From the Chicago Sun Times: Lesbian activist Kelly Cassidy has been appointed state representative for the 14th District, which includes the Edgewater, Andersonville and Rogers Park neighborhoods. She replaces State Rep. Harry Osterman who was elected 48th Ward alderman in February. Cassidy, a longtime assistant in the Cook County state’s attorney’s office, was chosen Saturday from a field of 23 candidates. “For 20 years in Chicago, I’ve worked in not-for-profit and government,” Cassidy said on Sunday. “This is an opportunity to take it to the next level and an exciting challenge.” Committeewoman and former State Sen. Carol Ronen says the decision was not an easy one but that the vote for Cassidy was unanimous. “Kelly has a long record of advocacy with issues important to the people of the 14th District,” Ronen said. “Through the state’s attorney’s office, she has worked as a liaison in Springfield and understands how the legislature works and how to build coalitions.” Cassidy, the third openly gay member of the state House, reports to Springfield on May 16. She knows there will be some “tough budget votes right out of the gate.” “In our district, there’s a high level of social service organizations offering important services,” said Cassidy, 42. “They are threatened, and it’s my job to defend them.” Cassidy said she will run in the March 2012 election “I intend to serve the district as long as I can,” she said. Another lesbian who was being considered for the appointment, Paula Basta, director of the Levy Center, also has announced her candidacy.
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Monday, April 18, 2011
Kelly Cassidy appointed to state legislature
From the Chicago Sun Times: Lesbian activist Kelly Cassidy has been appointed state representative for the 14th District, which includes the Edgewater, Andersonville and Rogers Park neighborhoods. She replaces State Rep. Harry Osterman who was elected 48th Ward alderman in February. Cassidy, a longtime assistant in the Cook County state’s attorney’s office, was chosen Saturday from a field of 23 candidates. “For 20 years in Chicago, I’ve worked in not-for-profit and government,” Cassidy said on Sunday. “This is an opportunity to take it to the next level and an exciting challenge.” Committeewoman and former State Sen. Carol Ronen says the decision was not an easy one but that the vote for Cassidy was unanimous. “Kelly has a long record of advocacy with issues important to the people of the 14th District,” Ronen said. “Through the state’s attorney’s office, she has worked as a liaison in Springfield and understands how the legislature works and how to build coalitions.” Cassidy, the third openly gay member of the state House, reports to Springfield on May 16. She knows there will be some “tough budget votes right out of the gate.” “In our district, there’s a high level of social service organizations offering important services,” said Cassidy, 42. “They are threatened, and it’s my job to defend them.” Cassidy said she will run in the March 2012 election “I intend to serve the district as long as I can,” she said. Another lesbian who was being considered for the appointment, Paula Basta, director of the Levy Center, also has announced her candidacy.
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16 comments:
"the vote for Cassidy was unanimous"
Funny, I don't remember casting one...
Great, someone who has been involved in government, or government supported entities, for the past 20 years and has an obvious political agenda focused on a minority group. Fantastic.
I'm all for giving someone a chance, but this is all kinds of lousy on paper.
I agree, couldn't we have had a special election? Or at least appoint Ms. Cassidy until we can stage one. Ms. Cassidy might be a great alderman and the perfect woman for the job, but having a choice and hearing what they stand for would be nice. The part that is really annoying is that we just had a special election a couple weeks ago, you mean to tell me that we couldn't have been part of that as well?
meet the new alderman - same as the old. Not a great start Harry. I was hopeful that we could actually get a political rep in that office who listened to the community. It looks like we have one who does what he wants, listens to no one and thinks the community as whole has no voice. Not what I wanted. A special election would have been great. But the politicoos here do what they want.
Harry didn't have a role in this appointment. This was all Carol Ronen's doing. As committeewoman, she had 54% of the vote. It was her singular decision...and she picked the girlfriend of Rod Blagojevich's press secretary. Just another hack. Sad part was there were some great candidates like Paula Basta and Jen Wren. But Ronen went with the machine hack again.
these comments are comical at best, this is a woman who is a single mother has 3 children but takes time to volunteer, while the commenters here, never or rarely do anything in the community unless there is a murder or development or personal agenda, if you know the law, it is an appointed decision, Harry wasn't even in town, many people were at the forum on Saturday and spoke in front of the crowd from the 50,49 and 48th Ward. the commenters here were not. Elections are next year,so stop with the undue critisms and get involved then you have a voice and writing a comment on a blog is not involvement.
Right on DorothyParker007:) Couldn't agree with you more!
Oh Dorothy...not the 50th Ward but the 40th. The 50th Ward was entitled to just 4 votes, so Ira Silverstein did not bother to show up.
