Windy City Media Group Frontpage News

THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

home search facebook twitter join
Gay News Sponsor Windy City Times 2023-12-13
DOWNLOAD ISSUE
Donate

Sponsor
Sponsor
Sponsor

  WINDY CITY TIMES

ELECTIONS 2020 ILLINOIS STATE REP Garfield on reform, term limits, LGBT issues
(12TH DISTRICT)
by Matt Simonette
2020-03-01

This article shared 1937 times since Sun Mar 1, 2020
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email


Chicago attorney James Garfield is one of four openly gay men taking part in the election to win the 12th District's state House representative seat—a position long held by state Sen. Sara Feigenholtz and for the moment is occupied by state Rep. Yoni Pizer, one of Garfield's opponents.

Garfield has centered state government reform as a key part of his platform. He has been very vocal in his opposition to Machine politics at the state level, and asserts that he won't be afraid to make decisions that could ordinarily cost an Illinois politician their career.

Windy City Times: Why did you become interested in running?

James Garfield: I've long been active in politics, but I've kept wanting to find more ways to be engaged and be involved, because I've gotten more and more frustrated in the direction that Springfield is going, especially in terms of corruption and ethics. We finally have a Democratic governor and a Democratic legislature but we still can't have progressive reforms make their way through. When you ask why, the answer is that it's because money changed hands, lobbyists didn't want it to happen, Mike Madigan didn't rubber stamp it with his seal of approval. It's got to stop. I thought: "It's a short race and a hard fight, but it's worth it if we can make these changes happen and get this progress through."

WCT: Along those lines, your website said Springfield culture blocks reform. More specifically, how so and when?

JG: The Clean Energy Jobs Act—there's been discussions and rumors. It's for a healthy environment and provide new job—why is it a partisan issue? Why is it so hard to get through? It's because lobbyists from ComEd and coal and oil want to break it up. So instead of having one bill they have 15 little bills here and there that they can attach riders to and sneak things in. It's just sickening. We're watching the lakefront dissolve in front of us, and erode out from under our houses. We've got to get under environmental reforms now.

WCT: Speak about some specific reforms you'd like to see put into place.

JG: Certainly campaign finance. I think various election reforms, like automatic voter registration, which was passed then Rauner vetoed. Now it's gone through and the secretary of state is behind in getting it implemented. It's nonsense—we live in the 21st century, and we shouldn't have [those problems in implementation].

The legislative inspector general is supposed to be an independent position because they investigate legislators and hold them accountable. Except they answer to a panel of those legislators, to be told whether they are allowed to go forward or not with subpoenas or an investigation. So if you're a friend of someone on the panel…guess what? Your abuses aren't going to get reported.

WCT: Are you a believer in term limits?

JG: I don't like term limits. I don't think they're very democratic and I don't want to put myself out of a job. That said, Illinois has a ridiculously bad history at protecting incumbents, with gerrymandering, having such an early primary with all kinds of Machine politics to push people out. We have such a bad history of that, it becomes incumbent upon us, at least for a while, to force turnover in the system. So we don't have people for 30 or 40 years, forming a kind of aristocracy.

WCT: Were you to win, how would you see your term in continuity with Feigenholtz's?

JG: In terms of policy, we're pretty much on the same page. Between Sara, myself and many of the people in the race, we share a lot of the same policy [beliefs]—environmental reforms, family protects, all kinds of healthcare issues. But the difference is that I'm "the nobody that nobody sent," and I'm fine with that. I'm happy to push programs that would stunt my own longevity and would prevent me from becoming more powerful. It's not about me, it's about the system. It's about the health of the Illinois government.

WCT: Beyond these reform issues, what are issues within the district that residents have told you they're concerned with and that you'd work on?

JG: Probably the number one problem that I've heard is property taxes. They're not wrong—property taxes are huge. I just got men, and it's hefty. The thing is, simply saying, "I'm going to lower your property taxes" is disingenuous. No one policy and no one program stands alone. You want to fix property taxes? Great. Why are property taxes so high? To fund the schools? Why are they so high to fund the schools? Because the state isn't meeting its share of the burden, so local governments have to fund the schools.

So if we can pass the progressive income tax, get in our financial house in order at the state level, and fund our schools the way we're supposed to—that means the property taxes can stop increasing and then get some relief. It's not just the money issue, it's that the you have those property taxes going up, rents go up. That doesn't mean that people get raises, just that rents go up and then they have to eave our communities.

WCT: What do you think are the most pressing issues for LGBT residents of the 12th District?

