Billing himself as a reformer who “understands the system, but is not part of the system,” attorney William J. Quinlan is joining the crowded race for mayor of Chicago.
Quinlan’s father and namesake was the ultimate Chicago insider having served as city corporation counsel under former Mayor Richard J. Daley.
Quinlan followed in his father’s footsteps, spending three years as general counsel for Illinois until the arrest of now-convicted, then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich. He went on to serve as an election attorney for leading Democrats, including in the 2012 re-election campaign of then-President Barack Obama, and as an attorney for fired former Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez.
As a child, the younger Quinlan also survived a devastating family tragedy.
His mother and younger brother were killed in a fire at the Quinlan family’s Sauganash home. Quinlan life was saved by Northwest Side neighbors whom he credits with having risked their own lives to save his.
Another brother died after struggling with mental illness and “navigating a fragmented system of care.” Quinlan also lost a grandfather to gun violence. He says he emerged from those family tragedies as a stronger, more empathetic leader.
“A lot of people have had a lot of tragedies. I’ve had a fair amount in my life. And what that taught me is we’re all here for the grace of God,” Quinlan, 56, told the Sun-Times. “I lost many, many family members in tragic circumstances. And I realized that life is to be cherished. It comes with it an obligation to give back. Even though I have a thriving legal practice, we all have an obligation to try and make Chicago better.”
Quinlan said he had a front-row seat to the dysfunction at Brandon Johnson’s City Hall while donating his time to represent Martinez after the mayor fired the CPS CEO.
“What we had was a mayor not acting on behalf of the children, not acting on behalf of the citizens, but acting on behalf of himself and his political gain by helping the special interest that got him elected,” Quinlan said, referring to the Chicago Teachers Union that helped put Johnson in office. “I stood up and fought City Hall. No one in this field can say they did that.”
Quinlan said he formed a political advocacy group more than a year ago that raised $1 million to hold neighborhood symposiums and study the issues confronting Chicago. He has roughly $600,000 of that money left and added another $250,000 in campaign contributions just this week.
“We’re the only person willing to run that… doesn’t care about doing anything else, and we don’t owe anything to anybody else. We’re not part of the system. I’m not an elected person. I don’t deal with special interests. I’m a lawyer and a very, very good lawyer,” Quinlan said.
“What Chicago needs, given its financial crisis, is someone who will make tough choices on behalf of the residents — not on trying to get re-elected.”
Quinlan joins a crowded field of candidates that already includes eleven other challengers vying to turn Johnson into Chicago’s second straight, one-term mayor. But Quinlan hopes to stand out in the crowd by being free from political baggage.
“That’s what differentiates. You have people who want to make a name for themselves, or they’re part of the political group that have been running for multiple offices and they’re looking to get re-elected,” Quinlan said. “What we’re offering is someone who’s willing to think about the residents — not the million-dollar donors.”
After the arrest of Blagojevich, Quinlan quit his job as general counsel, saying the embarrassment shattered his “desire to work in public service” ever again.
“At that time, I was watching a situation that had such great hope. And I felt like that hope wasn’t achieved,” Quinlan said of his work for Blagojevich, whose 14-year sentence was commuted by President Donald Trump after eight years in prison.
“Now I’m a little older, a little more thoughtful. We have an obligation to use our talents to help others. We can’t sit idle anymore and talk about how the city can do better and watch the same people doing the same thing… for the same special interest over and over and over. The system is broken. We need to fix it.”