Eamon Kelly, 29, is running for the 18th District on a platform that includes civil rights, a responsible budget and housing reform. Windy City Times recently talked with the attorney, who resides in Evanston.
Windy City Times: Let's start with an easy question. Eamon is a unique nameand sometimes more than we'd like to admit, names matter in elections. So what I'd like to know is the origin of your name and if there's a story behind it.
Eamon Kelly: Yeah, I am named after the first president of Ireland. His name was Eamon de Valera, who was actually born in the U.S. and then moved back to Ireland. He is no family relation; my family just liked the name Eamon and there was this figure who had that name.
WCT: What ( or who ) inspired you to run for this position?
EK: What inspired me to run is not so much a person but a problem. This last year there was something called a "doomsday budgeting showdown" where the legislative leaders and the governor were proposing really drastic cuts to education and healthcare. At the same time they were protecting programs like the General Assembly Scholarship, they were protecting programs like the Blagojevich Free Rides programwhich is a politically motivated program from my perspectiveand I got angry about it. And I got even angrier when they went to cut a program called "Preschool For All," which provides about 100,000 kids in Illinois preschool. I had been a part of the early expansion of that program when I served as chief of staff and I just got angry about it. So for me, I guess the inspiration was those 100,000 kids.
WCT: Explain why your background gives you the tools to succeed at this position.
EK: One, I think it's my commitment to being an independent, reform-minded person. I think that is the first criteria for electing that was forged in the Obama campaign, it was reinforced working with Larry Suffredin when he ran for state's attorney, and it goes back to the first campaign I was ever involved in when I was a high school student volunteering for Jan Schakowski when she ran for Congress, so [ there is ] kind of a track record for service and political involvement.
Then you add the government service that I've had the opportunity to do as chief of staff of the State Board of Education where I was able to work on some reform initiatives to block an effort for the Bush administration to push these tutoring dollars to some unregulated private companies. My efforts to expand preschool and the lessons I learned fighting in those things. I think lastly I grew up in this community so there's experiences I have in terms of understanding and representing the community I live in that I think are unique.
WCT: You're up against two candidates ( Jeff Smith and Robyn Gabel ) who have longer resumes on paper. What do you think, as a younger candidate, you bring to this position. How is that an advantage?
EK: I would compare my resume to both of theirs. I think they're both good, qualified people, but I think my resume compares favorably in terms of my experience in Springfield and working with state government. But I think it's not so much a question about youth or age or experience as "Why are you running?" The question we need to ask is "Why are you running?" and "Why are we confident that you're going to be an independent legislator?" I think when you answer thatI'll let them answer that questionbut I think I'm the only one in my campaign who is focused on a specific thing that has motivated me to run and I think that makes us different.
WCT: You're married and straight, but have LGBT issues been personal to you at all?
EK: Absolutely, and in a number of ways. It is a personal issue for me because I believe it is the defining civil rights issue of our generation and when we don't recognize the fair and equal status of all people in our society and not just fair and equal but if we don't support loving and committed relationships where people are going to raise children then everyone in our society is diminished. On a personal note I've been personallyI put it within the framework of my own relationship with my wifemany states before the Loving v. Virginia decision I could not have married my wife because she's a different race than I am, and I think the current fight for marriage equality is really a continuation of that civil-rights struggle in terms of recognizing the right to marry. Lastly, obviously, I've had a number of people who have touched my life who were denied their rights, and it's affected me.
WCT: Where on the list of priorities downstate do you think civil rights, as they pertain to the LGBT community, should fall? What's the first step toward that goal of marriage equality?
EK: I think the first battle is civil unions without taking our eye off the ultimate goal of civil rights. One of the first bills I'd sponsor would be the marriage-equality bill, but I would get to work on the civil-unions bill. I would work it every day, every week. I've made a personal commitment that if I'm elected I'll do a call every week with advocates who are supporting the bill saying, "Where are we, what can I do to get this across the line and how can we get this bill passed?"
WCT: How has the issue of LGBT rights expanded in the campaigns of candidates such as yourself?
EK: You see a generational shift where people of my generation are increasingly saying, "You guys can have this debate but we're done debating." We are for marriage equality; we recognize that everybody has to be given the fundamental rights of our society. And some of us, like myself, take it one step further and say we should be promoting couples and families regardless of what the sexual orientation of the people involved in that relationship is.
For me, I think that's part generational and part passion. So what you see are these candidates who are taking a view that is part generational and part passion. I was very happy to see [ U.S. Senate candidate ] Alexi Giannoulias come out and take a public stance; Alexi is just a couple years older than I am. I was very happy to see [ gubernatorial candidate ] Dan Hynes take a public stance on marriage equality, too. He'd older than I am, but he still took that stance and you can contrast that to other legislators who haven't taken that step and other elected officials. We need to hold them all accountable. We know we're on the right side of history; we just need to keep fighting it. Ultimately, by fighting and struggling and holding candidates accountable for putting it in their literature and holding candidates accountable by putting it in their doors, holding candidates accountable for putting it in a speech, we can advance this issue.
WCT: Where do you see this campaign and possibly this office in your overall career goals?
EK: I hope that I have a chance to stand on the floor of the general assembly one day when we vote to recognize marriage equality. I think I would feel like I lived a full career in having achieved that. I would say the same thing about seeing us pass some fundamental education funding reform, so in the end … one day I'd love to take my grown children to the floor of the State house and say "that's where I was when I voted to recognizes marriage equality, that's where I was when I voted to pass education funding reform."
See eamon2010.com .