As for writing a comment on a blog not being involvement -- you are totally wrong. There are tens of thousands of people in Edgewater who are not involved. They don't register to vote, they can't name their alderman, and some can't write. It is the bloggers who are spreading information that our leaders don't want us to know. It is the bloggers who are behind the revolts in the mideast. It is bloggers who are the new citizen journalists raising a hue and cry.
Does anyone know the name of Cassidy's partner? I'd like to Google it. Now there's a treasure of information. Blago's press secretary??? Blago??? Isn't he the one who gave Ronen the appointment that made her pension so high?
Interesting payback, if true.
you know bobbytuba I am inclined to agree with you on the voting percentage, but you lose me when you think the statement you end with actually had merit.
"she picked the girlfriend of Rod Blagojevich's press secretary."
That is how you talk of someone with Cassidy's credential? Really?
If this was a gay man, would such garbage be written? I am over people who write junk on the internet being hailed as heros. Please, you don't need to attend meeting to be involved? They are doing this in the middle east? If you don't think being in a war (middle east) is being in some quiet house while bombs are tearing up your city and sitting there just blogging and drinking tea?
Anyhow that statement is so low brow statement its sounds like someone who has some personal issues with her. Mean girl
We are better than those types of comments to make one's point.
Perhaps you should drag yourself away from your revolutionary role behing your Apple, put a pair of pants on and see whats the real story.
How dare we criticize the selections of our betters!
Give me a break. I prefer that our representatives actually be voted into their offices in, you know, actual elections.
I also prefer that our representatives not let their minority status drive their entire agenda. I don't give a flying poop that she's a lesbian activist. I'm not a lesbian and only a minute fraction of those she's now representing are lesbians. Making that a big deal raises giant red flags for me, just as it would if someone was described as a "white male Catholic activist".
This whole situation is rank.
The summary of most of the negative comments is this: "I want to be able to vote for my alderman." Why not just say that? It's a reasonable complaint, even if not reflective of the current legal process. Instead, cloaking in conspiracy theories and the same old "bureaucrat bashing" reduces the credibility of the criticism.
And while we're at, "97009122-39f3-11e0-ba45-000bcdcb471e", the Sun Times article that is quoted references Cassidy's sexual orientation because it is news. Not because Cassidy has declared her "minority status [will] drive [her] entire agenda." (your quote). You made that up. I think the best member of the Illinois House is Greg Harris, who is openly gay, and who kicks a** on budget, health care, transit, senior issues and - yes - LGBT issues. Cassidy will either prove she's legit, or not, but just like EACH of the other openly gay politicans in our state, they're not driven by any single agenda.
I do wonder if the Sun Times had indeed identified someone as "white male Catholic activist" if you would have even commented. I doubt it.
As a gay activist yourself, I'm not even remotely surprised by your defense of Ms. Cassidy nor your support of Mr. Harris. Both of whom happen to also be gay activists and who's CV's are almost exclusively represented by work in social services and/or government. Thrilling stuff.
I'm fairly certain anyone described as a "white" or "male" activist of any flavor would raise more than a few red flags, no?
Either way, no one's sexual orientation is news unless that person has positioned themself in such a manner that it is. Or is Ms. Cassidy disavowing the label of being a lesbian activist? I gather she wears it proudly. And as such, I'm going to question as to whether she's going to be primarily motivated to pursue a narrow agenda focused on her activism or whether she's going to spend her time on the larger issues of her entire representative base. Since no election is forthcoming, there's really no time or place to have such questions answered.
But hey, Greg Harris is doing a bang up job on the state budget, right? The results certainly speak for themselves.
From Edgewater Intelligencer:
"Her qualification is that, in the words of the Chicago Sun-Times, she is a "lesbian activist" and in fact the 3rd proclaimed one in the state legislature. Excuse me but what the hell does that qualification have to do with solving our major problems?"
Note in 97009122 comments- "lesbian activist" all over the place, without any reference to Suntime article. Phil, sore loser? everyone who supports Harry or anyone you don't are losers, stupid? So you and 1% of the votes you got in the election are the only voices of reason? That will really get you elected, next time.
I'd like to point out, for the record, that I've been active on this blog since its inception and have been using my old AIM screen name of "funcon6" (which is shorthand for "functional consultant 6", an old inside joke from my consulting days from a resourcing spreadsheet).
For some reason OpenID is blasting this giant identifier on my comments lately. I have no idea why.
I certainly have no affiliation with this Phil character, save for having visited his retina-searing blog once or twice through links from other blogs/comments.
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