On March 16, 2004, an election will be held for the 2nd U.S Congressional District in Illinois. There are four candidates bidding for the election. The hopefuls are Jessie Louis Jackson, Jr., the incumbent; the Rev. Anthony William; former congressman Mel Reynolds and Everett Shumpert.

Jesse Jackson, Jr.
Jackson was elected in 1995, according to his biography flier. Jackson was born March 11,1965, in Greenville South Carolina. Prior to his stint in Congress, he worked for the National Rainbow Coalition. It is stated in his biography that Jackson was put in jail on his twenty-first birthday in Washington, D.C. for taking part in a protest against apartheid at the South African Embassy. In 1987, Jackson graduated Magna Cum Laude from North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in business management. Three years later, he earned a master’s degree in theology from the Chicago Theological Seminary, and in 1993, received his Juris Doctorate from the University of Illinois College of Law. He has also been awarded several honorary degrees. He sits on the House Appropriations Committee and the subcommittee on Labor, Health, Human Services and Education.

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During the early days of her education, Joyce Washington said she had to struggle through purposely segregated schooling which strengthened her resolve to become more than what society expected of her.

Joyce Washington Photo by Jacqueline Thompson

First a nurse and later a health care administrator, Washington said her experience has made her skilled in the areas of medical consulting, research and creative management solutions to health care clients such as hospitals, ambulatory/outpatients centers and other related providers. Presently, she is the president and the CEO of Washington Group Healthcare Consulting of Chicago.
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Gery Chico, 47 and a lawyer, is married to Sunny Chico. They have five children, ages 12 to 20. He lives a block and a half from the CHA ABLA homes. His experience with government includes overseeing the Chicago Public Schools budget, which he reports was $ 1.2 billion in the red when he started and $345 million in surplus when he left his position as President of the Board of Education.

Former CPS Board President Gery Chico

He oversaw the provision of services to three million people as chief of staff for the mayor, and practiced law for 18 years. Supporting him is an array of ethnic organizations, including African American, Gay and Lesbian, Hispanic, and Korean groups.
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Dan Hynes, 35, is currently serving a second term as Illinois state Comptroller, according to Mercedes Mallette, deputy campaign manager and spokesperson for Hynes. He is married to Christina Hynes, a physician at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. They have no children.

Illinois state Comptroller Dan Hynes

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Blair Hull has a record of being quite a successful businessman here in the state of Illinois, having built a business from scratch that created hundreds of jobs, “growing his company into one of the most successful trading firms in the country,” according to James O’Connor, campaign manager for Hull.

2004 U.S. Senate Candidate millionaire businessman Blair Hull

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Senator Barack Obama represents Illinois’13th State Senate District, which includes areas of Chicago’s South Side. He was elected to a third term in 2002. Obama is the chairman of the Public Health and Welfare Committee. He credits himself with expansion of the KidCare and FamilyCare programs to provide insurance for 20,000 more children and 65,000 more families in Illinois.

2004 U.S. Senate Candidate Illinois State Senator Barack Obama

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What is going on? What happened to the people who believe in social justice? The poor of the nation want to know what the leading Democratic presidential candidates intend to do about the issues that concern them the most. But those same candidates’ campaign staffs were tongue tied when they were given the opportunity to reach out to Chicago’s low-income communities.

As of press time, the two Democratic front-runners, U.S. Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) and U.S. Sen. John Edwards (D-NC), continue to talk about their thoughts on the War with Iraq and what they intend to do about national security, health care, tax breaks and jobs for the middle-class, as well as environmental issues, during their national campaigns and debates.
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Bill Wilen thinks he’s found a “smoking gun” in his current legal battle with the Chicago Housing Authority.

Wilen, an attorney with the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law who has been an advocate for residents for decades, recently received a package of documents related to the ongoing redevelopment of the Henry Horner Homes on the Near West Side. Among those documents was one that appeared strange.

The paper in question has a header that indicates it is the goals for the “Supportive Services for CHA Horner/West Haven Residents.” To translate from CHA terminology, Supportive Services, also known as “Service Connectors,” refers specifically to those private contractors whose job it is to connect residents with programs including jobs training and drug treatment.
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