Burns Calls for Series of Candidate Debates
Proposes Debates in All Six Wards of the 26th District
(Chicago—December 7, 2007) Democratic challenger Will Burns called on his fellow candidates for state representative to participate in a series of debates throughout the 26th legislative district.
Burns said conducting a debate in each of the six wards that comprise the district, which runs from the Gold Coast to the Near South Side, will allow the candidates to talk openly about issues that directly affect the constituents of the 26th district.
“We have a rich history of educating voters through public forums in Illinois,” Burns observed. “In order to uphold that tradition, I’m calling on my Democratic colleagues to join me at the podium for six candidate debates as we gear up for Election Day.”
Illinois’ noted history of public campaigns was made famous by the 1858 Senate debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas. The Lincoln-Douglas debates, held in seven of the nine Congressional districts in the state, focused on the issue of slavery and are considered among the most influential candidate debates in American history.
The tradition of issue-oriented debates held in a public setting continues today in the 2008 campaign season. Burns’ proposal of conducting a debate in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 20th and 42nd Wards of Chicago prior to Election Day on February 5th would bring increased transparency to the electoral process.
“As candidates, we have an obligation to ensure a fair and informed process to the voters,” Burns said. “I’m sure all my Democratic colleagues agree that participating in debates throughout the district would help fulfill that obligation.”
Burns, who earned his bachelors and masters degrees from the University of Chicago, has received the endorsement of former Attorney General Roland Burris, former Congressman and Federal Judge Abner Mikva, the Reverend Michael Pfleger, state Senator Kwame Raoul, state Representative Ken Dunkin and Aldermen Toni Preckwinkle, Leslie Hairston and Willie Cochran. Groups endorsing him includes the Chicago Teachers Union, the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #7 and Illinoisvictims.org, a nonpartisan group that advocates gun control.
A former deputy chief of staff for Senate President Emil Jones Jr., Burns shaped legislation reforming Illinois’ criminal justice system. Burns also developed key civil rights legislation as an aide to then state Sen. Barack Obama. He currently is Vice President for Conlon Public Strategies, and resides in Hyde Park with his wife Robin Black, and their infant daughter Athena.