Tag: campaign

Sassy Sisters for Biggs

FeaturedSassy Sisters for Biggs

Regan Burke, Roberta Cohen, Janie Urbanic

In the three to four generations we’ve lived in Chicago, there have been very few summers that the Chicago Public Schools have not been in the impending doom segments of the news. And here we are again with errant school board members creating an August budget crisis by trying to shame the Illinois General Assembly into filling a $150 million budget hole. Responsible CPS board member Jessica Biggs voted against this misguided move stating it is “not a reasonable source of revenue” (https://www.biggs4chicago.com/headlines).

Yeah, it’s not.

We’ve had it!

Where is good government? We think, have always thought, as the Chicago Tribune editorial on August 7, 2026 pointed out, that merging the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund with the state Teachers Retirement System is not just a sound fiscal idea, but no-brainer good government. What’s the holdup? Is it some ancient bend to Illinois’ notorious corrupted government institutions? Right about now, merging these retirement funds would be a good public relations move on the part of the Speaker of the House who is facing down yet another sexual harassment foot-dragging scandal.

Good government has brought us an elected school board for the first time in Chicago’s history. From its inception, we cynically worried about another lobbyist-controlled institution run by loudmouth bullies with an ax to grind or point to prove — not a board organized around educating and caring for Chicago public school kids.

In November Chicago has a chance to change the generations old crisis-driven CPS by electing Jessica Biggs as its first independent School Board President.

Oh we get it. The fix will take a while and just like Moses never saw the promised land, we may not see a functioning, well-oiled, incorruptible school board come quickly. But we know Jessica Biggs will lead CPS toward a promising legacy for our progeny, our city’s future.

Jessica Biggs, a graduate of Loyola University and Harvard Graduate School of Education was a special education teacher and a Chicago public school principal. She’s a fiercely independent experienced leader who brings together different points of view that lead to new solutions. 

A current school board member, independent candidate Biggs built a multicultural, multigenerational rare coalition in 2024. She won her 2024 school board campaign by 44% of the vote against two candidates who were funded by special interest groups. Jessica is a winner.

Sassy Sisters for Biggs Janie Urbanic, Roberta Cohen, Regan Burke, Jessica Biggs

Friends in our generation ask why we care about the Chicago Public Schools. We no longer have school age kids or even grandkids in CPS. The answer is easy: 1) The school board budget, funded mostly by property taxes affects our household budgets whether we rent or own our homes. 2) We love and care about Chicagoans, no matter what generation, what age, what income bracket, what education level.

And we want to leave our city in good hands.

We believe leaders like Jessica Biggs are those good hands.

Arnold the Bulldog: Politics at the Doorstep

Arnold the Bulldog: Politics at the Doorstep

In Kenosha, at the door of a new white house in a new white neighborhood with curvy streets, low trees and developer-landscaped gardens, I knocked on the storm door, bang, ba-bang, bang. A huge white old English bulldog slid around  the corner from the kitchen to me, the stranger, barking as hard as his docile voice would allow. His owner appeared looking as if she could barely hold him back. 

I shouted through the door, “I love dogs! It’s ok. Can I pet him?”  We all smiled, dog included, and he came out to greet me with a gentle push of his massive short body against my legs.

“Hi, I’m with the Kenosha Democrats. Have you voted yet?”

“No, we’re voting tomorrow.”

“What’s his name?” 

“Arnold.”

“Arnold? Like Schwarzenegger?”

“Yes.” We both cracked up as Arnold dutifully looked one to the other, pleased to hear his name.

“You know, Schwarzenegger just endorsed Kamala Harris.”

Thus, I established my purpose in knocking on her door on a bright white Saturday afternoon.

“I know!” she said. Then she mouthed the words, “I’m voting for her.”

“Oh great,” I said, “”Thank you.”

Canvassers use a handy cell phone app, Minivan, to record voters’ responses. The drop down menu lists Strong Democrat, Lean Democrat, Undecided, Lean Republican and Strong Republican. Since my voter didn’t give it her all, I decided she was a Lean Democrat, punched it in and moved on to the house across the street.

