Democrat, Patrick O'Connor, is an attorney, an alderman for the 40th Ward and a candidate with more than 25 years of political experience who is running to fill the Fifth Congressional District seat. In this Windy City Times interview, O'Connor spoke on his experience, the economy, infrastructure and the LGBT issue surrounding same-sex marriage.
Windy City Times: First, can you tell me a little bit about yourself and your background in city government?
Patrick O'Connor: Sure. I am a lifelong resident in the Fifth Congressional District, I've lived in the same neighborhood since I was eight years old. I am married for 31 years; I've got five children—three in college, one in law school, and one that is out. I've been in government; I was elected at the age of 28 to represent the 40th ward. I've been re-elected successfully since that period of time. I've been involved with the community and neighborhood stuff, pretty much all of my life. I am an attorney; I've practiced with firms downtown until I was elected. Then I became private practice so that I could keep my skills up and obviously, with five children the extra income was important. I've gotten involved in this race because, quite honestly, I have been fairly successful at representing the community that I've been elected. I view the opportunity to go to congress as just expanding the neighborhood I've been elected to represent.
WCT: Why do you feel you are the most qualified for this position?
POC: Here is what I think the distinction is between myself and the other candidates—and there are a lot of other good people running for the office—but no one who is running for this office has the experience in working with the federal government that I do. Chicago is the end user of money that comes from the federal government, comes from the state of Illinois [ and ] comes from the county. We're the end users; I know the effect federal dollars have on a local budget. None of the other people in the race understands the effects of federal programs on communities as I do, because we work with them all the time. None of them has gone to Washington to lobby for transportation and education as I have. These are areas that I have been working for many years for the people I represent in the city of Chicago and the city of Chicago as a whole. Understanding how interaction works, having spend money from Washington, having to allocate it through budgets—I just think that separates me from the pack.
WCT: What are some important issues people should consider when selecting a candidate for Congress?
POC: Obviously, people will determine what they are looking for in a congressman. What I would tell them is, what they should be looking for in this economic time is somebody who can go into Congress without a huge learning curve. You're looking for somebody who can go into Congress and have the ability to bring things into the district from a stimulus package this is going to be spending an awful lot of money in this country.
The stimulus bill is a lot of infrastructure and if you look at what I've done in my own community as far as infrastructure, I've brought in over $150 million of new buildings in my community—all city money—not state, not federal. The best performing high school in the state, Northside College Prep, is in my community. Every school in my district has received renovations and additions. I have a new library, a new police station; I have a new firehouse and we've added to parks. All of this has been accomplished because my belief is that people are entitled to see tangible evidence of their tax dollars at work. I have been successful at this level, and if you're trying to figure out how successful somebody will be at doing things in the future, I think that looking at how successful they've been in the past is important.
WCT: You touched on the economy and the stimulus bill. Can you tell me your views on President Obama's stimulus package?
POC: I do agree with the president that the stimulus package needed to be, not just a hard-hat package, it is not just infrastructure—but putting the money into education, trying to work on creating new jobs in other sectors, because these all have positive effects on the economy. Some people have criticized that some of the projects won't come on line for a couple of years and therefore should not be included in the package. But that shows a remarkable lack of understanding of how projects actually get done.
WCT: You have a reputation as being an advocate for "the people." Tell me what your views on the LGBT community, in regards to same-sex marriage.
POC: I support the civil-union concept whole-heartedly. I've always felt that this was a civil-rights issue and if you look at the legal rights that are intended to a marriage, those legal rights have nothing to do with church or religion; they have to do with people's money, estates, their ability to have heirs and next of kin—access to health care—all these things are fundamental rights. That is the position this needs to be taken. A lot of people associate the term "marriage" as a religious institution, and then you bring in all the religious rights, lefts, and centers. If you talk about the civil rights portion of it, and if you say "civil unions," which essentially gives you the intended rights of a heterosexual marriage, that in my opinion, is where the country needs to move.
WCT: How do you feel about the ENDA [ the Employment Non-discrimination Act ] ?
POC: I am in favor of ending discrimination. When we passed the human-rights ordinance in Chicago, that is basically what it said: "You cannot discriminate on jobs, in housing, or in anyway based upon a person's gender, sexual preference, or identity." That is a clear and consistent message from where I was when we passed the human-rights ordinance to where I am today.
See www.oconnorforcongress.com .
