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5 Of 7 Candidates Appear In 15th District State House Candidate Forum Held Online

Public Meeting In-Person, On Zoom, Of Committeemen To Appoint State Rep. John D’Amico’s Replacement Tuesday


A screenshot of a Saturday, Nov. 20 candidate forum on Zoom for those seeking the appointment by Democratic committeemen to replace the recently retired State Rep. John D’Amico (D-15th). The event was organized by the 33rd Ward Working Families, 39th Ward Neighbors United, 50th Ward United Working Families, The People’s Lobby, and United Northwest Side, organizations.

In an event rarely seen in Illinois politics, five of seven candidates seeking to be appointed by Democratic committeemen to replace the recently retired State Rep. John D’Amico (D-15th) participated in an online public candidate forum Saturday. 

D’Amico’s replacement will be considered with a weighted vote at a meeting of committeemen at 2 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 23 in the Irish American Heritage Center’s fourth-floor ballroom at 4626 N. Knox Ave., Chicago. The meeting will also be live-streamed on Zoom. 

Participating in Saturday’s forum was Michael Rabbitt of Chicago’s Edgebrook, a community activist and the only candidate to announce he would run against D’Amico in the primary before D’Amico announced his retirement. He was joined in the forum by John Melaniphy, economic development director for the village of Niles; Christina Brophy, a community college professor; Daniel Cotter, an attorney and former accountant who worked on Jac Charlier’s past campaign against D’Amico in the Democratic primary; and Judy Kehoe, who was a campaign organizer for Gov. JB Pritzker.

Not appearing were Michael Kelly and Vince Fattore, both of whom submitted letters of interest to be appointed to D’Amico’s seat.

Forum organizers asked in an online survey if Kelly and Fattore should be disqualified from consideration as they did not RSVP or attend the forum. 

Committeemen will consider who to appoint at Tuesday’s meeting. State Sen. Ram Villivalam (D-8th), who is also Chicago 39th Ward Democratic committeeman, holds the greatest weighted vote with 38.1%; Maine Township Democratic committeeman and State Sen. Laura Murphy (D-28th) has a 32.5% weighted vote, followed by Niles Township Democratic Committeeman Lou Lang with 17.7% of the vote and 41st Ward Democratic Committeeman Joe Cook who has an 8.9% weighted vote. The remaining four committeemen would have less than a 2% weighted vote each.

The 15th state House seat extends from Chicago’s Northwest Side through Niles and unincorporated Maine Township to Glenview’s south side in the Journal & Topics area. 

“I strongly encouraged people to participate” in Saturday’s online forum, Villivalam said, “but I don’t want to disqualify anyone who couldn’t make a forum.” He went on to say each candidate at Tuesday’s meeting would make a five- to- seven-minute presentation and spend additional time answering committeemen’s questions in the open meeting.

Organizing the forum were the following groups: 33rd Ward Working Families, 39th Ward Neighbors United, 50th Ward United Working Families, The People’s Lobby, and United Northwest Side.

After the forum, the 39th Ward Neighbors United group endorsed Michael Rabbitt. The 39th Ward Democratic Organization did not make an endorsement.

Candidates did have some differences in responses to key questions. On who candidates would or would not accept contributions from, several including Brophy, Rabbitt, and Kehoe, said they would not accept donations from large organizations or corporations. Melaniphy said he knows real estate developers and would accept donations from them. Cotter did not address campaign fundraising.

Candidates were asked about education policy, funding, and an elected Chicago school board.

Many candidates said they would have supported the failed recent income tax legislation aimed at raising taxes on the wealthy and lowering schools’ dependence on property taxes, which they said makes for an uneven distribution of education funding. Several candidates were also critical of tax increment financing districts.

Melaniphy said he needs to do more research on taxing wealthier people as an answer, and defended tax increment financing (TIF) districts as job generators. He suggested looking at taxes on corporations like Amazon which hurt local brick and mortar businesses.  

Cotter said he would look at $17 billion in coming federal funds and said he would look at things like Amazon and massive investments in things like stadiums, asking, “What is the return on investment?” 

Kehoe advocated for the fair tax, saying the narrative on the legislation needs to be changed, and corporate tax loopholes need to be changed. 

Brophy advocated for an elected Chicago school board and advocated for fair tax legislation to pay for underfunded schools. 

Rabbit said, “We can’t give up on the progressive income tax,” and said he would seek to close corporate tax loopholes.

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