At least four gays and lesbians will be among a large field of candidates seeking election as judge from the North Lakefront's 8th Subcircuit next year.
Jay Paul Deratany, John Ehrlich, Jon Erickson and Sherry Pethers are all running as openly gay or lesbian candidates in the race. Windy City Times has already interviewed Erickson, and what follows is our interview with Erhlich. Coming soon, the other two gay candidates.
Tracy Baim: Can you talk about your education and activist background?
John Ehrlich: I went to Northwestern University as an undergrad and graduated in 1980. I was a history/political science double major. I also hold a Certificate of African Studies, and lived in South Africa for seven months while I was doing the independent field research for my thesis. I lived primarily in Johannesburg and part of the time in Cape town.
TB: This was still during Apartheid?
JE: I was doing a thesis on the two main white political parties from the 1930s to the 1960s, the thesis being that if you could determine which party could best articulate the demands for cheap labor, you could predict who would win or lose an election. This was getting around the idea that Apartheid was purely a race issue and really was more of a capital issue.
I love South Africa, and I found that despite the existence of Apartheid at the time, Black South Africans were so hospitable and welcoming to a white American. And white South Africans were skeptical ...
TB: That was at the height of the university-based anti-Apartheid movement?
JE: Yes, they were very skeptical and wondered why I would be doing research in their country. So that turned out to be an additional irony to everything else. I have not been back since. I have been to 11 countries on the African continent, but I have not been back to South Africa. I have travelled extensively in West and East Africa, for vacation, I love Africa. ...
TB: During your college years, there were gay and lesbian groups on campus. Were you active in those?
JE: I was not 'out' then. I was not involved in that. I was pretty much an egghead, I studied all the time.
TB: Same with law school?
JE: Yes [at Northwestern Law School]. I have only been out for 15 years. I worked for four years in between [undergraduate and law school]. Three of which were in Washington, I worked for a member of Congress [who is no longer in office] who was on the Ways & Means Committee. I did some environmental work, foreign affairs work. While I was doing environmental work, I discovered that federally owned sites were not on the Superfund list. ... I drafted a bill, worked with my boss and ... got it passed as part of the Superfund authorization. So, since 1986, federal sites are now listed on the Superfund. Of course, they are the worst sites of all.
TB: Was that where your environmental interest began?
JE: I have always been interested in environmental issues. I had done a lot of work on the nuclear freeze. After [Washington], I came back to Chicago to go to Northwestern Law School, I started there in 1984, and I was editor-in-chief of the Journal of International Law, I was also the regional and national Moot Court champion. It was a heavy academic load, and a lot of research and writing. I took a lot of trial advocacy classes.
TB: After law school?
JE: I had clerked in New York while in law school. Then I worked in private practice [for private clients, not government work], for three Chicago firms in seven years. I was an anti-trust and appellate lawyer. I was working on the largest anti-trust case in the country ... . I also wrote and argued seven appeals, which is pretty rare for somebody in private practice.
I have always been a public interest person, so that is what I wanted to do. So I applied to the city, and I started in the Appellate Division. Worked there for almost two years.
TB: So you were out as a gay man in those private firms?
JE: No, quite frankly I didn't feel that the firms were particularly welcoming to gays. There was always a sense of the partners saying that 'It's OK to be gay ... but the clients would have problems.' Excuses like that got old quickly, and I just didn't feel comfortable at the time.
TB: So when you said you were out for 15 years, you mean to yourself?
JE: Right, I wasn't out at work. But when I went to the city, I was out both professionally and personally at that point. I found the city's Corporation Counsel to be so welcoming, and they frankly just don't care. I also noticed there were a lot of people from big firms, and a lot of gays and lesbians, who were there for precisely the same reason that I was there. I think gays and lesbians have a particular interest in giving back to the community. It's far easier to do that in a governmental setting than in a private practice setting. It was the best thing I ever did personally or professionally, was to go to the city.
I was in Appeals for about two years. I wrote and argued about 18 different appeals to the state and federal courts, and I was moved to the Torts Division. That's all with the city.
TB: Explain the divisions in Corporation Counsel.
JE: We have 13 divisions, and 320 lawyers. Appeals is a small division, Torts is the largest, with about 30 attorneys, and a support staff of about 20. I am the Chief of Torts. The Torts division, we defend the city and its employees in personal injury action. Anything from a trip and fall on a sidewalk, or someone like me, I defend the city in all the cases having to deal with the Wrightwood porch collapse in June. Also in all the E2 nightclub litigation, any mass casualty, big-dollar cases tend to be mine just because I am senior. I have tried over 20 cases to verdict. I am in the courtroom a lot.
TB: From a community standpoint, there have been some problems ... for example, allegations of police abuse.
JE: We defend the police, in personal injury actions, not in excessive force actions. So a 1983 claim like cops beating somebody up, or a shooting, we would not represent them [in our division]. We represent them in a police pursuit, something like that.
