Illinois Committee for Honest Government 2009 Distinguished Service Awards Reception

JUDGE ANTHONY LYNN BURRELL

Anthony Lynn Burrell was born in Chicago on May 28, 1961. He grew up on Chicago’s West Side, the only male in a single-parent family of four. After finishing his freshman year at Austin High School, economic circumstances forced him to leave school to work in a factory. Despite this hardship, Burrell’s longtime desire to become a lawyer helped drive him to continue his education on his own. By spending hours studying at the public library, Burrell was able to complete the requirements for a GED Certificate. He then enrolled at Loyola University of Chicago, where he would graduate with Honors, having majored in Criminal Justice. Burrell’s scholastic work at Loyola enabled this former high school dropout to attend Cornell Law School – an Ivy League institution, where he received a Juris Doctor degree in 1987.

After initially practicing as a Commercial Litigator for Riker, Danzig, Scherer, Hyland and Perretti (a large firm in Morristown, New Jersey) Burrell returned home to Chicago to join the Cook County State's Attorney's Office where he served as an Assistant State's Attorney for five years. At that point, the death of a family member at the hands of a repeat felony offender motivated Burrell to dedicate himself to steer youth away from lives of crime and violence. Resigning from the State’s Attorney’s Office, Burrell chose to work with abused and neglected children at Maryville Academy in Des Plaines. He subsequently became a consultant with the Chicago Public Schools, working with then Superintendent Paul Vallas on issues and programs of Youth Outreach, Neighborhood Safety and Violence Prevention.

Seeking to further serve the cause of justice and to further establish himself as a role model among the residents of his community, Anthony Burrell ran for Judge of the Circuit Court of cook County in the West Side-based 7th Judicial Subcircuit in 2002. After a tough campaign, Burrell was elected, completing an amazing transformation from a high school dropout to a member of the Illinois judiciary in little more than two decades. After having been elected in 2002 just by the voters of the 7th Subcircuit, Burrell was able to easily win retention to a second six-year term in 2008 by voters of the entire county.

Judge Burrell is presently assigned to the Circuit Court’s First Municipal District. There, in Courtroom 1104 of the Richard J. Daley Center, Judge Burrell presides over civil matters in one of the court’s busiest calls. Judge Burrell was recently featured in an article in the Chicago Sun-Times, which detailed his willingness to leave the courtroom to personally view premises that were the subject of neighborhood nuisance suits brought before him, in an extra effort to ensure a fair trial.

In addition to his duties on the bench, Judge Burrell is active in the community, continuing his work on behalf of youth advocacy. A six-year cancer survivor, he has served as an advisor member of the Brad's Kid's Pediatric Cancer Foundation - a charity focusing on children with cancer. Judge Burrell has also drafted a "Safe Neighborhoods Action Plan"- a comprehensive violence prevention plan in response to Chicago's spiraling youth homicide rate. He has also served as the host of the CAN-TV legal and community affairs show - "Have Gavel, Will Travel.”

Commissioner Tony Peraica has had a life which epitomizes the true American success story. Peraica was born in Croatia in 1957, and was orphaned at the age of 11. He came to the United States when he was just 13. Despite having to learn a new language and to adjust to a way life far removed from that in the land of his birth (then part of Yugoslavia), Peraica studied hard and achieved goals that once would have seemed impossible for the former 13-year-old immigrant.

Peraica attended the University of Illinois at Chicago, where he received his B.A. degree, and then went on to earn his law degree from the John Marshall Law School. He was admitted to the Illinois Bar in 1984, and continues to work as a lawyer in private practice at Anthony J. Peraica & Associates.

Becoming active in political circles, Peraica won the 2002 Republican Primary for Cook County Commissioner from the west-suburban 16th District. Peraica would go on to win in the General Election in November 2002, and win a second term as County Commissioner in 2006.

After becoming a Cook County Commissioner, Peraica became a member of the alliance of then mostly-freshman commissioners that defeated President John H. Stroger’s proposed 2004 county budget. Since that time, Peraica has championed a reform agenda on the Cook County Board.

