Michele her ability to organize and her committment to bringing new people into the political process have been outstanding, and we are proud to count her -- for the second time -- as one of our endorsed candidates. To learn more about Michele and to volunteer or contribute to her campaign go to:

http://www.michelesmith.org/index2.htm

We also had updates on our endorsed and adopted candidates, as well as news on lots of upcoming events -- in particular our NDFA forum this Thursday:

Getting out of IRAQ: What can one person do?
a forum sponsored by Northside Democracy for America
- Thursday, December 13, 7pm
- at the Edgewater Library, 1210 W. Elmdale Ave, Chicago
- Speakers are Christine Cegelis, former congressional candidate and founding member of the Greater Chicago Caucus and Jeff Leys, Co-Coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence.
- RSVP and get details at: http://www.dfalink.com/event.php?id=25758

And we had three guest speakers: Mariyana Spyropoulos who is running for MWRD Commissioner, and Suzanne Elder and Heather Steans who are both running for the 7th District State Senate seat that is currently held by Carol Ronen.

At the end of this email is a summary of the presentations that were given by these three candidates. Candidate Mariyana Spyropoulos spoke first. She was followed by candidates Suzanne Elder and Heather Steans who each gave a 10 minute presentation followed by approx. 10 minutes of questions. We made audio recordings of Elder's and Stean's presentations which can be downloaded from:

http://groups.google.com/group/ndfa-downloads/files

Unfortunatly no recording is available for Spyropoulos's presentation due to the fact that we forgot to turn on the recorder during her presentation. One of the "technical difficulties" that sometimes happens! 

Normally we wait until the month following a candidate's presenation to vote, but because of the last-minute nature of this race, an expidited endorsement was proposed. Though some members felt that we should still wait a month, the majorty supported doing an endorsement vote that night. However, as has also been our past practice, we agreed to hold the vote open for one week so that voting members who were not present would still have time to make their vote. So, though a vote was held at the meeting, the results of that vote will not be finalized until midnight on Thursday. I will send an email out on Friday with the final results.

If you are a voting member who was not present at the meeting, you have until Thursday midnight to cast your vote. If you are not sure if you are a voting member, please contact membership chair Michi Schulenberg at mschulenberg@gmail.com to check your status. (Jim Schmidt just became our new membership chair, but because this deals with past activities please contact Michi.) To be a voting member of Northside DFA you must have attended at least three meetings in the last year, and done at least three qualifying candidate volunteer activities in the last year.

Thank you to all of our candidates for taking time to come and speak to our group, and to everyone who participated in the meeting. Our next meeting will be on Thursday, January 3rd and we will be inviting all of the Cook County State's Attorney's candidates to speak. For details and to RSVP go to:

Northisde DFA January Meeting
- Thursday, January 3rd
- 6pm dinner (optional), 7pm meeting
- RSVP at: http://www.dfalink.com/event.php?id=23978

Peace,
Sandra Verthein
Northside DFA

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NDFA Meeting
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Wing Hoe Restaurant

At the December 6th meeting, there were presentations by three candidates. Candidate Mariyana Spyropoulos spoke for 10 minutes total, and Candidates Suzanne Elder and Heather Steans each gave a 10 minute presentation followed by approx. 10 minutes of questions. NDFA Recording Secretary Melissa Lindberg prepared the summaries below based on her notes taken at the meeting. Please note that this is only a summary of the presentations. Nothing below should be considered to be a direct quote from the candidate. To hear the full presentations made by Elder and Steans, please download them at:

http://groups.google.com/group/ndfa-downloads/files

No recording is available for Spyropoulos's presentation due to the fact that we forgot to turn on the recorder during her presentation.

Candidates:

Mariyana Spyropoulos is running for commissioner of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (and is first on the ballot). She has spoken to Deb Shore, who mentioned us to Mariyana. She got into the race out of a concern for the environment, and feels the need to build a coalition on the MWRD for a discussion about the ways in which the MWRD can strengthen the environment; and also is concerned about the fiscal responsibility of the MWRD. She is an attorney with an MBA from Loyola, has served as a criminal prosecutor, and was a hearing officer for the Secretary of State. She is currently in private practice, doing everything except Family Law. She thinks the MWRD should play a greater role in the conservation of the environment: for instance, there’s the potential to put solar panels in all the buildings of the MWRD. She wants the MWRD to enact policies conducive to water conservation, and increase the education about water management ideas: rain barrels, green roofs, cisterns. She thinks there’s an economic benefit to the community by using green technology, in encouraging new business and increasing the jobs created by green business in supplying products.

