At a DFA forum at the main library last year, I heard Rep. Deborah Graham mention the House Renewable Energy Subcommittee she chairs. As the organizer of the event, I really didn’t have time to listen carefully, so it didn’t really register. Then, a few months ago, I was in Springfield, lobbying with my professional organization. (I’m an architect.) High among our priorities were multiple bills about energy and environmental responsibility. Our Director told me there was no need to bother lobbying Deborah, that not only was she on board, she was one of the leaders in the chamber on the whole array of issues. Now I had been an enthusiastic supporter of Deborah’s when she first ran and narrowly won her seat and have since had plenty of contact with her, but I frankly had no idea she was as much of a leader on a critical “green” issue. What I learned that day was that, unlike many in Springfield, without ostentation she practices what Howard Dean calls “information-based decision-making” on issues that are important to us. She has listened, learned and then led. Turns out she not only chairs that Subcommittee, she got Speaker Madigan to create it in the first place! The easy smear I’ve heard whispered says that since Deborah comes from an Alderman’s organization in the city (heavens!), she’s only interested in what keeps her patron in power, and that certainly never includes Oak Park’s issues. We should give her credit, therefore, for listening to our priorities, for working outside of that shadow, effectively, on this important “green” issue when it certainly wasn’t something she had to do to get re-elected. If the rest of the “leaders” in Springfield were as effective, they’d have had a budget months ago.
Eric Davis
Oak Park