In 2006, a year that proved to be politically disastrous to Republican candidates across the country, Peraica nearly pulled off a political miracle, coming within 95,000 votes (out of nearly 1.3 million cast) in his race for Cook County Board President. Earlier that year, Peraica won re-election as the Lyons Township Republican Committeeman.

Tony Peraica resides in Riverside, Illinois with his wife Nilo, and is the proud father of his daughter Anisa and son Marko.

Pat Quinn, Governor of Illinois

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn has devoted his life to standing up for the working people of Illinois

and fighting political corruption, government waste and unfair taxes. In the process he has gained a

national reputation as an honest leader who has never been afraid to speak his mind and battle special

interests on behalf of the public.

Quinn was born in Illinois in 1948, the eldest of P.J. and Eileen Quinn's three sons. After attending

Catholic grade school and Fenwick High School, Quinn entered Georgetown University's Edmund A. Walsh

School of Foreign Service. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1971 with a bachelor's degree in international

economics and earned his law degree from Northwestern University's School of Law in 1980.

In 1975, in an effort to force passage of tough new ethics laws, Pat Quinn founded the non-partisan,

all-volunteer Coalition for Political Honesty, and launched the biggest petition drive in state history. Quinn

and his supporters eventually collected 635,158 signatures on the Political Honesty Initiative and ended a

century-old practice that allowed Illinois legislators to collect their entire two years' advance pay on their

first day in office.

Quinn took up another fight on behalf of Illinois taxpayers in 1978 after the General Assembly passed a 40% increase in legislative pay. Quinn urged taxpayers to invoke the spirit of the Boston Tea Party by sending teabags to then Governor James R. Thompson to protest the pay hike. Within days, the Governor's office had received over 40,000 teabags. Quinn then began a drive to reduce the size of the Illinois Legislature, coordinating a statewide petition blitz that gathered more than 475,000 signatures in support of the Cutback Amendment. The Amendment was placed on the November 1980 ballot and was solidly approved by voters. As a result, the Illinois House of Representatives was reduced in size from 177 members to 118.

In 1982, Quinn was elected to clean up the scandal-ridden Cook County Board of (Property Tax) Appeals. As a Commissioner he instituted a tough new ethics code, professional auditing standards, and a vigorous taxpayer outreach program. During this period, Quinn launched a drive to create the Citizens Utility Board (CUB) - a statewide, non-partisan, not-for-profit group to advocate for customers against unfair utility rates. After battling to get the CUB referendum on ballots in 114 Illinois communities, Quinn succeeded in getting the Illinois Legislature to create, and fund, the Citizens Utility Board. CUB has since saved consumers more than $10 billion by blocking rate hikes and winning consumer refunds.

In 1990, Pat Quinn ran a low budget, unconventional campaign for State Treasurer against a well-funded Republican candidate. That November, Quinn delivered a stunning victory, receiving 1.7 million votes - the top total for any state office in that election.

While State Treasurer, Quinn spearheaded passage of the Illinois Whistleblower Reward and Protection Act, a landmark bill empowering taxpayers to file lawsuits to root out fraud and waste in state government. This law was later expanded to cover local units of government and has helped the state recover millions of dollars in fraudulent payments.

As State Treasurer, his office used deposits of state funds as a lever to encourage banks to offer loans to make housing more affordable for Illinois families and give women and minorities access to capital for their small businesses. These linked-deposits served to create Illinois jobs and economic opportunity at virtually no cost to taxpayers and brought Treasurer Quinn accolades for his sophistication, aggressiveness and innovation. In 1993, Treasurer Quinn proposed the Inspector Misconduct Act, prohibiting state employees from demanding campaign contributions from the businesses and individuals they inspect and regulate. As a result of Quinn's efforts, the Inspector Misconduct Act passed and was signed into law in 2002.

