Firefighter, Campaign Worker To Replace D'Amico In Illinois House

CHICAGO — Democratic Party committeepeople representing portions of the Illinois House of Representatives' 15th District on Tuesday appointed a Chicago firefighter to replace former State Rep. John D'Amico, who resigned earlier this month without warning or explanation.

Michael Kelly, who has worked on past political campaigns for D'Amico and his family, was selected by party officials to fill out of the rest of D'Amico's term, despite concerns from at least one member of the eight-person appointment committee that he had voted in the Republican Party primaries in 2010 and 2012, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

The 15th District includes parts of six Chicago wards and two suburban townships, so the committee to select D'Amico's successor included eight members.

However, their votes are weighted based on vote totals from past elections, so more than 88 percent of the vote was allocated to 39th Ward Committeeperson State Sen. Ram Villivalam (D-Chicago), Maine Township Committeeperson State Sen. Laura Murphy (D-Des Plaines), and former State Rep. and Niles Township Committeeperson Lou Lang.

“We owed it to the people of the 15th Legislative District to make sure public input informed this appointment,” Villivalam said in a release. “As a result, we had seven applicants up for consideration who we heard from today for close to four hours and all of the respective elected committeepersons voted for an applicant that represents the values of the 15th Legislative District and the priorities expressed by our communities during the last few weeks.”

Other applicants hoping to get picked for the appointment included Michael Rabbit, an affordable housing advocate and Argonne National Laboratory employee who had already declared his intention to challenge D'Amico in next year's primary; Triton College professor Christina Brophy, attorney Daniel Cotter; Lexington Group Chief Information Officer Vince Fattore; contracting specialist Judy Kehoe and Niles Economic Development Director John Melaniphy, according to the Sun-Times.

Rabbitt was endorsed by SEIU Healthcare and the Northwest Side progressive group 39th Neighbors United, but Kelly had D'Amico's "behind-the-scenes backing," Nadig Newspapers reported. Kelly was also endorsed by 15 local union leaders, including firefighters, Teamsters, electricians and plumbers.

Related:

• State Rep. John D'Amico Pushes To Permit Police Drones At Political Protests
• D'Amico Resigns Seat, Hints At Future Campaign
• Applications Open For Vacant 15th District State House Sea