Born on October 15, 1949 on the South Side of Chicago and raised by middle-class parents, Ed was taught at an early age the values of hard work and civic responsibility. He attended the University of Notre Dame, where he made money working in construction during the summer. After college, Ed went on to receive his law degree from DePaul in 1976 where he paid his tuition driving a taxi in Chicago.
Ed grew up in the Beverly section of the South Side of Chicago, one of five children. He married Libby in 1975 and they moved to Oak Park, where they have resided since. Libby and Ed are the parents of four children, Edmund, Jessica, Alison, and Claire and the grandparents of two, Edmund and Luke.
Ed has been practicing law for 32 years, where he has represented clients in state and federal courts throughout Illinois and across the country. A small business owner for most of his life, Ed has never held elected office, nor received a government paycheck. In fact, he had never even entertained the thought of elected office until this year.
Ed is the only candidate in the Democratic primary willing to speak the truth about what’s going on in Illinois: the political elite and special interests in this state have taken over our government and taken the power away from the people. Ed believes it is time to get it back: to stand up, take them on, and beat them. Though he lacks political experience, there is no doubt he is ready for this fight – because fighting special interests on behalf of regular, hard-working people is what he’s been doing his entire life.
Throughout his career representing families victimized by powerful interests, Ed found himself on one side of the courtroom with an army of corporate lawyers on the other. The odds have often been stacked against the people he’s represented. But over and over again, Ed has overcome big companies and powerful interests and helped hard-working families overcome tremendous challenges. In his legal career, he’s earned a reputation as a forceful and tireless champion for regular, hard-working people.
Ed feels strongly it’s time for the people of Illinois to reclaim their seat at the political decision-making table. For too long, decisions that impact our lives have been left to a small group of the politically wealthy and connected. For too long, our state has been run by those whose first priority is preserving the system they’ve benefited from. This has also put Illinois on the wrong track. The government is broken and it is breaking us. And, the citizens of Illinois can’t afford it anymore.
Ed believes if Democrats do not make systemic changes to the way our government works, our children will be left to shoulder the crushing debt and the programs for those truly in need will be decimated.
As an outsider to the politically privileged, Ed’s only constituency is the people of Illinois. He has no ties, nor favors owed, to the special interests and political elites that have controlled this state for too long. He’s running for Governor on behalf of the people he grew up with: good, hard-working people who want nothing more than to leave a better life for their children – just like their parents did for them. And, like many in this state, he knows that the system of crony politics that has governed Illinois for decades need to end. It is time to change course and it is motivation to do so that has brought this political outsider in.
