Alice Palmer (Illinois politician)

All you want to know about Alice Palmer (Illinois politician)

Alice Palmer
Member of the Illinois Senate
from the 13th district
In office
June 6, 1991 – January 8, 1997
Preceded by Richard Newhouse
Succeeded by Barack Obama
Born June 20, 1939 (1939-06-20) (age 69)
Indianapolis, Indiana
Political party Democratic

Alice Palmer (born June 20, 1939 in Indianapolis, Indiana) is a former Democratic State Senator from Illinois, representing the state's 13th District.[1] Dr. Palmer was the founding executive director of Chicago Cities in Schools and creator and founding director of the Chicago Metropolitan YMCA Youth and Government Program.

On November 21, 1994, Palmer announced she was launching a campaign committee to run for the seat of indicted U.S. Rep. Mel Reynolds (D-2) and suggested that the then 29-year-old Jesse Jackson, Jr., who had just moved a few blocks into the 2nd Congressional District after Mel Reynolds' August 1994 indictment—run for her State Senate seat instead of running for Congress.[2]

On June 27, 1995, Palmer announced she was running for Congress and would be giving up her State Senate seat instead of running for re-election in 1996.[3] The following week, newspapers reported that Palmer supporter Barack Obama—who had been announced as chairman of the $49.2 million Chicago Annenberg Challenge on June 22 and whose memoir Dreams from My Father would be published on July 18—would announce he was running and would be a front-runner for Palmer's State Senate seat; at the end of July, Obama launched a campaign committee to run for State Senate.[4]

On September 14, 1995, three days after Governor Edgar set November 28 as the date for the special primary election to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Mel Reynolds following his August 1995 conviction, Palmer's supporters held a City Hall press conference asking State Sen. Emil Jones to stay out and State Rep. Monique D. Davis and Jesse Jackson, Jr. to drop out of the race for Reynolds' Congressional seat—Jones had told his supporters that morning that he had decided to enter the race.[5]

On September 19, 1995—the first day of the 13-week period in which candidates could circulate nominating petitions to win a place on the ballot for the March 1996 primary—Obama announced his candidacy for Palmer's State Senate seat to a standing-room-only audience of 200 supporters at the Ramada Inn Lakeshore at 4900 S. Lake Shore Drive in Hyde Park-Kenwood in the same room where thirteen years earlier Harold Washington had announced his successful run for mayor.[6] Palmer introduced and endorsed Obama as her successor to supporters that included 4th Ward Alderman Toni Preckwinkle, 5th Ward Alderman Barbara Holt, State Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie, Cook County Clerk David Orr, and many other politicians.[6]

On November 28, 1995, after finishing a distant third in the 2nd Congressional District special primary election behind the winner, Jesse Jackson, Jr., and Emil Jones, and dismayed at receiving only 2,917 votes in Chicago and 3,426 votes in suburban Cook County, a disappointed Alice Palmer told a small gathering at a Harvey hotel that she wouldn't seek re-election to the state Senate and was undecided about entering the March 1996 primary for the 2nd Congressional District seat.[7]

After her defeat, Palmer broke her promise to Obama not to run for re-election to her State Senate seat and filed nominating petitions with 1,580 signatures on December 18, 1995—the last day to file nominating petitions. Obama challenged Palmer's hastily gathered nominating petitions and those of the three other prospective candidates. Nearly two-thirds of the signatures on Palmer's nominating petitions were found to be invalid, leaving her almost 200 signatures short of the required 757 signatures of registered voters residing in the Senate district; neither of the other three prospective candidates had the required number of valid signatures, leaving Obama, who had filed nominating petitions with over 3,000 signatures on the first filing day, as the only candidate to earn a place on the March 1996 Democratic primary ballot.[8][9]

Obama said that the challenges were necessitated by the obvious flaws in the challengers' signature sheets. "To my mind, we were just abiding by the rules that had been set up," he said in a 2007 interview with the Chicago Tribune.[9] When asked if voters were not disserviced by a ballot with no opposing candidates, Obama said "I think they ended up with a very good state senator."[9]

Palmer endorsed Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008.[10]

References

  1. ^ "Alice Palmer Biography". The HistoryMakers (August 9, 2000). Retrieved on 2008-04-07.
  2. ^ Kuczka, Susan (November 22, 1994). "State Sen. Palmer ponders a bid for Reynolds' 2nd district post", Chicago Tribune, p. 2. Retrieved on 4 November 2008. 
    Neal, Steve (November 25, 1994). "Palmer beats Jackson Jr. to punch", Chicago Sun-Times, p. 49. Retrieved on 4 November 2008. 
  3. ^ Hardy, Thomas (June 28, 1995). "Palmer seeks to replace Reynolds; 'Pray for him, vote for me,' legislator says", Chicago Tribune, p. 3. Retrieved on 4 November 2008. 
  4. ^ Knapp, Kevin (July 5, 1995). "Alice Palmer to run for Reynolds' seat", Hyde Park Herald, p. 1. Retrieved on 4 November 2008. 
    Hevrdejs, Judy; Conklin, Mike (July 7, 1995). "Something different, Democrats don't add a Senate candidate", Chicago Tribune, p. 20. Retrieved on 4 November 2008. 
  5. ^ Fornek, Scott (September 15, 1995). "Sen. Jones is joining the pack; Will bid for Reynolds’ House seat", Chicago Sun-Times, p. 6. Retrieved on 4 November 2004. 
  6. ^ a b Strausberg, Chinta (September 19, 1995). "Harvard lawyer eyes Palmer seat", Chicago Defender, p. 3. Retrieved on 4 November 2008. 
    Mitchell, Monica (October 4, 1995). "Hyde Parker announces run for state senate seat", Hyde Park Herald, p. 3. Retrieved on 4 November 2008. 
    Fornek, Scott (October 29, 1995). "Foot soldiers for the '96 elections", Chicago Sun-Times, p. 14. Retrieved on 4 November 2008. 
  7. ^ Hardy, Thomas; Rubin, Bonnie Miller (November 29, 1995). "Jesse Jackson Jr. rolls over veteran opponents; Somer wins GOP primary", Chicago Tribune, p. 1 (Metro). Retrieved on 4 November 2008. 
  8. ^ David Jackson; Ray Long (April 4 2007). "Showing his bare knuckles", Chicago Tribune. Retrieved on 21 April 2008. 
  9. ^ a b c David Jackson; Ray Long (April 3, 2007). "Obama Knows His Way Around a Ballot", Chicago Tribune. Retrieved on 21 April 2008. 
  10. ^ Christi Parsons, Once Obama's mentor, Alice Palmer now campaigns for Clinton LA Times, April 26, 2008
Illinois Senate
Preceded by
Richard Newhouse		 Illinois State Senator from 13th district
June 6, 1991 - January 8, 1997		 Succeeded by
Barack Obama
 This article about an Illinois politician is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Palmer_(Illinois_politician)"

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