TB: What about anti-gay bigotry?
JE: We would not represent them in those cases.
TB: How do they distinguish those cases?
JE: Those are claims of deprivation of rights, so that's a separate division within the Corporation Counsel.
TB: As a candidate, you are coming from an inside-the-government perspective. Does your experience defending the city against consumers cause any problems?
JE: I defend the taxpayer against losing millions of dollars in judgements and settlements. I am partially in control of $56 million in judgements in settlementswe get about 1,100 lawsuits a year. That's all taxpayer moneywe are not insured. That's something important for the community to know. No insurance companies would insure a city.
What has been nice, and I have had a lot of opportunity to do it, because there are no barriers ... in 1996, I was aware we did not have domestic-partner benefits in the city. I was just tired of it. I drafted a petition. We only had one week before the budget was due. I got over 50% of the Corporation Counsel attorneys to sign in only five days. I gave it to [aldermen] Mary Ann Smith, Bernie Hansen, John Satalic, the Mayor's then Chief of Staff. The mayor had never been opposed to it, but it had never been a frontburner issue. He got the petitions, made it a frontburner issue, and within six months the City Council passed the domestic-partners benefits program for all city employees.
TB: Your work is what started this?
JE: The mayor saw all of these lawyers from his own Corporation Counsel sign a petition, and he made it a frontburner issue. I'm very proud of that.
Other things I have done more recently, just in the past two weeks I have been working with the Police Department to get an opinion from Corporation Counsel to insure that domestic partners of police officers who die in the line of duty receive the same death benefits that surviving spouses receive. I am pleased that it has been interpreted favorably for gay and lesbian employees. We have an opinion that says that. On one hand it's a small step, on the other it's an incredibly important one.
TB: You have also been active with the Lesbian and Gay Bar Association of Chicago (LAGBAC) for several years.
JE: I am still a member of LAGBAC, but because I am running for judge, I had to resign from the board [where he served three years]. From the time I joined LAGBAC I was immediately involved in investigation and interviews with judicial candidates, as well as persons who put their names in to be appointed. You are either elected or appointed judge. So I have been involved in that ... for several years. Moving on to the board, I was even more involved, working with the Alliance of Bar Associations, which is the association of all the small and minority bar associations. Hispanic, women's, gay ... coming together and creating our own systems of ranking candidates. I am proud to say we [LAGBAC] always recommended the fewest number of persons. We had the highest standards.
TB: How gay-specific are the questions?
JE: We have a specific questionnaire for candidates that includes GLBT issues. For example, what do they see as issues of deprivation of rights under the Illinois constitution. Basically giving them general questionsthey can't say policy questions [judges can not answer specific policy-related questions]. The answers are sometimes surprising. That's been a really worthwhile effort. This is a learning experience, to see who is running, who thinks that he or she is qualified to sit on the bench, specifically with relation to our community.
TB: I guess this brings us to why you want to move from city government to the judiciary.
JE: Because I am a public servant nowthat's what gets me up in the morning. I love giving back to the community, whether it's specifically the GLBT community or the community in general. I enjoy that. I have a great job. I not only help the way three million people live, I also get to enjoy it at the same time. I think I have the academic qualifications and legal experience in the courtroom and outside of the courtroom to be a judge. I know my way around a courtroom very well in terms of evidence and trials. I know the way a judge is supposed to actbecause I have certainly seen many times the way judges shouldn't act.
TB: Why this judicial race, in the North Side 8th Subcircuit?
JE: I have been thinking about running for several of years, so it was a matter of timing. ... Susana Darwin [of LAGBAC] sat me down two years ago to encourage me ... . I think I am very qualified to be a judge. I work extremely hard, I am a great writer and editor, I listen well. I think my experience of being gay has not given me a thick skin. In fact, I think it's important to have a thin skin, because you maintain your sensitivity to your own community and other minority communities and the problems and issues they face. I think that's a perspective we need on the bench. I don't think we have enough GLBTs on the bench.
TB: There are at least four running in this race.
JE: Yes, there are. They're all supposed to be very good lawyers ... .
TB: Will this bring more attention to the race?
JE: Yes, I think it will. I think it's great that we have four candidates running from the community because it shows the depth of talent. We had two gays running for alderman in the 44th Ward. Now we have four running for two seats in the judicial races. It's great, it's about time. I wish we all could win. We file our petitions between Dec. 8-15, and then a few days after that you have to decide which judge post you are running for. [There are two open seats in the 8th Subcircuit.]
TB: What other groups have you been involved in?
JE: I was involved in the AIDS Living Remembrance Project. ... While I was in private practice with the law firms, I was involved in Chicago Volunteer legal services, and did a lot of projects for them. The most important to me was drafting living wills and powers of attorney and taking them to Illinois Masonic Hospital, and having the documents executed, generally in the ICU, between partners, dealing with AIDS. It's an example of something relatively simple, which has a huge impact on the community, and certainly on an individual person.