As I came back to the sidewalk,  all of a sudden a white SUV sped out of Arnold’s driveway and stopped in front of me. She rolled down the window and shouted, “I’m for Kamala! Going to vote right now! Good luck!”

I thought back to her open door and realized someone else had been rattling around in the kitchen. A husband? She couldn’t let her husband know she was voting for Kamala Harris?

This gave me hope. I changed her in Minivan to Strong Democrat. Voting Harris.

Perhaps she represented a political ad where Julia Roberts voiced, “in the one place in America where women still have a right to choose, you can vote any way you want, and no one will ever know,” suggesting women can lie to their husbands about their vote. Apparently Fox News went berserk over this ad, as if spouses never lie to each other. 

Today, the day before election day, it hit me how different life will soon be. No matter who wins,  I’ll have no more reason to hope — for the vote, for my candidates, that the country will be at peace, or that democracy survives. It-is-what-it-is acceptance will necessarily move in to care for me.

Saturday afternoon trips from Chicago to Kenosha, stopping in the bustling Democratic headquarters then out to canvass voters will halt. My calves will never forget the two-step entrances to every house in Kenosha County. But memories of coffee and sandwiches at The Buzz Cafe on Sixth Avenue will fade.

The Buzz Cafe Kenosha Wisconsin

 

I do have something to hope for.

Incoming texts and emails will be reduced to a trickle. 

First Impressions of Bill Clinton

In August 1991, twelve Democratic leaders and influencers, were seated in leather armchairs at a walnut oval table in a small dining room at one of downtown Chicago’s private clubs. I was the only woman. When Governor Bill Clinton entered the room, his th-2tall navy-suited body seemed to shift the atmosphere, moving the dust molecules away from him and clearing the air as he moved. He gave a hardy salutation and proceeded to introduce himself to each person while he circumnavigated the room, one-by-one. I was halfway around the table, and when he reached me I stood and looked up to his bemused rosy face, full of laugh lines. He had a big red nose, like Santa Claus. As I tried to introduce myself, he interrupted me by saying he knew who I was— the Executive Director of the state Democratic Party. He asked if I knew my name was the same as one of King Lear’s daughters. “Yes,” I said, “My name came from her.” He leaned over and whispered let’s keep that between us since she wasn’t such a great character. And just like that we had a best-buddies pact.

He finished working the room, told us why he was thinking of running for president, and asked us to support him. He never sat down.

A few weeks later, Bill and Hillary entered a crowded 2nd-floor meeting room in a Chicago hotel with about 50 curious political activists who gathered to meet them for the first time. He neither ushered her in ahead of him as a well-mannered (albeit chauvinistic) gentleman nor did he make her walk behind him as an ill-mannered boor. Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton (L)
Side-by-side they came to us. We all jumped to our feet and cheered before he even said hello, before he shook one hand. It was two months before he announced his candidacy for President. His nascent message stressing personal responsibility for welfare recipients echoed what I’d learned in Alcoholics Anonymous — to acknowledge that I am responsible for the choices I make in my own life. Later in his presidency I despised his welfare reform policy but for now this seemingly spiritual insight vaulted my commitment to a new height. This was my guy.

The first week in October, one of Clinton’s many Chicago friends asked me to join him in driving Bill Clinton to Midway Airport. We’d been at a 100-person meet-and-greet where Clinton learned I was moving to Little Rock to work on his campaign. He looked back at me in the car and asked what my boss said when I told him I was quitting my job. My boss hoped I’d change my mind, so I told Clinton he wasn’t happy.  Clinton picked up the car phone, called my boss, thanked him for letting me have this opportunity of a lifetime and said he was happy to have me on board. He ended the call by inviting my boss to bring his family down to the Governor’s mansion for a weekend. In the back seat I imagined throwing my arms around his neck and kissing the top of his ever-loving head.

I was in Little Rock by the end of the week.