Stacy Davis Gates, Vice President of the Chicago Teacher Union, is a bit of a rabble rouser. Lately, she and her union have been in the news, as they have been threatening to strike in October. As you’ll hear, Stacy thinks of herself, and other teachers, as social justice warriors, rather than merely instructors. Teachers, as Stacy describes them, are instruments of uplift for disadvantaged children, and play a major role in improving our society.

Politics Is Personal

Episode 15 - Stacy Davis Gates

John R. Daley, scion of THE Daley family, does work in politics. He’s a lobbyist. But he’s also a few more things. A one-time tea shop owner. Founder and active participant of a non-profit radio station, a huge wrestling fan and much more. He won’t come out and say it, but there’s definitely a certain amount of negotiating with being a Daley. Clearly though, John seems to do a pretty good job of dealing with it, almost to the point where you begin to think he doesn’t think about it at all.

Episode 14 - John Daley

Mark Payne is one of those guys who makes the gears turn. You’re probably not looking for him, but if you see him working, the words “engine” and “moving” are good descriptions of what you see. Mark has regularly managed to find himself in spots where he has to organize and negotiate. Whether it be as a South Side Black man helping white working class people gain trust in the CTA’s Brown Line renovation, or trying to rebuild a civilian police oversight organization. Somehow, he constantly ends up in the middle of things.

Episode 13 - Mark Payne

Alejandra Moran has managed press and communications for many, many Latino politicians in Illinois. But she started on the other side of the microphone for ABC radio, La Raza and Telemundo, before she became a press flack. Because she’s been through the wringer so many times she has a long view of things and has also experienced a few personal trials, as she told me in an interview a short while ago.

Episode 12 - Alejandra Moran

Tarrah Cooper believes Chicago is the best city in the nation. In just three generations, her family went from sharecroppers to senior advisor to the Mayor of Chicago. While she had to work her way up to becoming Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s Press Secretary – with a stop in the Obama Administration in D.C. – she believes that it’s the magic and opportunity of Chicago, that made it possible.  Now head of her own public relations firm, Rise Strategies, from 2011 to 2015, Tarrah was right in the middle of everything Chicago. And she appreciated her responsibility to Chicago.

Episode 11 - Tarrah Cooper

Sometimes it seems like 43rd Ward Democratic Committeeman Lucy Mohg has had a role in just about every part of North Side politics. Originally from Lakeview, she ended up working in Congress in the early 90’s, and oh, she and her husband lived in a three-flat just upstairs from Rahm Emanuel and his wife. So of course, they became friends. And then she came back to Chicago and did just about everything.

Episode 10 - Lucy Moog

For years, Joanna Klonsky staffed long-shot campaigns and causes, because she believed in them, knowing full well they had a slim chance of succeeding. She worked for them because she thought it was the right thing to do. But then some of them started to win. And then, she joined the Lightfoot for Mayor campaign, which at the beginning looked a lot like other slim-to-none campaigns. And then…incomprehensively, Lightfoot started to look like a winner. And then she won. And now, as a result of that all or nothing bet, Joanna Klonsky has become one of the most influential people in Chicago politics.

Episode 9 - Joanna Klonsky

Some people, like Kim Walz, found their love of politics in a small town. Kim’s story reminds us that few of us have a direct path in life, and that most of us weave back and forth with lots of detours along the way. What makes Kim more interesting than most people in politics is that her detours from politics are so unusual. Stints in low budget filmmaking, Japanese television, health insurance. It’s almost as if there’s nothing she won’t try.

Episode 8 - Kim Walz

Mike Kreloff's career has been remarkable. He was the prototype “Lakefront Liberal” on the North Side’s Rogers Park back in the 1960’s and 70’s. Then, after helping to create a real liberal movement in Chicago – working to elect David Orr for Alderman and then Cook County Clerk along the way – he moved to suburban Northfield Township, where he became Democratic Committeeman. And then again, he started a liberal movement – except it was called “progressive” this time. Helping to turn Chicago’s north suburbs from red to blue.

Episode 7 - Mike Kreloff

Elaine Nekritz is arrestingly sincere. That might have made it hard for her to be successful in politics, but during her 14 year career in the Illinois House – she retired in 2017 – Elaine earned a reputation as a straight-shooting progressive force. She says that while in office she nursed an introvert personality, sometimes dreading the need to glad hand scores of strangers. It was her competitiveness, she says, that kept her going.

Episode 6 - Elaine Nekritz

Anton Seals, a South Side community organizer, has a lot of balls in the air. He’s working for for a community benefits agreement with the Obama Library, he just finished working on Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s transition committee, he's been advocating for minorities in the new Illinois cannabis legalization law, and he heads up an urban agriculture group called Grow Englewood. He's a man totally dedicated to organizing, always "keeping it 1000", as he tells me.

Episode 5 - Anton Seals

Brian Bernardoni is one of Chicago's best known lobbyists, who recently announced that he's stepping down after 17 years from his position as head lobbyist for the Chicago Realtors. He's a detail man when it comes to politics, traveling on election days to bellwether Chicago polling places he's followed for years. But he's also a man of many obsessions – the Chicago Cubs, the Cliff Dweller's private club, Svengoolie and much more.

Episode 4 - Brian Bernardoni

Sean Tenner is probably one of the easiest people to get along with, coated with a broad streak of Midwest nice. Most people who get in the business right out of college drop out for some reason or another. But Sean stayed with it, becoming a work-a-day political consultant, and a permanent fixture in Chicago politics. If you want to know how someone builds a life in politics, Sean Tenner is a pretty good template.

Episode 3 - Sean Tenner

Jeff Johnson is involved in a kind of high stakes politics you rarely hear about. He’s a union-elected member of the Chicago Municipal Pension Fund, which pays out about $840 million a year to over 25,000 retirees and controls over $4.5 billion of retirement funds. He’s a bracing change from the smooth talk of most people in Chicago politics and has more than a few stories to tell.

Episode 2 - Jeff Johnson

It's our first episode! Jedidiah Brown is a South Side community organizer, and often controversial. Whether you like him or not, Jedidiah’s got a large social media following and has the cell phone numbers of the police superintendent and other city commissioners. He's someone to pay attention to.

Episode 1 - Jedidiah Brown

Interviews with people in Chicago and Illinois politics, asking, "Why are you in this business?"

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Politics Is Personal

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