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Last Updated June 22, 2005
"Make no little plans," commanded architect Daniel Burnham, who made no little plans for the Chicago lakefront. The glorious parks he designed are among America's urban jewels, and the row of high-rise apartment buildings--some austere works of masters of the International style, some in traditional styles evocative of some other place and time, some sleek Art Deco works of the 1920s and 1930s--are a splendid accompaniment. Behind the lakefront is all the diversity of Chicago. In sturdy brick houses, with scarcely a shoehorn's space between them, or in stubby apartment buildings, are ethnic and racial groups of all sorts, from Argentineans to Slavs, Plains Indians to Indian plainsmen. In the 1970s the neighborhoods behind the lakefront seemed to be getting grimier and heading downhill. But since the late 1980s, they have been busy gentrifying, as young couples and gays, professionals and entrepreneurs renovate old houses and open new businesses. Today this part of Chicago has as much urban energy and lively diversity as any place in America. The lakefront has long been the most heavily Jewish part of Chicago. The local Jewish community, prominent for more than a century, has never been as much a force for big government as in New York, nor is it connected as much to a glamorous industry as in Los Angeles. Yet these Jewish voters' liberal impulses have been strong: the 19th century impulse to resist state authority and imposition of cultural uniformity and the 20th century impulse to increase state responsibility for individuals' lives. Chicago's North Side Jews, on the lakefront or in neighborhoods like Rogers Park and nearby suburbs like Skokie and Niles, have been a solidly Democratic voting bloc, involved with--but skeptical of--the old Democratic machine. In city politics since the 1980s Jewish voters and lakefront liberals of all backgrounds have been a key swing group. The 9th Congressional District of Illinois covers most of Chicago's lakefront, from just north of Diversey Harbor past the thriving Asian and orthodox Jewish communities in West Rogers Park and on to Evanston, founded by Methodists to promote temperance (a cause that never prospered in Chicago). The home of Northwestern University, Evanston has moved gracefully from historic Yankee Republican-ness to trendy post-graduate Democratic-ness; a developer's plan for a local marina was rejected due to fears of excessive growth. From Evanston and nearby Wilmette (which is shared with the 10th), the 9th presses inland through heavily Jewish Skokie to Morton Grove and Niles and includes most of Des Plaines. The district extends west to once rock-solid Republican territory--Park Ridge, with its characteristic Chicago brick houses in orderly rows, where Hillary Rodham Clinton grew up at 235 Wisner, and the cluster of office buildings and interchanges in Rosemont, next to O'Hare Airport. Though much less Republican than it was before the 1990s, this territory lowered the district's Democratic percentage. But this remains an overwhelmingly Democratic district. The congresswoman from the 9th District is Jan Schakowsky, a Democrat elected in 1998 and an outspoken progressive, one of the leftmost members of the Democratic Caucus. She grew up in Rogers Park and worked two years as a teacher; in 1969 she formed National Consumers Unite and worked for date-of-freshness labels on dairy products and other food. Later she joined Illinois Public Action, a consumer group; in 1985 she became executive director of the Illinois State Council of Senior Citizens. She organized the 1989 protest to Dan Rostenkowski's Medicare catastrophic health care bill for seniors because of its financing, which resulted in televised pictures of him fleeing from elderly protestors and led Congress to repeal the benefit. In 1990 she was elected to the state House from Evanston and Skokie. In 1998 Schakowsky was selected in the Democratic primary to replace Sidney Yates, who had represented the lakefront in Congress for all but two of the preceding 50 years. Her strategy was to run from the left--"I don't think I can be defined as too far left in a district like this"--and to build a volunteer organization. With ads in college papers, she got 400 young people to apply for 20 field organizer jobs; they set about identifying Schakowsky voters. She also raised $1.4 million, with help from EMILY's List. Against state Senator Howard Carroll, who had the support of most Democratic ward committeemen and attacked her opposition to the death penalty, Schakowsky's 1,500 workers, 250 from unions, helped to give her a 45%-34% win. She easily won the general election. In the House, Schakowsky has one of the most liberal voting records. She called for expanding Medicare to cover everybody--single payer government health insurance--and has advanced a proposal to have a government-run investment fund that taxpayers could use to supplement Social Security. As ranking Democrat on the Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection Subcommittee, Schakowsky has pursued her public advocacy. In a letter to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, she urged the recall of yo-yo balls, a water-filled toy with a long cord that has resulted in hundreds of reports of injuries. To encourage food safety, she filed a bill to create a national database of school food suppliers. Schakowsky has worked with party leaders on electoral strategy, gaining their support to expand her training program for political organizers. An early supporter of Nancy Pelosi for party whip, Schakowsky was rewarded with a chief deputy whip slot. Her contacts with national liberal groups have helped her to become a major party fundraiser. When the McCain-Feingold law ended big soft-money contributions after the 2002 election, Schakowsky helped to assemble the House Democrats' program to expand contributions from small donors. Schakowsky briefly considered a run for the Senate in 2004 but decided to remain in the House. In March 2004 her husband Robert Creamer, longtime head of Illinois Public Action Fund, was indicted on bank and tax fraud charges. She said she was unaware of his financial problems, but took herself out of the running to chair the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
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