Prairie State Wire

As Cook County Clerk, David Orr served as the chief election authority in one of the largest election jurisdictions in the country and has found innovative ways to reform how government works.

David has been a reformer in a town known for insider deals and corruption. He beat the machine to become County Clerk in 1990 and was instrumental in remaking election law in Illinois. David served as Alderman from Chicago’s 49th ward from 1979-1990. As Vice Mayor under Mayor Harold Washington, he served briefly as Mayor after Washington’s unfortunate passing in 1987.

 

David currently serves as Director of the Good Government Illinois PAC, whose mission is to recruit, train and endorse quality candidates who are dedicated to good government while facilitating collaborations that connect candidates and elected officials to government innovations from around the country. He also serves as a Senior Fellow at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy. 

Jaylin D. McClinton is a proud graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Liberal Arts & Sciences and current law student at the Chicago-Kent College of Law. McClinton is passionate about reforming the American criminal legal system, good government, voting rights, and equity in education and has dedicated his professional career to law, litigation, public policy, and public service. Prior to law school, Jaylin served as the Obama Foundation’s first-ever local Community Organizer and as District Manager for then-Illinois State Representative Juliana Stratton, now Illinois Lieutenant Governor.

Ben has taught political science at Northwestern, the University of Chicago, and other institutions. His recent book with Martin Gilens, Democracy in America?, explores proposals to reform campaign finance; enhance citizen participation; and give citizens equal voices in elections and legislative processes. His other books include Billionaires and Stealth Politics; The Rational Public; Who Deliberates?; and What Government Can Do about Poverty and Inequality.

Trish Oberweis earned her Doctorate from the interdisciplinary School of Justice Studies at Arizona State University. She has been professor of criminal justice studies at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville since 2002, but has also taught in Political Science, Public Administration, Philosophy, Women’s Studies and Human Development. Her academic interests center mainly on drug policy, the prevention of and response to sexual violence, and the way that people’s everyday understanding of law shapes their interactions with legal institutions and the people who work in them. She is committed to government that is transparent, ethical and open to everyone. In that spirit, she joined the Board of Reform for Illinois in 2021.