I stood feet away from Daniel Biss yesterday at Imperial Oak Brewery in Willow Springs and heard him speak for the third time. Unlike the unnatural, refereed “sound bites” of a televised debate, Daniel held forth for over an hour, accurately summarizing the “state of the State,” answering questions with calm and candor — his logical mathematician’s mind visibly clicking.

Daniel Biss is not a politician, meaning he has no ulterior motives for seeking a position of leadership. He is a citizen — he has extreme clarity of vision and purpose. He reminds us every few minutes that we are all in this together. You know, democracy?

He gets called out continually on his one bad vote (dealing with balancing the budget by cutting pensions). He can explain his thinking at the time and his 180 degree revolution from that position to my satisfaction as an educator — a credit to his honesty. (J.B. Pritzker supported the same bad position with gobs of money to a right-wing PAC but has yet to admit HIS mistake).

And if you’re at all concerned about the environment in Illinois, Biss wants us to be 100 percent renewable by 2030. Pritzker has deep investments in the fossil fuel industry. If Pritzker gets in, he will be the first governor hand- picked by Mike Madigan. If you think Madigan has too much power now, just wait until his pick is in the Governor’s Mansion.

Regular people won’t stand a chance acquiring any clout to influence policy in Illinois. This race has the eyes of the nation upon it. If a regular, smart, honest, middle-class citizen can win against big money, it will send a very strong message that business-as-usual in American politics is in big trouble.

Susan R. Dewar graduated in 1984 with a B.A. in LAS.

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