Nancy Rotering

Name: Nancy Rotering

Age: 56

Party: Democratic

Current residence: Highland Park

Current position: Mayor, City of Highland Park

Past legal experience: McDermott Will & Emery, 1990-98

Campaign funds available, July 1 to Dec. 31: $633,568.93

Campaign funds spent, July 1 to Dec. 31: $59,185.34

Law school: University of Chicago School of Law, 1990

Campaign website: NancyRotering.com

Family: Husband Rob Rotering, four sons

Hobbies/interests: Board Member: Planned Parenthood, Highland Park Healthcare Foundation, Northwestern University Women’s Health Research Institute Advisory Board (Chair), Illinois Women’s Institute for Leadership (former President), Ravinia Festival Women’s Board; Former Board Member: Lurie Children’s Hospital Foundation, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Actively involved in many organizations including: Northwest Municipal Conference Legislative Committee, Illinois Comptroller’s Local Government Advisory Board, Northwestern University Leadership Council, Personal PAC, Sierra Club, League of Women Voters, and Highland Park-Highwood Rotary

What would you consider your greatest career accomplishment?

During my first term as mayor, I shook up City Hall with a major reform of city government that resulted in increased transparency, accountability, collaboration and ethics. I emphasized creating a culture at City Hall that regained the trust of our residents and employees. I also founded a legal aid clinic where immigrant families, people in abusive relationships and tenants having issues with their landlords can access free legal services. With over 100 volunteer attorneys, translators and social workers, we have helped over 400 people in just two years.

Why should voters support your candidacy?

As a two-term mayor, I have spent nearly seven years in the executive branch, ultimately responsible for the operation of a city government with a $90 million budget and nearly 300 employees. In addition to setting the culture and priorities for the organization, I promote government accountability, prioritizing accessibility, ethics and transparency. With this experience, I will hit the ground running as attorney general.

What would be your top priority as attorney general?

Foremost, the resources of the Attorney General’s office need to go toward protecting the health, safety and welfare of Illinoisans. I would continue the critical work of the Attorney General’s office in the areas of consumer protection, environmental protection, immigration rights, crime victim advocacy and standing up for labor and working families. I would expand the scope of the office’s work to prioritize fighting corruption at every level of government, supporting smart criminal justice reform, gun violence prevention and battling the opioid crisis. I would also continue collaborative efforts with other states’ attorneys general in defending our democratic rights against the current president and his administration.

Regarding the ongoing consent decree talks with the Chicago Police Department, what policies or measures do you view as being necessary for the department to adopt?

By obtaining an enforceable consent decree, we can start taking critical steps to address the problems identified in the Department of Justice Report and begin improving the community’s trust in the police department while enhancing public safety. An effective result will be respecting the public’s rights and safety, while ensuring the necessary resources and support to those who place their lives on the line every day. With defined timelines, financial commitments, clear metrics and expected outcomes, the community and the police department will benefit and we will be on the path to a safer community for all.

How do you view the attorney general’s role in conjunction with the federal government?

As Illinois Attorney General, I will continue to be a watchdog and fight against Trump’s radical agenda, opposing any action that violates our laws and our constitutional rights. As a two-term mayor, I have an established record of fighting against the NRA, providing access to justice for women fleeing domestic violence as well as Dreamers and their families battling deportation. I have stood up for consumers’ rights, fought for equality for our LGBTQ communities and spoken out against attacks on our environment. I will bring the same fight and conviction to the office of attorney general and will always be unyielding in my fight to protect what is right.

Do you believe state employees should be paid absent an appropriation? Under the current laws of the state, would you go to court to block their pay if they continued receiving checks absent a budget?

The state’s budget should not be balanced on the backs of hardworking state employees. The attorney general takes a pledge to uphold the Illinois Constitution. We put the constitutionally protected rights of Illinoisans to health, safety and welfare at risk if we fail to compensate those charged with operating the state. We must ensure that those providing such critical services continue to be compensated.