There was a question about the numbers of commissioners for the MWRD: there are 9 commissioners, three of whom are up for election in every election cycle. There are 11 people running for 3 slots. Commissioners are not assigned to specific districts within the MWRD, although that concept is currently under discussion.

Her website is www.mariyana4cleanwater.com

 

Illinois Senate: 7th District Since State Senator Carol Ronen recently decided to retire from her senate seat, two candidates have jumped into the race to serve out the remainder of her term. The 7th District includes all of the 48th Ward, as well as some of the 46th, the 40th, 47th and the 49th. There were no signature challenges, so both candidates will be on the ballot on February 5th. NDFA asked both candidates to speak to the group.

Suzanne Elder:

Suzanne is a small business owner, and has a master’s of public policy from the University of Chicago’s Irving B. Harris Graduate School of Public Policy. She’s spent 2 years as a legislative advocate. Her daughter was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, and when her school could not handle the care needed, Suzanne had to quit her job to make sure her daughter’s blood sugar was monitored appropriately during the school day. In doing so, she realized that other families in the state were going through the same kinds of trials, and started lobbying the state to change the way schools handle such issues. On May 3, 2007, the legislation passed the House (coincidentally, her daughter’s birthday) but now it sits in the graveyard of the Senate due to a failure of leadership. She called her state senator many times about these issues, but never got a response.

She is passionate about ending play-to-pay politics: this is a tax on us as efficiencies are drowned out of the system (for instance, by no-bid contracts awarded to campaign contributors). There are no campaign contribution limits in Illinois and that is the first thing that needs to happen. There’s a real mess down in Springfield. She recently had a conversation with the Lt. Governor about the problems.

She spent 6 years as a consultant to the Regional Transportation Authority, so she has a good feel for the issues surrounding public transportation. She feels its key to the state’s economy, a no-brainer, particularly as we all become more carbon conscious.

Her third priority would be to reform Tax Increment Financing: she’s seen her own taxes go up astronomically because of the misuse of TIFs, and she noted that Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley has put out a paper outlining the issues with TIFs and steps to reform them. One thing is an accurate accounting must show up on each homeowner’s tax bill. TIFs must be audited, have transparency.

Why does she want the job? There’s an obligation of representation, of transparency and fairness – and she has not seen that obligation felt by our current representatives. The process must be inclusive and fair. She believes in the power of individuals to make a difference. She felt a profound responsibility to engage in the process and to represent the people of the 7th District.

Question about the transit crisis: Suzanne stressed the need to build a consensus on transit in Springfield, perhaps by a $ for $ match equation – money for auto transportation vs. public transit.

Question about ways to increase state revenue: Suzanne supports a 1% increase in state income tax – this is a proposal that has been floated and supported by a number of groups. The state constitution mandates a flat income tax; we need a graduated tax to make it fair. We need the increase to take us back to the national norm.

Question about campaign finance reform: Suzanne is a fervent supporter of limits on donations.

Followup: what’s the largest contribution to your campaign: $1,000 (yesterday)

And what’s the largest amount you’ve donated to someone's campaign: $200

Question about Election Reform: Suzanne admitted she didn’t know enough about the subject to speak knowledgably, but indicated a willingness to learn.

Question about her connections in Springfield: Suzanne felt that her experience as an advocate in Springfield would allow her to hit the ground running; she talked about building productive and smart relationships. Emil Jones, on the other hand, is holding up legislation emboldened by his campaign contributors – he knows there are no consequences to his actions.

Question if she’d be a delegate to a Constitutional Conventions: she didn’t know the answer to that one – how delegates are selected has not been decided yet.

Question: is making Illinois a true pro-choice state doable now? Suzanne noted she was a long-time supporter of Planned Parenthood, but said that at the moment the votes aren’t there. At the moment, the only choice agenda items are those of parental notification, etc.

