Candidate: Tom Chiola Home: Chicago, Illinois Profession: General Counsel, Illinois Department of Professional Regulation Office Sought: Cook County Circuit Court Primary Date: March 15, 1994 Election Date: November 1, 1994 Tom Chiola for Cook County Circuit Court Chicago has a reputation for "Machine" politics, but the North Lakefront, where most gay men and lesbians live, has a tradition of supporting "good government" candidates for office. Tom Chiola is just such a candidate. The highest ranking openly gay official in Illinois, Chiola served for more than six years as the Chief Administrative Law 8Judge for the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation and is currently its General Counsel. Although an openly gay man recently won a seat on one of the hundreds of local school councils in Chicago, Illinois has yet to elect an openly lesbian or gay candidate to office in any municipal, county or state race. With your help, Chiola can break through that barrier and become the first openly gay judge in Illinois. The Campaign Chiola is running for a seat on the Circuit Court of Cook County. The best way to describe this race is a "free-for-all." Cook County, which includes the City of Chicago, was recently divided into 15 subcircuits in order to add minority representation to the Court. Chiola is running in the heavily gay and lesbian 8th Judicial Subcircuit along Chicago's North Lakefront. All seats in the March 1994 primary are open seats with no incumbents running; there will be at least three seats filled from this subcircuit in the 1994 election. The 8th Judicial Subcircuit also has the largest per capita number of lawyers anywhere in Chicago, which means that numerous candidates are expected to enter the race. Eight candidates divided the vote in 1992, with only a simple plurality needed to win. Therefore, having a strong gay and lesbian voter base makes this race extremely viable for Chiola. It is estimated that as many as 50,000 registered gay and lesbian voters live in this geographic region. In the 1992 Democratic primary, the winner garnered a little over 11,000 votes out of about 45,000 cast in this race. It is commonly accepted that the winner of the Democratic primary will win the general election as well. The Candidate Tom Chiola is a native of Springfield, Illinois and a 1977 graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law. He moved to Chicago in 1978 where he has put "sweat equity" into a three-flat in the DePaul neighborhood. Gaining experience in the Illinois Attorney General's Environmental Control Division, Chiola prosecuted some of the worst polluters in the state. He then spent over six years as the Chief Administrative Law Judge for the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation. Because he has acted as the judge in cases involving gross malpractice by incompetent physicians, drug diversion by addicted nurses, massive fraud on government programs by unscrupulous pharmacists and pill pushing by "diet doctors," Chiola's caseload has generated considerable media attention. He has also practiced in state and federal courts and argued before the Illinois Supreme Court. As General Counsel at the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation, Chiola is currently the ranking openly gay appointed official in Illinois. The District Chicago's 8th Judicial Subcircuit runs from Chinatown south of the downtown business district (the "Loop") up the lakefront almost to the northern border of the city limits. It is a mix of rich (Chicago's Gold Coast, Michigan Avenue) and poor (Cabrini Green housing project), black and white, but is in large part upwardly-mobile, well-educated and progressive. Neighborhoods in the district are widely acknowledged as having the city's highest concentration of gay and lesbian voters. Working for the Gay and Lesbian Community Chiola is widely known for his volunteer work in the community and has taken an active role in the fight to pass a gay and lesbian civil rights bill in the Illinois Legislature, enlisting various members of his family in the battle. When the Legal Clinic for the Disabled, with which he was a volunteer attorney, refused to accept people with AIDS/HIV, Chiola helped organize a free legal project for them at the Howard Brown health center. Chiola has raised thousands of dollars for Open Hand, the PWA meals-on-wheels program for which he has been a volunteer driver. Chiola is a member of the Lesbian and Gay Bar Association of Chicago and the newly formed association of gay and lesbian government employees, and he has been active in the fundraising effort for the new Chicago office of Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund. He recently left the Board of Impact, Chicago's gay and lesbian political action committee, to make the race for judge. One of Chiola's passions is sports and he has been both a participant in and an organizer of gay and lesbian sporting events nationwide. He was a board member of the Metropolitan Sports Association, the largest regional gay and lesbian sports group in the country and has served on the board of Team Chicago which is organizing for the 1994 Gay Games. A longstanding member of the Frontrunners, he participated in the marathon at Gay Games III in Vancouver and will be training for the triathlon in Gay Games IV once the primary is over in March. Can He Win? The demographics of the district make it extremely likely that a gay or lesbian candidate with a strong base in the community will win. Chiola has not only been endorsed by a large and diverse group of leaders in the lesbian and gay community, but has also picked up endorsements from several Chicago aldermen, state representatives, a member of Congress and numerous straight business people and community activists. He is working to build coalitions with other minority communities and has received backing from senior citizens and members of the African- American, Asian-American, Indo-American and Latino communities. Because the district includes several important progressive/independent political organizations, Chiola has spent considerable time enlisting their support as well. Why Tom Chiola's Election Matters to You Illinois, one of the largest midwestern states, and Chicago, an important center of commerce and industry, has yet to elect an openly gay or lesbian candidate to any municipal, county or state office. The viability of this race offers us the opportunity to break through and achieve the victory which has eluded our community for so long. This victory will encourage and strengthen the ability of future lesbian and gay candidates everywhere to run for office and win. Being represented by our own in the judiciary is vitally important to turn the tide of prejudice that affects lesbian and gay individuals in the courts on a daily basis. Judges and other court personnel need to acquire a basic understanding of gay and lesbian families and community. Cases involving custody and guardianship disputes, contested wills and powers of attorney, and domestic relations exemplify the need to have someone on the court who understands our relationships and who can educate other judges about them. Why Your Contribution Matters to Tom Chiola Chiola's background and experience make him highly qualified to sit on the Circuit Court, but if he does not have the financial means to communicate this message, political victory and community empowerment will continue to elude lesbians and gay men in Illinois. To be taken seriously as a candidate, Chiola needs to show established politicians that he can produce on the bottom line. A formidable war chest will go a long way toward convincing them to back Chiola's candidacy. Several well-financed candidates are expected to enter this race and Chiola needs to match them dollar for dollar in order to keep his name and qualifications in front of the voters. To Support Tom Chiola: Make your checks payable to: Citizens for Chiola and mail to: Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund 1012 14th Street, N.W., Suite 707 Washington, D.C. 20005 There are no limits on individual, PAC or corporate contributions. Illinois law requires that all contributions over $20 must include the address of the contributor.