JG: This brings in a somewhat national issue, with Donald Trump stoking homophobia, white nationalism and xenophobia. We have seen the attacks against LGBT people go up. We've seen less tolerance. We've seen more folks, especially trans women of color, being murdered just for being trans women of color. The petty harassment has been there a long time. Now it's, "It's okay to murder someone because they're different"—that's what can we have to fight back against.

WCT: Where does a state rep fit in there?

JG: Some of it comes from really listening to where the violence comes from. Does it come from local chapters of hate groups? We can coordinate with local police to keep an eye on people. Is it from education and schools? Let's make sure that children are taught tolerance and acceptance early on, so that it doesn't become a big deal later in life. Coordination with local officials is important—state reps don't have any direct control of police aldermen do. So work with aldermen to make sure that they can keep patrols higher in areas where those attacks happen.

WCT: In Lake View, there are sometimes problems when LGBT young folks go there to party, and—often on summer nights—tensions arise between them and residents or business owners. This would be in your district, so how could you address that at the state rep's level?

JG: That would be tricky for a state rep. There is far less in terms of authority we would have to control something like that. Lord knows, we don't want rules like, "no alcohol after a certain time" because we're regulating businesses more, and we don't want to do that.

…Not to discourage people from coming in here and spending money, but if this was not the only major hub, the only "safe" place that LGBT youth could go, it would be good. My boyfriend comes in from the suburbs. He and his friends come in to go to Boystown, because there's nothing like that out there. If there were more spaces like that, throughout the city and further west, that might calm down the situation. I don't know if it would, but it might.

WCT: Have you done any activism work, beyond your campaign work, that you want to mention?

JG: It wasn't specifically for the LGBT community, but I do a lot of work with youth. I have participated in the Lawyers in the Classroom program, where you go in and teach fifth and sixth graders how to think like a lawyer. I'll be honest, they shock the hell out of me sometimes. We did the Three Little Pigs as a case, and they came up with ideas that none of the lawyers in the room have thought of. I'm also an alum and still work with Mikva Challenge; I'm very proud of that work.

WCT: What's been the biggest challenge in the race?

JG: Money. On one side, you had a candidate who raised a quarter-million dollars for Lori Lightfoot, and hundreds of thousands for other candidates, and miraculously they endorsed him. Another candidate loaned herself fifty thousand dollars up front—that's five times what I've got in my bank account at any given time—and has pulled in lobbyists left and right, dumping money in there.

I know that I have the right message and the right ideas. But the people I'm calling are ones where I ask, "Hey man, can I have a hundred bucks?" I've had someone answer, "If I do that, I won't have groceries next week." I said, "Don't give it to me." The fact that money have been so pervasive and overwhelming, and that this has now become a proxy-war between the mayor [who endorsed Pizer] and the governor [who endorsed opponent Margaret Croke] means that people are losing sight of things besides the money. That's one reason we need campaign finance reform—the money drowns out the voices.

See JimmyGarfield.com .


This article shared 1937 times since Sun Mar 1, 2020
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email

Out and Aging
Presented By

  ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE

Gay News

Thailand parliament passes landmark marriage bill 2024-03-27
- On March 27, Thailand's parliament approved a marriage-equality bill by an overwhelmingly large margin—a landmark step that moves one of Asia's most liberal countries closer to legalizing same-sex unions, media ...


Gay News

Kara Swisher talks truth, power in tech at Chicago Humanities event 2024-03-25
- Lesbian author, award-winning journalist and podcast host Kara Swisher spoke about truth and power in the tech industry through the lens of her most recent book, Burn Book: A Tech Love Story, March 21 at First ...


Gay News

Wyoming is latest state to ban gender-affirming care for minors 2024-03-24
- On March 22, Wyoming became the latest state to prohibit gender-affirming care for minors, The Hill noted. In doing so, it joined 23 other states that passed laws restricting or banning the treatment. Legislators in both ...


Gay News

Chicago alder proposes renaming street after Obama 2024-03-22
- Openly gay Black Chicago Ald. Lamont Robinson has proposed renaming Columbus Drive after former U.S. President and city resident Barack Obama, media outlets noted. The street stretches through the Loop from East Grand Avenue to DuSable ...


Gay News

Congressional Equality Caucus on FY24 bills passing the house 2024-03-22
--From a press release - WASHINGTON, DC — Today, Chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus, Rep. Mark Pocan (WI-02), released the following statement after the House successfully passed the final funding bills for Fiscal Year ...


Gay News

WORLD Uganda items, HIV report, Mandela, Liechtenstein, foreign minister weds 2024-03-21
- It turned out that U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Senior LGBTQI+ Coordinator Jay Gilliam traveled to Uganda on Feb. 19-27, per The Washington Blade. He visited the capital of Kampala and the nearby city of ...


