OFFE Supporter
JERRY WASHINGTON
 

Over four decades, giving all thanks to God who has allowed Representative Washington to work for our community where he served over ten years with the PTA, ESEA Title I, and the current local school council, the educational system supported by the Illinois Catholic Conference and Educational System, the Christian Debutante-Master Dedication Commission of the African Methodist Episcopal Church; and he was also elected to serve the Hope Elementary and Englewood High School LSC.  He was elected by the Englewood LSC to be elected to serve on the Chicago Public Schools high school sub-district council where he was appointed Chairman of the Legislative Affairs Committee.

Representative Washington has worked to help those individuals with drug abuse habits, street gang activity and crimes committed by young people He was reaching out to counsel them and re-direct their lives so they could start contributing positively back to our communities and become productive citizens.  Jerry did not turn his back and ignore these problems.

When Jerry Washington was elected by the people to serve in the 84^th Session of the Illinois General Assembly in 1985, he dedicated himself to making changes to help improve the quality of life for the people and the educational system for students, and was an advocate for all veteran issues.  One of the last efforts made by Representative Washington during the 84^th Session of the Illinois General Assembly, he introduced House Resolution 250 for the homeless veterans.  His goal was to aid our veterans in this matter and eliminate the plight against them.  He was also able to obtain all members in the House and Senate to be sponsors of this legislation, which passed unanimously.

Representative Washington was the only African American state legislator who was appointed to serve in the Illinois General Assembly’s House of Representative Educational Task Force in 1985 with the mission of reforming our schools throughout Illinois.  After this educational legislation passed the Illinois General Assembly, it was sent to the Governor who signed the legislation into law, which helped to expand the students’ curriculum and extra-curricular activities to enhance their education.

Representative Jerry Washington was a member of the National Conference of State Legislators where he was appointed to serve on its Fiscal Affairs Committee.  He was also a member of the National and Illinois General Assembly Black Caucus.

In 1987, upon leaving Springfield, Illinois, Representative Washington had a near fatal car accident that nobody witnessed.  The police found him unconscious in his automobile and was transported to the hospital where he lay in a coma for two weeks.  The neurosurgeon waited to inform him after being hospitalized 30 days, that he had suffered an aneurysm, and while on the operating table they had problems reviving him because all his life functions had ceased.  He responded to the Neurosurgeon that God was his doctor.  He thanked God for sparing his life after the brain surgery.  Then again in 1999, he began to have seizures.  It was revealed that he had a brain tumor the size of a Japanese orange.  The tumor was non-cancerous.  Representative Washington recovered fine after the tumor was removed, Jerry believes God spared his life for a reason and which he believes that there is a mission for him to complete.

Representative Jerry Washington went right back after his recovery, fighting for justice and against the injustices to his people by standing up in the community in which the late Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, Archbishop of Chicago responded by sending a representative from the Office for the Ministry of Peace and Justice to attend in support of the community rally against violence.

Representative Washington fought for a better educational system for our youth, senior citizen benefits; equal access opportunity for disabled services; homeless veterans and full funding for their health benefits; our youth and our adults; job training and jobs for our people.

Representative Jerry Washington has been a consistent, committed man of action in times when we need change and even more so in our current day and time.  We must bring about a movement during these last days by volunteering to help reach the people in order to encourage them to come out and vote on Tuesday, February 5, 2008, to elect Jerry Washington, back to the Illinois General Assembly’s House of Representatives.

Let’s support Jerry by working in the precincts in the 6^th District before and on Election Day.  We must also support Jerry by sending a financial donation to help defray the cost of his campaign.  Jerry Washington must be elected to return to the Illinois House of Representatives!!