After 22 years, Assistant Senate Majority Leader to devote his career to philanthropy

Senator Jeff Schoenberg, Assistant Senate Majority Leader (D-Evanston) today announced that, at the end of his term, he will end his 22-year career in the Illinois General Assembly.  During a Springfield press conference, the veteran legislator explained that he is not seeking reelection and, instead, is excited at the prospect of entering an exclusive career in philanthropy.  

“While I take very seriously my responsibility to my constituents on the North Shore and to the taxpayers of this states, I also know that my position in the State Senate is only one point of entry into public service,” Schoenberg said.  “The issue has been the center of my passion and what motivates me professionally is improving the lives of children and families – especially in our most vulnerable communities.  With this in mind, I’ve chosen to accept an expanded full-time role advising J.B. and M.K. Prtizker and their family philanthropy on initiatives in the area of early childhood development.”

At the age of 30, Schoenberg was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives in 1990.  There, he served six terms before his eventual election to the Illinois Senate in 2003.  Throughout the years, Schoenberg has earned a reputation as leader in enacting sweeping reforms to provide increased transparency and accountability in state government and taxpayer-funded entities.  Of particular note is Schoenberg’s push to change the spending practices and notoriously flawed, unaccountable, policies of the Illinois Toll Highway Authority.  More recently, Schoenberg championed a comprehensive overhaul of state purchasing laws.

Schoenberg has also been instrumental in advancing a number of important public health initiatives, including ensuring greater access to quality healthcare through a hospital assessment law that has secured over $5 billion in new federal Medicaid funds for safety-net hospitals like Mt. Sinai, Mercy and Holy Cross hospitals, among others.  Additionally, the longtime lawmaker gained nationwide attention in his bipartisan efforts to make Illinois a leader in stem cell research.  Schoenberg also recently passed a measure to allow schools to keep and administer epinephrine for anaphylactic shock. Working with Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office, Schoenberg fashioned the law in response to the death of a 13‐year‐old Chicago girl who had an allergic reaction to peanut oil at school.

In addition to his Senate leadership role, Schoenberg serves as Co-Chair of the legislature’s Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability and sits as a member of the Senate Executive, Financial Institutions, Public Health and Appropriations I and II committees. 

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STATEMENT OF ASSISTANT SENATE MAJORITY LEADER JEFF SCHOENBERG
(D-EVANSTON) NOVEMBER 8, 2011

Good Afternoon.  Thank you for coming.

Today, I would like to formally announce that after 22 years in public office, I have decided not to seek re-election in 2012 in order to exclusively pursue my career in another realm of social impact:  philanthropy.

Let me say initially that I still love my work in the public sector -- it is intellectually challenging and it has given me the chance to provide a distinctive voice for reform and to make an impact in the lives of many people. I am especially grateful for the opportunity that my friend and colleague, Senate President John Cullerton, has provided me to serve his Senate Democratic Caucus as Assistant Senate Majority Leader.
I am also deeply grateful for the patience, perspective and loving support that my wife, Lynne, and our two children have provided over this uniquely meaningful period in our lives.

The needs of my neighbors and constituents in my hometown of Evanston and across the surrounding communities of the North Shore are top of mind for me at this moment, as they always are.  And while I'd like to be able to plan for my own succession the way I would if I were moving on from a position of leadership in the private sector, I know that this simply isn't possible or even appropriate.  That said, I am positive of one thing:  over the last 21-plus years, I have done everything within my power to create the conditions in which the next State Senator can be successful.

As a leading voice for reform during 12 years in the Illinois House and what will be 10 years at the completion of my term in the State Senate, I am proud of my successful efforts to bring about sweeping fundamental change of the spending practices and policies of the once-notorious Illinois Toll Highway Authority. I am similarly proud of authoring comprehensive reforms of the state's purchasing laws, ensuring that billions in public contracts for goods and services are bid fairly and with far greater transparency.

Ensuring that the state's most vulnerable residents can have continued access to high-quality health care has long been a top priority of mine, and through innovative financing mechanisms like my hospital assessment legislation, we have secured over $5 billion in new federal Medicaid funding for safety-net hospitals like Mt. Sinai, Mercy and Holy Cross Hospitals and academic medical centers like Northwestern Memorial, Rush Presbyterian-St Luke's and the University of Chicago Medical Center, which serve high numbers of patients without private health insurance.

Similarly, Illinois has assumed the role of a national leader in all forms of stem cell research as the result of a bipartisan proposal that became law with key assists from House Republican Leader Tom Cross, Rep. Sara Feigenholtz, former Comptroller Dan Hynes and then-State Sen. Barack Obama.

And as one of the Illinois's highest ranking Jewish political leaders, I am particularly proud of the groundbreaking Illinois law requiring the state's pension funds to divest themselves of any holdings in the Iranian energy sector, which is how that rogue government funds its nuclear ambitions.

While I take very seriously my responsibility to my constituents on the North Shore and to the taxpayers of this state, I also know that my position in the State Senate is only one point of entry into public service.  The issue that has been at the center of my passion and what motivates me the most professionally is improving the lives of children and families, especially in our most vulnerable communities.  This has been my focus both here in Illinois, across the country and at times across the ocean in my other full-time career advising the philanthropy of J.B. and M.K. Pritzker for the last five years.

With this in mind, effective upon the completion of my current term in office in January, 2013, I've chosen to accept an expanded full-time role advising the Pritzker family on their philanthropic initiatives in the area of early childhood development.

Some of the dynamic, impactful initiatives we've put in place - focusing on human capital development with Nobel Laureate economist James Heckman, helping to build Educare of Washington, DC;  helping initiate the First Five Years Fund, the national advocacy organization led by former Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Cornelia Grumman; and other programs and supports -- are all at a critical point of development.  Importantly, these Illinois-incubated innovations are getting national and international attention both from a programmatic and policy perspective. 

In order to fully take advantage of this unusual moment, I simply need to dedicate myself with a singular professional approach to lead this work in a way that will require more focus, flexibility and consistency than the responsibilities my two full-time careers currently allow.

I was first elected to serve here at the State Capitol in 1990, when I was 30 years old. In this next phase of my career I will be able to leverage my wisdom, my understanding of the political process, my network, and strategic perspective to have an even greater impact on society.  I have come to realize that the opportunity to work side-by-side with one of our state's and our country's most innovative, generous and strategic businessmen comes along only once in a lifetime.  I look forward to putting a renewed passion for the possible into the work that lies ahead.  I believe with all my heart that in my lifetime, we will see a change in the way in which our nation cares for and educates its most vulnerable children.

Thank you.