Darlena Williams-Burnett is challenging incumbent Congressman Danny K. Davis for Davis' 7th Congressional district seat.Williams-Burnett, currently the chief deputy for the Cook County Recorder of Deeds, has served in county government for decadesincluding on the Board of Commissioners, where she filled the remainder of Davis' term when he was first elected to Congress in 1996. Williams-Burnett is a member of the Democratic National Committee, and represents her district on the Democratic Party State Central Committee.
Windy City Times: Why'd you decide to run this year, after so long in government?
Darlena Williams-Burnett: Really, what happened this year is Congressman Davis called a press conference and said that he wanted to run for county board president. I took him at his word and kind of looked around the district and looked at the potential field of candidates and I felt that I could run, and be a good representative, a good voice for the people. One thing that I know from living in Congressman Davis' district is that he's just not very representative of certain sectors of the district. He's very comfortable on the West Side with the African-American community, but he doesn't really go beyond that and look at the issues that impact other parts of the district.
WCT: So then it really changed the dynamic when he decided to stay in the race.
Darlena Williams-Burnett: I didn't anticipate he was going to get back in the race because he spent the summer running for county board president. So, when he got back in the race it was very disheartening but it didn't discourage me from running. I think I became even more determined to say to the voters that I'm a different voice, that I'm a choice that you haven't had in the past, I'm experienced, I do this business on a daily basis. I'm giving voters a choice. They can make it.
WCT: What are you saying to voters?
Darlena Williams-Burnett: This district has some of the richest of the richon the Gold Coast and Michigan Avenueand you have the poorest of the poor. So it depends on where you go. But I think the universal issue, wherever you go in the district, is jobs. The sustainability of jobs that exist, the ability to identify what the future jobs are going to be and how do we get our work force preparedjob readiness, job training that will address the needs of those that are underserved, how we help them pull themselves out of poverty. It's all about jobs.
WCT: Has that been a challengefiguring out how to speak to different parts of a district that's so diverse?
Darlena Williams-Burnett: Absolutely. You will lose your audience if you're on the, let's say, far west side in the Austin community, and you're talking about reforming the financial marketswhich I feel is an issue we need to address. But those people don't want to hear about how you're going to make the banks more responsible and the Wall Street investment banks more accountable, because they feel like it's so out of reach in the first place. They don't relate. I speak to what their needs are, what I know their concerns are. I try to put it in terms they can understand. The big banks for years redlined our communities, didn't have a branch in the community, and didn't give us access to credit. So I try to help them understand that even if I'm talking about my overall platform, reforming the financial markets, here's how it relates to you.
WCT: Something that's about to come before Congress is immigration reform. One thing that our readers have been hearing about in our paper is the notion to provide the ability of same-sex partners to sponsor one another for citizenship. Is that something you're aware of, or have a position on?
Darlena Williams-Burnett: I wouldn't be opposed to it. It'd be discriminatory if you didn't allow for it, if you allowed for heterosexual [ couples ] . I think that the bigger problem with the American immigration system is, it's just unjust. So I think that before we figure out how to move forward with immigration, we need to address the problems that are in immigration now. Some of the policies are draconian. They'll just go sweep up a mother that has children that are citizens but she might not be a citizen and ship her out, and never allow her the opportunity for a voucher. They need to look at what's in place, fix some of the inadequacies that exist in the system that discriminate.
WCT: You were a fairly early supporter of Barack Obama. How do you think he's doing so far?
Darlena Williams-Burnett: I am supportive of the president but I am somewhat disappointed. And I think that's probably normal given the complexity of America and the world when he took office, and he almost had to prioritize which catastrophe he would tackle first. I am saddened, I should say, not so much disappointed, but saddened that he has really not had the opportunity for a honeymoon, but he has just had to jump into so many issues [ LGBT issues ] that he had campaigned on and made some promises to, he had to put on the back-burner because he's had to address an international financial crisis. When he was a candidate, he talked much differently, and he talked the way I felt about the need to be cautious about going to war, the need to recognize the consequences of war. He had more of an anti-war persona then.
WCT: In your time in Cook County government, have you had to deal much with LGBT issues?
Darlena Williams-Burnett: [ Cook County Clerk ] David Orr keeps the records on marriage and the vitals and all of thatI know he has come out and took a position on certain things. In my role as a county commissionerwhen I was a county commissionerthere weren't many issues confronting us on the side of gay and lesbian rights.
WCT: At this point, the city and the county have pretty progressive policies, in that regard, right?
Darlena Williams-Burnett: I think so. I think they're probably some of the more progressive ones in the country, I guess. But not without its share of efforts by the community to bring it to the forefront.
WCT: Is that something you'd be interested in bringing to Washington?
Darlena Williams-Burnett: Well, I would advocate for the rights of all citizens. I don't want to see one group discriminated against because I don't think that sexual orientation should play a part in how we govern, and how we treat people. And I think that when we can identify those disparities or those inadequaciesjust like me being a woman of colorwe should address it. We should bring attention to it. If there aren't laws in place, we should put them in place to protect all our citizens. I don't care if you like girls, boys or whatever, it just shouldn't matter. I think that we spend too much time trying to legislate behavior of that nature, and I don't think that government will ever be able to do that.
See www.burnettforcongress.com .