Openly gay U.S. Representative candidate Jerome Pohlen feels that it is going to take a fresh face and an outsider to best represent the needs of the 3rd District, which encompasses areas such as Berwyn and Burbank.
Pohlen is running unopposed in the primary running under the Green Party banner. After years of involvement in Democratic politics, Pohlen was introduced to the Green Party through his work in various peace organizations.
In addition to working as senior editor for the Chicago Review Press, a publishing company, Pohlen is a trustee on the Berwyn Library Board, a position appointed by the Berwyn mayor. This is Pohlen's first time running for office.
Windy City Times: Can you tell voters a little bit more about your background and what qualifications you think you can bring to the table?
Jerome Pohlen: I've been involved in Democratic politics for quite some time, working on campaigns, volunteering and being politically active in the anti-war movement in the last five years. I'm also involved with Code Pink. I've also been trying to lobby Dan Lipinski for a number of years to change his policy on the Iraq war. Politically, I'm currently a trustee on the Berwyn Library Board. I was appointed by the mayor of Berwyn last spring to that position.
WCT: Do you think it's time for a change in the 3rd District? Lipinski tends to vote with Bush on a lot of issues. Do you think you're more in tune to what residents on the 3rd District really need right now?
JP: Absolutely. Just as an example, … the peace group, as well as the Green Party joined together to get an advisory referendum placed on the Berwyn Township ballot, the Riverside and Cook County had it on it in the last election asking whether or not people … were interested in withdrawing from Iraq immediately, starting with the National Guard troops. It passed by greater than 70 percent margin in every municipality or township that it was on the ballot in the 3rd District. At that time, Dan Lipinski had not made any move whatsoever to change his position on the war. Now, he's slowly changing, but he has yet to vote against any funding requests whatsoever for the war. If he is voting that way, and 70 percent of citizens in the district—greater than 70 percent—I think he's out of touch with the district.
WCT: You mentioned you are involved with Code Pink. Can you tell me a little bit more about that?
JP: Code Pink is an activist group. I guess you would call it's sub-name or sub-title 'Women for Peace.' It's a women-run activist organization. If you turn to any testimony on C-SPAN at any time to somebody sitting back with a sign against the war, they are usually wearing pink. They are usually wearing a hat. They have been very active in bringing the anti-war message directly to members of the administration, as well as Hillary Clinton and other politicians who have been supporting the war and voting for funding. … I've been active in the Chicago chapter.
WCT: Speaking of war and military, would you support the repeal of 'don't ask, don't tell?'
JP: Absolutely. I think it was a stupid policy from the beginning, and it should be immediately repealed.
WCT: What has been your experience with the LGBT community?
JP: I'm openly gay myself. I used to be a volunteer at Horizons. For a while, I was a volunteer with administration. I was basically watching the front desk during weekdays several days a week, and then I worked with the youth group for several years. I eventually left that when my job changed. I was not able to make it to the groups on time. I'm been working with that. Also, for a number of years, I was a contributor a show on WBEZ public radio.
I'm in publishing. I'm currently a senior editor at a medium-sized publisher here in Chicago.
For WBEZ, in 2002, I won the AP Broadcasters Award for an essay, and it was a piece I did for Coming Out Day.
WCT: What do you think about what happened with ENDA?
JP: I'm not crazy that they split it up, to be quite honest. It's tough because it struck me as a kind of divide-and-conquer situation where they can get the LGBT community to fight amongst themselves, and it makes it easier for opponents to avoid doing anything.
WCT: If you are elected to office, what are some of the main things you would like to tackle right away?
JP: Well, certainly the war is the issue that is of the gravest concern to me. In addition to that, I am an advocate for single payer, universal, non-for-profit healthcare. It's something that every other industrialized country on the face of the earth has been able to achieve. I don't know why we can't achieve the same thing. It's just a lack of political will. Once they set that as a goal, it's certainly achievable.
… We need a more aggressive energy policy, as well. To ween ourselves from our dependence on fossil fuels, develop more alternative forms of energy, stop giving tax breaks to oil companies and give tax breaks to individuals who are working to make their homes more energy efficient by installing solar panels, alternative forms of generation, that soft of thing.
Back in the '70s, I grew up in a home that was solar-heated. My father was able to do this by tax breaks that he got during the Carter Administration, although that went away during the Reagan Administration, and nothing was or has been done today. Had we continued in that path, we would have been in a better situation now than we currently are.
WCT: Where did you grow up?
JP: I was born in California, but I grew up in Colorado. I moved to Chicago in 1990, and lived here ever since.
WCT: What are some ways you will continue to support your own community if elected to office? What do you think are the major issues affecting the community right now?
JP: Well, certainly, having the passage of ENDA, the complete whole ENDA, would be a major issue. Also, taking the politics and the judgment out of funding for AIDS/HIV education and treatment. This has been politicized by the Bush Administration. The scrapping of abstinence-only sex education is another area. Of course, if Congress has the ability to do away with 'don't ask, don't tell,' that would be another positive step forward. I think it is quite a doable item.
I do think most of the Democratic candidates think it's due for being cancelled.
WCT: What do you think are some of your advantages that other candidates lack in this race?
JP: It might sound crazy, but the fact that I'm not part of this Democratic machine, and I decided to step out of Democratic politics altogether, and go with an alternative party. I think that most people can see how the two-party system has corrupted both parties. Their lack in ability to accomplish anything is really of concern to actual voters. They've both turned into corporate parties. I think that perspective of somebody who is not a career politician, somebody who doesn't receive money from lobbyists or PACs or anything like that—that's a perspective that Dan Lipinski does not have.
WCT: What do you think are some of the biggest misconception that voters have about third parties, such as the Green Party?
JP: Certainly the situation in 2000 with Ralph Nader didn't do the Green Party any favors [ laughs ] , even though I personally believe it wasn't so much him, as the election was stolen through the whole process. It's strange. Everything that I thought about the Green Party before I joined up with it turned out not to be true—that they were unrealistic, that they were contrarians who wanted to be spoilers. That's not the case. They are really excited to walk the walk, and they believe what they say and that makes them stand out against either of the two parties right now.
WCT: What are some other issues close to your heart that you'd like our readers to know about?
JP: I'm a firm believer in funding public transportation. That's currently a state issue, and that's not something that is on the national radar right now, but I believe that the federal government should be more involved in giving block grants to both improve public transportation and encourage people to actually use more public transportation as part of an energy policy.
WCT: Even though you would be in Congress, would you still want to then focus on the needs back home?
JP: Absolutely. I think that's been the problem all along. There's really been no attention paid to the voters of the district and their local needs. Just a complete disregard so far of the 3rd District's wishes on the Iraq war.
WCT: Anything else you'd like to add about your experience?
JP: I've certainly contributed as a Peace Corp volunteer. That's another reason why I knew that universal healthcare can work. For two years I was in … one of the poorest countries in Africa, and certainly the world. The average annual income is about $500 a year. That country, when I was there in 1986, had universal healthcare for children and mothers who had delivered in the previous year, and clinics all across the country. They were able to achieve that. ... We haven't done that in the United States, and I think that's an embarrassment. Absolutely it can be done, but both parties are beholden to pharmaceutical companies, healthcare interests and the people that finance their elections. That's the problem.
