Evanston attorney and community leader Jeff Smith (WCAS ’77), will announce his intent to run for Illinois General Assembly as representative of the 18th District this Sunday, according to a statement released Tuesday. The primary election is set for Feb. 2, 2010.
Illinois State Rep. Julie Hamos (D-Evanston) currently holds the position and recently announced her decision to seek statewide office, according to the press release. Hamos has not officially announced her decision to run on her Web site, but events on her Facebook page indicate her exploratory bid for Illinois Attorney General.
Evanston attorney Eamon Kelly has also launched an exploratory campaign site for the 18th District seat, but no one else has formally announced an intent to run, Smith said.
Smith, 52, said he decided to run to take advantage of a “unique moment in politics.”
“It’s a time when change agents are necessary,” Smith said. “The state is basically broke. We’ve been running a structural deficit for years. All this comes on top of perhaps the highest level of distrust and cynicism about state and local government that I’ve ever seen.”
Known for his grassroots advocacy and community involvement, Smith served as Democratic State Central Committeeman for the 9th Congressional District and has also run for the Cook County Board of Commissioners.
“I’ve always been a little different than the average politician,” Smith said. “If you look at my history of activism from Northwestern all the way to the present, there’s been a consistent theme of trying to hold institutions accountable to their core constituencies and calling for greater accountability, particularly in the area of budgeting.”
Smith’s top priorities include ethical reform, environmental issues, and Illinois’s fiscal crisis.
“What we’re hoping to do is not just win an election, but have an impact on politics along the way,” he said. “We’re trying to alter the standard formula, which is to raise as much money as you can. This campaign asks: What if you started with issues first and people first?”
As a psychology major at Northwestern, Smith graduated at the age of 20 after being involved with the Publications Committee and Associated Student Government. After college, Smith said he drove a forklift, tried to start a rock band – “Well, I did start a rock band, but it was not very successful” – and drove a school bus.
Afterwards, he attended Harvard Law School and practiced at a variety of Chicago law firms. Smith was also a faculty member at the Loyola University School of Law and now owns a law firm.
In anticipation of his campaign, Smith has already cut back on his law practice to focus on community activism, he said. He is the president of Evanston’s Central Street Neighbors Association and participates in several other community organizations.
Although Smith said he is “far from perfect,” he is committed to fighting for the community’s interests.
“I’m coming to this race as a community leader and not as a product of a political bubble,” Smith said. “We need to send different types of people to Springfield, or the system’s not going to change.”