Pat Quinn became Lt. Governor of Illinois in 2003. As Lt. Governor, he fought for significant new programs to protect the environment, expand health care, and provide critical assistance to members of the U.S. Armed Services and their families. As a leading advocate for Illinois' military men and women and their families, Quinn led the successful effort to enact the Illinois Military Family Relief Act, which provides financial assistance to families of Illinois National Guard members and Reservists called to active duty. He also spearheaded passage of the Let Them Rest in Peace Act, a national model in protecting grieving families from disruptive protests at military funerals.

As Lt. Governor, Quinn continued his efforts to reform state government, repeatedly defying Illinois' entrenched culture of pay-to-play politics and official corruption. Quinn stood up to criticize an inadequate reform of the scandal-plagued Illinois State Toll Highway Authority in 2004, earning a threat of political "divorce" from the Blagojevich Administration.

Refusing to back down, Quinn continued to demand the clean, accountable government Illinois taxpayers deserve. In 2007, with $25 billion in taxpayer funds at stake in a proposed capital plan, Quinn insisted on passage of legislation to outlaw pay-to-play in Illinois before hefty contracts could be awarded to cronies and campaign funders with deep pockets. He also led opposition to Governor Blagojevich's attempts to pass the "grossly unfair" Gross Receipts Tax, as well as Blagojevich’s decision to close 23 Illinois state parks and historic sites.

In 2008, Quinn began yet another petition drive to oppose a 7.5 percent pay raise for Illinois lawmakers. Within 48 hours, Quinn had collected more than 17,000 signatures, enough to pressure the General Assembly into calling a vote to cancel their own raises.

On January 29, 2009, Pat Quinn was sworn in as Governor of Illinois, following the impeachment and removal from office of Governor Rod R. Blagojevich. Since taking office, Governor Quinn has devoted himself to balancing the state’s budget, to create new jobs and opportunities for Illinois families, bring fairness to the state tax code and to lead the fight to reform state government.

In his first act as Governor, Quinn signed an executive order establishing the Illinois Reform Commission. The independent, bipartisan Commission developed a menu of important reforms to bring fairness, honesty, transparency and accountability to Illinois government.

Governor Quinn took swift action to reopen state parks and historic sites that had been closed by the Blagojevich Administration, ensuring access for the 44 million people who visit the state's recreational areas each year - generating an estimated $790 million in overall economic impact in Illinois.

On April 3, Governor Quinn signed into law his $3 billion Jump Start Capital Plan - Illinois' first capital construction program in 10 years. Combined with the federal stimulus funds, the Jump Start Capital Plan will create thousands of jobs in Illinois.

Governor Quinn currently splits his time between the Executive Mansion in Springfield and his longtime home in Chicago's Galewood neighborhood. He is the proud father of two grown sons, Patrick and David.

Commissioner Debra Shore

For more than 15 years Commissioner Shore has been an active volunteer helping to clean up and restore the forest preserves along the North Branch of the Chicago River in Cook County. This work has taught her that the waters and woods are the real Discovery Zone in our region, essential for our quality of life, for cleaning our air and water, for recreation and contemplation. She was appointed to serve on President John Stroger’s Community Advisory Council on Land Management in 1997 and she is a founding board member of Friends of the Forest Preserves.

Shore has been a leader in the regional conservation consortium known as Chicago Wilderness, more than 200 public and private organizations working together to protect, preserve, restore and manage the precious natural ecosystems of the greater Chicago metropolitan area. She was the founding editor of Chicago WILDERNESS Magazine, an award-winning quarterly devoted to the rare nature of the Chicago region since 1997. Shore won the Peter Lisagor Award for Excellence in Editorial Writing in 2003 and has published numerous articles in Outside, United Airlines Hemispheres, George, University of Chicago Magazine, Travel Holiday, Southwest Airlines Spirit, Chicago, and Texas Monthly, among others.

Commissioner Shore is a member of the University of Chicago Women’s Board. In 2007 she was named one of the first five Fellows by the Field Museum’s Division of Environment, Culture and Conservation.