Gay News

NATIONAL Va. marriage bill, AARP, online counseling, Idaho items, late activist 2024-03-21
- Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed bills protecting same-sex marriages at a state level, surprising some, WRIC reported. The bills—passed out of both chambers along mostly party lines—will require clerks ...


Gay News

LGBTQ+ candidates Marcelino Garcia, Precious Brady Davis win primary elections to keep MWRD seats 2024-03-21
- Marcelino Garcia and Precious Brady-Davis, the two openly LGBTQ+ incumbents in the race to keep their seats on the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD), won their primary elections and will move on to the general this ...


Gay News

Small LGBTQ+ candidate pool nevertheless scores some important victories March 19 2024-03-20
- Relatively few openly LGBTQ+ candidates were running in the March 19 Illinois Primary Election. But there were some significant contests in play at the local, state and federal levels. Openly gay Ald. Ray Lopez (15th Ward) ...


Gay News

Gay Irish prime minister to step down 2024-03-20
- In a surprise move, openly gay Irish Prime Minister (or Taoiseach) Leo Varadkar has announced his resignation, citing "personal and political, but mainly political reasons," according to CNN. Varadkar said he felt he was no longer ...


Gay News

Chicago's LGBTQ+ Advisory Council sets a new course 2024-03-18
- Chicago's LGBTQ+ Advisory Council held its first meeting of the calendar year on Feb. 28 at City Hall in the Loop under the leadership of the recently appointed chair Jin-Soo Huh. The LGBTQ+ Advisory Council is ...


Gay News

NATIONAL Missouri measure, HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, judge, Texas schools 2024-03-15
- In Missouri, a newly proposed law could charge teachers and counselors with a felony and require them to register as sex offenders if they're found guilty of supporting transgender students who are socially transitioning, CNN noted. ...


Gay News

PASSAGES: Former Chicago Commission on Human Relations chair Clarence Wood 2024-03-13
- LGBTQ ally and former Chicago Commission on Human Relations (CCHR) Chair and Commissioner Clarence N. Wood died March 5. He was 83. Wood was born April 14, 1940, in Alabama. While primarily raised in Alabama, Wood ...


Gay News

Longtime LGBTQ+-rights activist David Mixner dies at 77 2024-03-12
- On March 11, longtime LGBTQ+ and HIV/AIDS activist David Mixner—known for working on Bill Clinton's presidential campaign but then splitting from him over "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT)—died at age 77, The Advocate reported. ...


Gay News

LGBTQ+ Victory Fund remembers co-founder David Mixner 2024-03-12
--From a press release - Today, LGBTQ+ Victory Fund President & CEO Mayor Annise Parker released the following statement on the passing of LGBTQ+ civil rights activist and LGBTQ+ Victory Fund co-founder David Mixner: "Today, we lost David Mixner, a founding ...


 


Copyright © 2024 Windy City Media Group. All rights reserved.
Reprint by permission only. PDFs for back issues are downloadable from
our online archives.

Return postage must accompany all manuscripts, drawings, and
photographs submitted if they are to be returned, and no
responsibility may be assumed for unsolicited materials.

All rights to letters, art and photos sent to Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago
Gay and Lesbian News and Feature Publication) will be treated
as unconditionally assigned for publication purposes and as such,
subject to editing and comment. The opinions expressed by the
columnists, cartoonists, letter writers, and commentators are
their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature Publication).

The appearance of a name, image or photo of a person or group in
Nightspots (Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times
(a Chicago Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature
Publication) does not indicate the sexual orientation of such
individuals or groups. While we encourage readers to support the
advertisers who make this newspaper possible, Nightspots (Chicago
GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay, Lesbian
News and Feature Publication) cannot accept responsibility for
any advertising claims or promotions.

 
 

TRENDINGBREAKINGPHOTOS







Sponsor


 



Donate


About WCMG      Contact Us      Online Front  Page      Windy City  Times      Nightspots
Identity      BLACKlines      En La Vida      Archives      Advanced Search     
Windy City Queercast      Queercast Archives     
Press  Releases      Join WCMG  Email List      Email Blast      Blogs     
Upcoming Events      Todays Events      Ongoing Events      Bar Guide      Community Groups      In Memoriam     
Privacy Policy     

Windy City Media Group publishes Windy City Times,
The Bi-Weekly Voice of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans Community.
5315 N. Clark St. #192, Chicago, IL 60640-2113 • PH (773) 871-7610 • FAX (773) 871-7609.