"I’m a father first. I love the
community I grew up in, and I love coaching," says
Rep. Kevin Joyce (D-Chicago). Not something that
most Illinoisans are aware of, he coaches high
school wrestling in his district and is defensive
line coach for football at St. Xavier University.
Besides being part of a sports family, the Joyces
were also involved in politics, one reason he was
inspired to enter government. His father,
Jeremiah, was a state senator.
"It was a very positive influence. I watched
how he made a difference in many people’s lives
and how he took his job very seriously, but not
himself seriously," Joyce believes. "He was able
to dance to the beat of a different drummer as a
legislator and not exactly go along with
leadership all the time, but yet still be able to
be effective for his district."
Although he is a newly elected representative,
Joyce has been named to an astonishing amount of
committees: Appropriations, Aging, Environment and
Energy, Labor, Education, Transportation, just to
name some.
"You’re never bored, that’s for sure, with
being on that many committees, and you do have an
opportunity to learn about more subjects...That
gives me a pretty good balance," he thinks.
Joyce still hasn’t spent as much time in the
legislature as others have, but he found help in
Springfield right away through more experienced
legislators. "I don’t think anyone can come down
here and be successful or even enjoy the process
if they don’t have someone else helping them out,
some sort of mentor, another legislator. I’ve been
very fortunate and had people take an interest in
me: Kevin McCarthy and Jim Brosnahan, my neighbors
to the south and to the north in the districts.
They’ve been very good to me; they’ve been very
generous in their knowledge and their time,
helping me through the process with their advice."
Q: What was it like for you today in session?
A: This morning, we had Education Committee at
8:00, and because of a lot of different issues
that get hidden beneath the surface now, we’ll get
a lot of constituents coming down with different
special interests in mind. They’re from the
district, so you try to make sure you come and see
them, catch up with them when the committees are
over. We were in committee until almost noon, and
then we were in session for about an hour, and
then we went to Caucus to discuss the Governor’s
budget proposals, which we’ve sort of been doing
on a regular basis for the last couple weeks,
taking off different pieces at a time and
discussing them as a Caucus and getting
information out so that all the members understand
it.
Then, I’ve got my bills that are over in the
Senate, and then I’ve got bills that I’ve picked
up from the Senate for over in the House that I
had to present today. I had Labor Committee at
2:00 and Environmental Committee at 4:00, and I
had to go to the Higher Education Committee to
present my Truth in Tuition bill, so it was kind
of a scramble of a day. Just bring the cell phone
with you and check the messages once in awhile.
That’s what I’ll do over the next couple of hours
in my office: just get in touch with everyone back
in the district.
Q: You have been named to more committees than
new legislators usually get a chance to serve on.
How do you handle your time in Springfield? What
legislation is there that are you currently
sponsoring or support?
A: As far as the number of committees and my
time, that is difficult because you want to learn
as much as you can, and you don’t want to be split
too thin, so to speak. For me, I’ve always enjoyed
the legislative process. That makes the day fly
by. You’re never bored, that’s for sure, with
being on that many committees, and you do have an
opportunity to learn about more subjects. I’m
getting the "fully monty," so to speak, for
information, so that gives me a pretty good
balance. I’ve got four children, so when I’m down
here, it’s the only time I get a good night’s
sleep because usually, babies are getting up
during the night. By the time I get back to the
apartment after I’ve eaten dinner, I’m ready to
have a good night’s sleep and make sure I’m over
at the Capitol early in the morning. I think it’s
kind of keeping it in perspective, and it’s easy
to hand over the time as long as you remember why
you’re down here.
I have ten bills that passed the House and went
over to the Senate. The most important piece of
legislation I think I’ve passed is the Truth in
Tuition bill, which is the concept that what you
pay as a freshman is what you will pay for four
years for all the public universities in the state
of Illinois. What that does is it gives people an
understanding of what their tuition is going to
cost them over a period of four years. There’s a
lot of scholarships, and Illinois does a great job
taking care of and providing a quality education
for those at the college level who can’t afford
it. There’s plenty of scholarships for people who
are very intelligent, but for the middle class
student, they may not be the smartest, the brains
of their class, and their family may just make a
little bit too much money, so they have no
financial aid. But those parents are still going
to struggle to put those kids through college.
What this bill does is allow families to budget
for that, and it’s gaining support across both
sides of the aisle over in the Senate floor, it’s
going through committee over there. The Governor
has indicated he’ll sign the bill also. That’s
probably the most significant and the one people
will feel back home and relate to the most.
Q: Your father was a prominent State Senator
and viewed as a member of Mayor Daley's "inner
circle." Did his involvement in politics influence
your decision to run for office? How did being
raised in a political family prepare you for
serving in government?
A: The influence to run for office, I’m sure
of, from the time I was 4 years old, my father
held political office, so I grew up in it, enjoyed
it, and saw what a difference could be made for
people in their lives. It taught me to get
involved. Of course, there have been times in my
life where I said, "There’s no way I’m ever going
to run for office," and never wanted to do it
because you watch what your mother goes through as
a wife of an elected official, and a lot of times,
you don’t necessarily have your father around,
especially during session. My brothers and I would
come down here with him quite a bit. This was back
when they would be in session until July,
sometimes even until August.
Sure, it had a big influence on my decision to
run for office. It was a very positive influence.
I watched how he made a difference in many
people’s lives and how he took his job very
seriously, but not himself seriously. He was able
to dance to the beat of a different drummer as a
legislator and not exactly go along with
leadership all the time, but yet still be able to
be effective for his district.