Commissioner Shore has a B.A. from Goucher College, (Phi Beta Kappa), a Master of Liberal Arts from Johns Hopkins University, a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Columbia College, Chicago and was awarded a certificate of completion for the Senior Executives in State and Local Government program from Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government, Executive Education in July 2008. A little-known fact is that she has climbed 42 of the 54 mountains in Colorado over 14,000 feet high.

Elmhurst Mayor Peter DiCianni

The Hon. Peter DiCianni, Mayor of the City of Elmhurst, was born in 1966 in Our Lady of the Angels Parish on Chicago's West Side.

DiCianni’s family at home consists of his wife Rose and their three children; son Peter and daughters Natalie and Brianna. That information is particularly significant, since the Distinguished Service Award that the Illinois Committee for Honest Government is presenting DiCianni is more than just for his service to the people of Elmhurst (although he has done a fine job as Mayor of the DuPage County community of about 44,000 people). The honor is also for how DiCianni responded to a health crisis affecting his youngest child Brianna, and how his efforts will now help families across the state of Illinois.

In 2006 Brianna (then age 3) was diagnosed with Autism. DiCianni, who is also the President and CEO of DiCianni Graphics, Inc.,, had previously worked as an insurance salesman and had served as the President & Director of ECAF (The Elmhurst Children's Assistance Foundation) from 1996-2006, an organization that helps fund out of pocket costs for local families. When he realized that Autism was not being covered by his health insurance company (or most of the others doing business in Illinois), he realized that while treating his daughter’s condition would be a financial drain on his family, those burdens were bringing financial ruin to the families of autistic children statewide.

DiCianni authored "Brianna's Law," to require insurance companies to cover diagnosis, occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech therapy, psychiatric and psychological services and applies behavioral therapies up to $36,000 per year (with an unlimited number of medical visits) for youngsters on the autism spectrum until the age of 21. DiCianni put together a large bipartisan coalition of legislative sponsors and co-sponsors, including Senate Assistant Majority Leader James DeLeo and State Representative Angelo Saviano. By the time it was signed into law In December 2008, the measure had become the most sponsored piece of legislation in 2008, with over 133 legislative sponsors in a true bipartisan coalition.

To say that this law brought forth by the efforts of Peter DiCianni is important is a severe understatement. Brianna’s Law involves insuring the country's #1 medical condition to afflict children. Autism may strike as many as 1 of every 91 children, touching the lives of over 10,000 children in Illinois alone. Brianna's Law is now the model for other states and is presently being sponsored by Senator Dick Durbin in Congress, where over 600,000 children would be impacted.

This past February, DiCianni was also honored as a “YMCA Advocacy Hero” for his efforts as a volunteer advocating for childhood obesity and access to afterschool and day programs for local area children by the Elmhurst Family YMCA. He has also been recently honored as the West Suburban Philanthropic Organization’s "Humanitarian of the Year" for 2009 and received the Chicago Italian American Charitable Organization (CIACO) - “Man of The Year” Award for 2009

In April 2009, DiCianni was elected Mayor of the City of Elmhurst, where over 100 children are affected with Autism. Thanks to his dedicated wife, Rose, their therapists from CSLD and Pediatric Rehab, along with the teachers from Madison Early Childhood, their daughter Brianna now 6 years old, has over a 1,000 word vocabulary and is being taught in a mainstream classroom.

Nand Kapoor was born on August 25, 1931 in the town of Agra, India, known for one of the Seven Wonders of the Word, the Taj Mahal. He grew up in a family that participated in the Freedom movement of India in the 1930s and 1940s.

He earned his Master Degree from Agra University in Agra prior coming to the United States, having worked for Agra Nagar Mahapalika (a Municipal Corporation there) as an Assistant Assessment Officer.

Currently Kapoor works for Cook County as a community service officer. He is also associated with the national organization "Association of Indians in America” (AIA). Kapoor is the former President of its Illinois Chapter and is a past National Vice President of AIA. He currently serves as a member of both the National AIA Board and the Illinois Chapter.

