Chicago Free Press Editorial - Throwing the race

Chicago Free Press Editorial - Throwing the race
Copyright by The Chicago Free Press

Openly gay state Rep. Larry McKeon has served with distinction for five terms in the General Assembly. His achievements as a legislator have demonstrated that GLBT people have much to contribute in public life and the effect of his presence in Springfield has shown the value for our community of having openly gay representation in government.

McKeon’s retirement puts the future of the only GLBT seat in the Legislature in jeopardy. Although McKeon has tapped openly gay attorney and civil rights activist Jim Snyder as his replacement, the decision rests with the five Democratic committeemen in McKeon’s North Side district.

This situation mirrors the process by which Todd Stroger was anointed the Democratic nominee for Cook County Board president to replace his ailing father. Like Stroger, McKeon ran in and won the Democratic primary last spring. In good faith, voters cast their ballots for both men without realizing they were actually turning over their votes to political power brokers who would select the actual nominee through backroom wheeling and dealing.

When McKeon first ran for the General Assembly, it brought the entire GLBT community together in a massive and empowering grassroots effort. Working on McKeon’s initial campaign provided many members of the community with invaluable political experience that has paid off in other successful campaigns and political lobbying efforts. It’s unfortunate that the way McKeon’s replacement is being selected deprives the community of this experience.

Snyder is an excellent choice as a replacement. But in failing to line up support among the district’s committeemen in advance, McKeon left open the door to other prospective candidates—both gay and straight. The names of at least two other gay men and one straight man have been put forward.

Some members of the GLBT community have cried foul at the emergence of other gay candidates, saying it conveys community disunity. But this is a positive sign. It would be tragic if the huge GLBT community in the 13th District, which includes parts of Uptown, Edgewater, Andersonville and Rogers Park, couldn’t produce more than one highly qualified candidate for this seat.

It’s critical to the interests of Illinois’ GLBT citizens that this seat remains in gay hands. It’s absurd that a state teeming with so much gay, lesbian and transgender political talent and muscle has only one openly gay elected official serving in the capital. To lose that single seat would be backsliding.

But that doesn’t mean that choosing McKeon’s replacement should be an even more closed-door deal than it already is. The insider gays who want to keep other GLBT candidates out of the running have their own agendas at heart. Some of them are the same people who backed Tom Tunney when he entered the 44th Ward aldermanic race against openly gay candidate Rick Ingram. Then they said an open competition was in the best interest of the community. But now that the original horse in the race is theirs, their attitude toward an open race has changed.

Our community should speak with one voice in letting the ward committeemen know that it expects them to nominate a GLBT candidate. After all, it was McKeon’s open sexual orientation that energized a substantial portion of his political base in the district and brought him support from outside its borders. Committeemen who fail to appreciate the significance of this seat to our community must be held accountable when they seek reelection.

But all qualified GLBT candidates should be considered. Committeemen Gene Schulter and Patrick J. O’Connor have called on interested candidates to forward their resumes to ward committeemen in the 13th District and to attend a slate-making meeting at 7 p.m. Aug. 29 in the Anderson Pavilion at Swedish Covenant Hospital, 2751 W. Winona.

CFP applauds them for this show of openness.