Being raised in a political family - I liked
politics, and I liked government. I’m the youngest
of four boys, and the oldest is four years older
than me. We were very close to one another, but I
got to come down here, as my brothers did, and I
probably liked it the most and enjoyed the
legislative process, studied it, and became a
student of it. I would say from that aspect,
growing up in a family as involved in government,
probably prepared me for the process, as well as
anything else.
It gives you an advantage in the government
standpoint. I don’t know if it gives you any
advantage politically because sometimes, it can go
the other way, it could be a disadvantage.
Overall, it’s definitely an advantage.
Q: How have you acclimated yourself to
Springfield? Have there been other legislators who
have helped guide you through the process? As a
new representative, what do you think about the
way things are at the Capitol?
A: I don’t think anyone can come down here and
be successful or even enjoy the process if they
don’t have someone else helping them out, some
sort of mentor, another legislator. I’ve been very
fortunate and had people take an interest in me:
Kevin McCarthy and Jim Brosnahan, my neighbors to
the south and to the north in the districts.
They’ve been very good to me; they’ve been very
generous in their knowledge and their time,
helping me through the process with their advice.
As far as getting myself acclimated to
Springfield, it wasn’t very difficult. I was able
to share an apartment with Kevin McCarthy, Jim
Brosnahan, Jay Hoffman, and Danny Wright, so that
was, obviously, another help that they provided,
just knowing where to put your bags. I don’t think
anyone could come down here and be successful
without some other legislator helping. It’s just a
constant tradition that the older, more
experienced legislators give us freshmen a lot of
help and a lot of leeway too. Maybe on a mistake I
might make, someone won’t come down as hard on me
as they would with someone who’s been down here
five or six years.
The process is enjoyable. It’s hard for me,
being away from home. This last week, it obviously
wasn’t too hard with the Easter holiday, but we
had that run in March that was pretty difficult
because I’m away from my family, and there’s a lot
of downtime on the floor where there’s a lot of
debate, you see an hour of debate, the bill, and
then the bill passes 116-nothing. That’s
frustrating, but overall, I think we run pretty
efficiently, considering you’re bringing 177
people from all different walks of life across the
state to find some sort of agreement on a couple
thousand different issues.
Q: Your represent a district that has both
suburban communities and parts of the city of
Chicago. Are the interests of city families and
suburban families in your district different?
A: I don’t think so. If you look at my district
(we call it "The Southwest Community", because
it’s really the southwest corner of the city of
Chicago) - I went to school at Marist High School,
it’s on the corner of 115th and Pulaski. 50
percent of the kids that go there come from the
city of Chicago, 50 percent come from the
suburbs...There is no difference between a kid
from Oak Lawn, Beverly, or Palos. The same goes
for their families. They have the same goals in
life, they want to be able to raise their kids in
a safe neighborhood, they want their kids to be
able to get a great education. At the end of the
day, after they make sure those kids get a good
education, they want to make sure those kids get a
good job. Those are core values that I think are
shared throughout the Southwest Community.
Q: What issues have you focused on during this
legislative session?
A: I’ve focused on higher education, the Truth
in Tuition bill. A lot of people got involved in
this, we’re pretty lucky. Now, the universities
have jumped on it and seen that it is a great
marketing tool to say that they’re creating
affordable and predictable tuition.
Aside from the Truth in Tuition bill, I’ve got
a Social Host bill, which I’ve been trying to run
out of the House for ten years, and I got it out
this year over in the Senate. Right now, I’m
heavily focusing on the Mosquito Abatement
Districts, which are in charge of ridding the West
Nile Virus. Right now, we’re looking at whether
they replace them with a different entity that’s
more efficient, effective, and accountable to the
people of the Southwest Community. That’s just a
public health and safety issue that we can’t
afford to sit on the sidelines and watch. It
doesn’t matter who’s taking the blame for it, it’s
our time to get involved. That’s a very hot issue
right now, and I’m working with many members in
the General Assembly on that, but specifically,
Jim Broshney and Kevin McCarthy have been very
involved, along with Sen. Maloney.
Obviously, I’m trying to learn as much as I can
in the shortest period of time, as we have on the
budget, the holes that are there and why they’re
there, why we are in this situation today, and how
we can get out of it.
Q: What are your impressions of Gov.
Blagojevich's budget, including the cuts and the
fee increases? Do you believe he decided on doing
too much or too little?
A: His budget proposal, as it stands, is very
innovative. He’s stated from day one that he was
not going to raise taxes, so when you say you’re
not going to raise taxes, you’re committed to
stick to it, and I believe he is committed to
that. You have to go and find $5 billion, and on a
$53 billion budget, that’s pretty tough,
especially considering we come off a year that saw
ten percent cuts across the board. It’s pretty
hard to get some sort of consensus on that if
you’ve got 177 different opinions that you need
approval from.
He’s got a lot of one-time revenue sources in
there, like the sale of the Thompson Center. I
just don’t know if that makes sense and if in the
long term, we’ll pay more in rent after we sell
the Thompson Center to someone. I don’t know if
that works or not; I’d defer that to someone else.
As far as the cuts and the fee increases go,
I’m concerned with the cuts in the road fund.
That’s very scary because we have some roads in my
district, and I’m sure throughout the state, that
are in desperate need of repair.
Everyone has seen the tough times, not only the
state of Illinois, but consumers and residents
back home. For us to put more things on them, I
really wouldn’t like to do it, but we have to find
$5 billion. I think that at the end of the day,
there is going to be a lot more negotiating, and I
don’t think his proposal will be the last, final
budget. I guess it’s too early in the process.
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