Will Burns Earns Key Endorsements in 26th District Race
Incumbent state rep. Elga Jeffries insists endorsements against her are personal
by Lesley R. Chinn
State Senator Kwame Raoul (D-13), state Rep. Ken Dunkin (D-5), and Aldermen Toni Preckwinkle (4); Leslie Hairston (5); and Willie Cochran (20) said that Will Burns has what it takes to become the next state rep of the 26th District.
The 26th District represents all or parts of six wards: 2, 3, 4, 5, 20, and 42. Burns says that he was pleased with the support from the elected officials.
“A lot of them have seen me work in the community my entire career,” stated Burns. Folks have seen me as someone who has the experience of working in the legislature. They are very tremendous leaders in the community and I am very humbled by their support. It suggests that there’s some people doing some good work and want to have new ideas in Springfield.”
Before his resignation in September, Burns previously worked as a deputy chief of staff to Senate President Emil Jones Jr. In this capacity, he has worked on drafting legislative policies and strategies to get bills passed on minority business development, access to building trades, healthcare access, property tax relief, and education reform.
“I have a lot of experience with the legislature in terms of figuring out how to get 30 votes on a bill in the Senate, how to get 50 votes on a bill in the House and how to get that stuff to the Governor’s desk so that we can have real change,” Burns mentioned. “A lot of people will talk about the issues, but the fundamental question should be who has the experience in this race of putting together legislative coalitions as a staffer and as an advocate?”
Burns mentioned that he drafted a policy in 2005 that helped create more than $6.1 million for the apprenticeship training programs in the construction trades. “The basic issue was that the Black Caucus was really frustrated with the lack of African-Americans in the building trades,” Burns explained. “In return, the Black caucus negotiated for a tax credit to hire ex-offenders and a new initiative that would help track getting African-Americans into the unions.”
Through this program, Burns mentioned that it helped to bring the building trades to the table and provide resources. By doing this, it would allow training programs to be aligned to what building trades are looking for in the apprentices. Burns said he modeled it from a similar policy program in Oakland, CA.
Dunkin mentioned that this legislation not only gave a voice to both chambers in the House and Senate, but it also helped to benefit apprenticeship programs at Kennedy-King College, Dawson Technical Institute, Ace Technical School, and the Chicago Urban League.
Before working for Jones, Burns was the vice-president of program and field offices of the Chicago Urban League where he spearheaded the voting rights and redistricting efforts in 2001 and coordinated the League’s public policy initiatives. “The very district that he is running in, he helped draw the map,” Raoul stated. “He’s the only candidate in the race with extensive public policy initiatives.”
Prior to joining the Urban League, Burns was an education and tax policy manager for the Metropolitan Planning Council where he organized a statewide education funding reform coalition and directed its legislative and communications campaign.
“We brought in experts in 2000 to figure out what the cost of providing an adequate education for every child in the state of Illinois,” Burns mentioned. “We figured out that the state was underfunding public schools to the tune of over $1,000 per pupil.
“That study helped to drive a lot of the work that you see right now of what the foundation level of the floor of expenditures per pupil should be,” Burns continued. “That methodology was adopted by the State Board of Education and used to figure out what the adequacy level should be.”
Raoul says there’s often talk about how state Sen. James Meeks and state Rep. David Miller have discussed tax swaps for school funding reform. “But before they talked about it, Burns was the statewide campaign manger for education funding reform,” stated Raoul, who competed against Burns for the appointment of the 13th Senate district seat after Barack Obama won election to the U.S. Senate in 2004. “He’s the only candidate that has done that.”
Burns was also Obama’s state senate community outreach coordinator from 1996 to 1998 where he worked on policies that focused on racial profiling and providing job certifications to ex-offenders. In 2000, Burns was also Obama’s deputy campaign manager during the then state senator’s Congressional campaign.
Besides gun legislation, Burns says that he also plans to focus on issues that include education reform funding, access to healthcare, and property tax relief. “If you look at the district, you’ll see a lot of people are suffering because their property taxes are much higher than what they can afford,” said Burns, who also supports minority ownership in the riverboat casino industry. “Part of that is because we rely on property taxes to fund education and we need to come up with a different revenue source to boost funding and at the same time property tax relief.”
Burns plans to propose a step that would involve an initiative that allow lower-income people to pay less and higher-income people would pay more in income taxes. He would also increase the rate to generate more revenue.
The 26th District race should be taken seriously, Raoul insists, he says he does not want a candidate seeking office just for a title or a popularity contest.
“We’re not trying to elect someone to be at events and wave and be recognized,” he stated. “We’re trying elect people who know how to advance public policy in the interest of our community.
“You don’t want to send someone down there spending the first three years learning on the job,” Raoul continued. “Burns can go down there right away and know how to function.”
When state representatives are elected, Hairston says that she needs to see results. “We send our legislators down to Springfield to bring back dollars for our schools, parks, and infrastructure, and I haven’t seen those dollars here,” she said.
Incumbent state rep. Elga Jeffries (D-26) says she brought back a total of more than $600,000 in state funds to the district. Some of those funds have included programs for DuSable Museum; PUSH Excel Program; Hales Franciscan High School; and Ada S. McKinley. However, she did mention that the funds are still tied up in the budget. Hairston says Burns understands Springfield. “He lives down there night and day,” she says. “He understands communities that he represents and knows that we cannot support the gun lobby.”
The 5th Ward alderman described Jeffries’ vote against gun legislation as a “travesty,” because violence is prevalent in the 26th District. “It’s not a matter of backtracking,” Hairston stated. “It’s about do you understand the process and how your legislation impacts the people. I want good legislation and someone who does the research and at least tries to bring back some dollars.”
Jeffries also admitted that her vote against a previous gun legislation measure involving background checks was a mistake. “That bill will come back,” she said. “I was talking to a senior citizen on the phone and I made an error in voting and I will not lie about that.” Preckwinkle says that Burns’ knowledge of the legislature is impressive. “Because of this knowledge, I think he’ll do fine and hit the ground running and I’m pleased to support him,” said Preckwinkle, who knew Burns when he was a board member at the Blue Gargoyle Youth Services Center in Hyde Park.
“Someone going into that background with the lobbying and influence that Will has will make a big difference,” Cochran adds. “Will’s demonstration of commitment to organizations in the city, state leadership, job efficiency, family lifestyle, and education, speaks volumes.”
Dunkin says Burns has been prepping himself for state representative for the past six years. “Out of the challengers, he’s going to bring a heck of a lot more to the table,” Dunkin stated. “He’s not going to be your typical politician where he says he’s going to do this or that, because he’s already done it.”
Jeffries says Burns’ endorsements’ by the elected officials within the 26th District are disappointing and claims they represent a personal attack on her.
“I don’t like it, but it was expected,” Jeffries said. “It’s a personal thing against me from Ald. Toni Preckwinkle for what reason I don’t know.”
Meanwhile, Preckwinkle, Raoul, and Dunkin insisted that there isn’t anything personal against Jefferies.
“I think Elga is a fine person, but I’m supporting Will Burns,” says Preckwinkle, who believes that energetic and formed leadership is what is missing in the 26th District.
“Elga (Jefferies) has been very respectful towards me, but my position on this is not about me disliking her as a person, but I just think that Burns can do a better job,” stated Raoul, who disliked Jefferies’ vote against gun legislation that required background checks of people purchasing guns after she co-sponsored it at first.
“I like Elga personally, but I’m talking about what I need and what the community needs,” Dunkin added. “This isn’t personal, this is business.”
Jeffries again insisted that all those claims are false. “It is personal, because if it wasn’t, (Will Burns) would not have any reason to run,” she said.