There is great joy and great sadness for Mike McRaith who, on Monday, June 13, started his new job as the new director of the Federal Insurance Office ( FIO ) , based in Washington, D.C.
The office has bipartisan support, is widely accepted as a necessary step in the evolution of financial sector regulation—and McRaith said he's "fortunate, honored and deeply humbled" to be appointed to the post.
However, that also meant saying goodbye to Chicago.
"On a deeply personal level, there was a great reluctance to leave the City of Chicago, to leave the friends, to leave the [ LGBT ] community that we are so lucky to have in Chicago. I've been through a lot with a lot of great people here in Chicago, so, my first reaction was, what a loss it will be on a personal level to leave Chicago."
That means, for instance, missing Andersonville's annual Midsommarfest, which, for McRaith, has long meant hanging with friends, drinking beer out of plastic cups and listening to Sixteen Candles.
"Those were great days, great memories," said McRaith, who has spent the past six years as the head of the Illinois Department of Insurance.
McRaith is the first person to hold this new job, and was appointed by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. McRaith will serve as a nonvoting member on a new federal panel created to determine which financial firms present a risk to the financial system and be the U.S.'s public face in negotiating international insurance agreements.
The FIO was created in 2010, and McRaith is required to submit a report to Congress by early 2012 on how best to modernize and improve insurance regulation.
"I was fortunate enough to be a partner at a great law firm and when [ the job as head of the Illinois Department of Insurance ] was presented, my thought was [ that ] it was my chance to do my part, to make a difference," McRaith said. "My view about my new job is the same. I'm going to do my best—however constrained that might be—to make a difference."
McRaith, 45, left his West Lakeview home this past weekend while thousands attended Andersonville's popular street fair—where McRaith admitted he wanted to be.
Recently, there have been emotions aplenty for McRaith, who was an integral part of the basketball competition at the 2006 Gay Games in Chicago and a participant in the annual Coady Roundball Classic, the nation's largest and longest-running gay basketball tournament, since 1991.
"We have accomplished many great things in the last six-plus years, especially the last few years with Gov. Quinn's leadership," McRaith said. "Just this session, we passed the most expansive mental health parity law in the country; we passed worker's compensation reform, civil unions, and much more. It's been a great privilege, and I say this with a profound sense of humility, to work as the Director of Insurance in Illinois, working on behalf of the people who are unable to hire lobbyists, representatives … people who need someone to represent them.
"It's very humbling in the sense that the responsibilities are enormous, so too have been the challenges—but it's been a great, rewarding experience. There are the practical, functional, regulatory responsibilities that include solvency of the insurance companies, the policy forms [ that ] properly [ need to be ] drafted, to handling complaints for individual consumers who have problems with an insurance company. etc."
McRaith said the most rewarding aspect of his Illinois job was the people he worked with—from all over the state and the country. "It's a wonderfully diverse and generally decent [ state ] ," said McRaith, fighting back tears.
"It feels as if just a week ago I left the law firm where I was a partner; it's been very fast. Tremendous challenges too, of course. We had not just tremendous public-policy opportunities under Gov. Quinn's leadership, but [ also ] the greatest economic collapse in our country since the Great Depression—and the insurance sector was right in the middle through AIG and other companies.
"There were challenges that I never could have envisioned, but, through those challenges, the time has gone real fast."
However, as he said goodbye to his ninth-floor office at the Thompson Center, McRaith made sure he saluted those around him. During his photo shoot for Windy City Times, for instance, McRaith personally asked if the publication could photograph him along with his administrative assistants, Blanca Repetto and Betty Veasey.
He also said goodbye to his beloved Chicago Cubs, at least on a local basis, as well as the Chicago Bulls.
McRaith also said farewell to his basketball teammates, although he plans to return next April for the 2012 Coady Classic.
"We're very lucky to be gay for many reasons," McRaith said. "One of the most important reasons for me is the great variety of people who we get to spend time with, interact with—that's socially, athletically, in community programs, whatever and wherever. The [ LGBT ] community is such an integral part of who I am and not a day passes when I don't feel grateful for just being able to live here and just have the friends who I do. There are so many great people in Chicago."
There are great events, too, such as the countless street fairs and gatherings sponsored by such organizations as the AIDS Foundation of Chicago ( AFC ) —as well as the groups' personnel. The same holds true for the American Foundation For Suicide Prevention, an association near and dear to McRaith; his former partner took his life about 15 years ago.
"The opportunity to be part of something that is bigger than the individual. … I think that's what makes our community so special, the awareness that we're all in this together," said McRaith, who tagged AFC's 25th anniversary gala, held in 2010, as one of his most memorable Chicago moments.
"That [ gala ] really stands out. The room was filled with people who had spent, in some cases, decades fighting HIV and AIDS, and also hundreds of people who lived through that era when gay men were dying weekly, or daily, in Chicago's gay community. That evening was so unique and so empowering. It felt like the fight was worth it. So many of us, myself included, owe so much to the men in our community who died."
Quinn attended the gala, among other luminaries, "and it truly was a great night and a reminder that the fight is worth it," McRaith said.
McRaith and former AFC President Mark Ishaug had been friends for 18 years, dating back to an intense Victory Fund training for gay and lesbian political leaders in the making.
"I knew [ during ] that [ training ] weekend he was going to be a superstar, and he proved me right," Ishaug said of McRaith. "Soon after I was named CEO of AFC I recruited him to the board [ of directors ] for his leadership skills, community connections, legal insights and fundraising prowess. But mostly I wanted him because he was smart and kind and determined to help us improve the lives of those living with, and affected by, HIV/AIDS.
"It's been amazing to witness his meteoric rise in Illinois government and we are all so lucky that he is taking his skills and his passion to D.C., to have an even bigger impact. And how lucky for me personally to have such a friend and colleague in D.C. with me. AIDS United [ where I now work ] will be in touch soon, Mr. McRaith."
More Michael McRaith:
—Gay sports: Has also played flag football and tennis in Chicago
—On Washington D.C.'s gay community: "It's very different in that very few are originally from D.C. It appears to be as diverse, as warm and as welcoming as Chicago."
—Things you will miss about Chicago: Bicycling along the lakefront, long runs along the lakefront while listening to music, the great restaurants, and listening to live music, such as 2010 Lollapalooza
—On Gov. Quinn: "He is really a good man and really cares about doing the right thing. I say that because it's been an unmitigated privilege to work with Gov. Quinn. Civil unions would not have passed if not for his hard work."
