North Cook News

Amelia "Ammie" Kessem has been a Chicago police officer since 1999. Now she is running against incumbent Robert Martwick as a Republican for the Illinois House of Representatives seat in District 19 and reaching out to voters to talk about some of the problems that seem inherent in Illinois politics.

One of these, Kessem told North Cook News on Dec. 7, is a sense that abuses of power are not corrected at the state level, where repeated scandals make some voters cynical about the process. 

As one example of what she sees as a culture of power politics, Kessem named Illinois Speaker of the House Michael Madigan (D-Chicago), who has been in office for decades and, she says, has outstayed his welcome. 

"He has the most power of any speaker in the country," Kessem said, talking about how Madigan can control the political process by naming committee members on a daily basis. If, she said, Madigan doesn’t like how someone may vote on an issue, he can change the equation in the legislature. 

"He’s the one who decides," Kessem said. "The problem is that it’s completely legal … the only way to fix it is to get Mike Madigan out of office."

Kessem also blasted both Madigan and her opponent for potentially benefiting from property tax reassessments. Noting that Martwick has been hired by Cook County Tax Assessor Joe Berrios as a consultant, Kessem said the conflict of interest is egregious. 

"He should have to disclose (his role) when he is taking on new clients," Kessem said. "It’s a transparency issue."

Kessem talked about how some of these types of problems affect voters. 

"It’s hard for them to follow all of these things," Kessem said, describing how the average voter often does not get engaged enough to know when conflicts of interest may be aligned against them. "I think we have to do a better job of educating the public. You have this scandal and that scandal ... they feel that they’re so disenfranchised."

Kessem suggested one starting point is to inform voters better about who their elected representatives are and move toward a more structured system to get rid of corruption that often comes with lack of change in the legislature, and said she has posted more criticism of state political practices on her Facebook page. 

More information on her campaign is available at https://ammiefor19.com.