Rich Whitney’s quixotic campaign for governor

If you knew where to look you might have seen him – bearded, bespectacled and biking through Springfield. Looking more like a college professor than a politician, the Green Party candidate for governor, Rich Whitney, spent May 20 through 28 riding his bike and various trains on a 650-mile tour across the state to promote sustainable transportation – getting around while minimizing environmental impact.

“I believe that moving in the direction of sustainable transportation is an important component of moving to a new energy future,” Whitney says. “Americans have a love affair with the automobile; people talk about it being part of our culture. I understand that, and in pushing for alternatives, it’s not my expectation to be lecturing people about their lifestyles. I’m not saying everybody should stop using cars. That’s not realistic, but part of the policy of sustainable transportation is to make it easier to do that. It really is a pocket book issue.”

Behind the talk about breaking free from oil addiction and making transportation more affordable for the working class was an unspoken message about altering some of the fundamentals of Illinois government and politics.

Creating more green transportation infrastructure would save money, create jobs and stimulate the economy, Whitney asserts. But his campaign isn’t just about better transportation.

Whitney is one of 10 candidates currently vying for the state’s top executive position, and his ideas would mark a major shift in Illinois’ tax system, finances, energy policy, criminal law and other areas of public policy.

Richard J. Whitney is a rare breed in Illinois – pro-gun but anti-war, outspoken yet diplomatic, a former socialist turned Illinois Green Party founder. He has detailed and nuanced views on everything from abortion to workers’ rights, and the issue essays on his campaign website impart an air of enlightenment and pragmatism. In many ways, Whitney is the thinking man’s candidate, the “philosopher king” from Plato’s Republic.

“Good ideas don’t always resolve themselves in sound bites,” he says.

Whitney focuses much of his political platform on good government, equality and social justice – along with fixing the state’s dire financial problems – and he has already put considerable effort into planning his agenda, should he be elected. But what motivates a 55-year-old civil rights lawyer from Carbondale to run for governor of one of the most troubled states in the nation?

“We need a government that’s going to serve the interests of the people,” Whitney says. “We the people have been shut out; we’re no longer part of the process under the so-called ‘twoparty system.’ The banks and the corporations, through the power of big money and big influence, basically dominate the Democratic and Republican parties, so that’s whose interests they serve. Whoever pays the piper gets to call the tunes.”

Whitney first became interested in politics while attending high school in Randolph, N.J., during the early 1970s, where he became curious about why issues like unemployment, poverty and pollution seemed like such “unsolvable problems.”

“I’ve always had a feeling that what we do as a society – how we organize our government – has much more to do with the quality of our lives than what we do just by our individual efforts,” he says. “Ever since then, I’ve tried to find the answers. I was all over the place – liberal one year, Republican the next. My ideas kept evolving.”

While attending college at Michigan State University from 1973 to 1977, Whitney became disillusioned with mainstream political discourse, and he began working as an activist with the Socialist Labor Party after graduating. He grew disillusioned with the socialist movement as well, he says, and he left the party to

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