Question: does she have a plan to win? She is a deep grassroots person, goes to CAPS and other meetings to meet and talk to people, knocks on doors etc. Since her campaign has been put together so quickly, she needs all the grassroots people-to-people help she can get.

Her website is www.SuzanneElder.org

 

Heather Steans:

Heather and her husband Leo Smith were supporters of Dean, went to Iowa, were early members of DFA (national). She first attended a 48th Ward Democrats meeting for the Committeeman selection process.

She wants to improve the district for residents, feels she can be an agent for facilitating change. She has had a lot of blessings in her life, and feels that to those much has been given, there is much responsibility. She works to provide access of opportunity for others. For instance, 10 years ago she set up a small grants program on the West Side – a neighborhood Martin Luther King Jr had liven in during his stay in Chicago, which had been devastated by riots after his death. The grants program was designed to have the community solve its problems. A resident board made the decisions about what projects should get grants. There have been community gardens set up, a greening committee, an ex-offender who now runs a community newsletter and is getting help making it into a newspaper for the community.

She noted that our state policies are broken, that the egos of our leaders are getting in the way of accomplishing the work that they’re sent to Springfield to do for the people. Their constituents are losing. She wants to get people to the table talking and listening to each other, making a commitment to change.

Her priorities are:

1) Mass transit: the Red Line is obsolete and needs to be expanded; we need a viable functioning mass transit system to reduce our carbon emissions.

2) The structural budget deficit. We’re only spending 34% of state money that the Constitution mandates be spend on education: the rest is made up from local property taxes, which leads to a large disparity of funding district to district. We need a modest income tax increase, perhaps with expanding the earned income tax credit – find a way to work around the Constitutions mandate for a flat tax.

3) Political Reform: she would sign on to HB1 (ending pay to play). Heather stressed the need to level the playing field: spending limits must be set. She noted the need for true independent voices, not beholden to anyone. She stressed that no one can buy her, she is accountable only to the voters.

4) Human rights

She felt compelled to run because our politics are broken, and we need to do something to fix them. So she is willing to take a risk to become a candidate to be part of the solution.

Question: Could you clear up the confusion of the timing of Carol’s resignation, when you knew about it, etc.? Heather noted that there had been rumors of Carol’s retirement for years, and when Carol had asked her whether she would be willing to run, she had always said no, because she had small children. Now her children are a bit older, so she’s willing to run. Carol meant to resign at the end of the session, but this session has been never-ending. Heather did not want her candidacy to be a backroom deal. Carol finally decided to resign, and with two weeks notice gave candidates just enough time to get on the ballot and campaign for the Feb. 5th election.

Question: What can be done about corporate tax subsidies? Heather said she didn’t know where the money comes from to give the subsidies, but we need to spread the tax burden equally, and that includes corporations. She is in favor of a progressive income tax.

Question: What is your top priority issues for Chicago? An appropriate education for a global economy for all our children; Healthcare – 2 million are not covered in Illinois: we need to move toward universal healthcare; Environmental issues are also incredibly important.

Question: How do you feel about using casino money for transit? Heather was uncomfortable with the rise in pathological gambling since the state has added more casinos: she feels it’s a short term solution, not a long term one. She thinks we need changes in the gaming board and stronger regulation of casinos.

Question about campaign financing: We must have reasonable limits, and move toward public financing of campaigns.

Followup: what’s the largest contribution to your campaign? She is the largest donor to her campaign.

And what’s the largest amount you’ve donated to someone else's campaign: Heather and Leo together -- $25,000.

She and Leo have given campaign donations based on their three strong issues: early childhood issues, pro-choice, and the environment.

Question: she mentioned the egos of leaders holding up things in Springfield – which egos? Madison, Blageovitch, Jones – the three tops ….

Followup: do you regret any contributions you’ve made? We gave a lot more to the Governor in his first campaign than to his second. He’s been very good on early childhood issues, not so good on other issues.

Question: of the 38 seats up for election in the last election, the average spent per seat was $600,000. Would you agree to limit spending for this election? Not with such a late start, we’re too far into it and too close to election day for that to be reasonable, but yes, in the future would consider it.

Heather Stean’s website is: www.heathersteans.com

 

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Location: Chicago, IL 60640