On May 15, 1993 Kapoor was honored by Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley and was presented with a Certificate of Appreciation in recognition for services to the community.

On August 15, 2003 the President of Cook County Board of Commissioners, Hon. John H. Stroger, Jr., presented him with a plaque for his contributions to the Census 2000 and for his services to the community.

On August 15, at the India Independence Day observances, Kapoor was presented with a Outstanding Inspiring Leadership Award at the International House by the then Hon. Consul General of India in Chicago, Mr. Surinder Kumar.

Kapoor also served as a Judge for the Jefferson Awards for Public Service (organized by WMAQ-TV in Chicago) from 2004 to 2007.

Kapoor has also played a volunteer role of coordinating funding opportunities in the United States for the medical project of the Global Hospital & Research Center at Abu Road, Rajasthen, India.

He has organized events for the Association of Indians in America India Independence Day & Fest, India Republic Day, and the Mahatma Gandhi Birthday, with eminent speakers such as Ela Gandi, M.P in S.A.; Preeta Babsal (the former Solicitor General of New York, presently working in the Obama administration), past and present journalists Bill Kurtis, Andy Shaw and Allison Rosati; Secretary of State Jesse White; Cong. Danny Davis, Mark Kirk and Janice Schakowsky; Water Reclamation District President Terry O'Brien; former State Attorney Richard Devine and Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown.

Kapoor has also been a contributor to newspapers with periodic columns and letters, including the News India Times, Asia on Line, and presently with the Indo American News (based in Houston, Texas).

From December 2002 until January 2009, Ruth Munson served in the Illinois General Assembly as State Representative from the 43rd District, which includes the communities of Elgin, South Elgin, Carpentersville, East Dundee and Barrington Hills. Representing one of the most culturally, economically and politically diverse districts in the state was a challenge that Ruth embraced. She excelled at finding inventive solutions for the issues affecting her communities.

While in the State Legislature, Ruth founded and chaired the Illinois Legislative Manufacturing Caucus to save and grow good paying manufacturing jobs. She also introduced and championed the effort to promote an Innovation Economy in our state.

Ruth passed legislation providing grants to school districts experiencing rapid enrollment growth to ensure they were funded at adequate levels. She also recognized early on the implications that the restructuring of Stroger Hospital would have on specialty care services for Kane County residents and created the Health Access Network to mitigate the loss of those services in her communities.

Helping senior citizens retain their homes is the achievement of which Ruth is most proud. Not afraid to stand up to powerful interests in Springfield, she won reforms for people living in manufactured-home communities and continues to take up their cause.

A leader on technology-related issues, Ruth was appointed Republican Spokesperson to the House Committees on Computer Technology and Bio-Technology. During her tenure, she also served on the Registration and Regulation, Access to Healthcare, Appropriations Human Services, Elementary and Secondary Education and Insurance Committees, among others.

While serving in the General Assembly, Munson earned the distinction as one of the first Illinois legislators to use Twitter and Facebook from the House Floor. She embraces social media as a mechanism to improve government transparency and engage constituent dialogue.

Her longstanding personal dedication to public service eventually led to Munson’s election to the Elgin City Council in 1999. There, she served on the Economic Development Council and Technology Action Team.

Ruth received her BA in Political Science from Northern Illinois University in 1981. Community activities in which Ruth has been involved include the coordination of the Common Grounds playground project at McKinley School and co-founding of the Downtown Neighborhood Association of Elgin. Ruth has served as the fundraising co-chair for the annual YWCA Leader Luncheon, and is a past-board member of the Elgin Community College Foundation and Elgin Area Chamber of Commerce. She is a member of the Elgin Hispanic Network, Watch City Cosmopolitan Club, Kiwanis Club of Elgin, Circle of Wise Women, and First Congregational Church of Elgin.

Ruth Munson continues to have a stake in EveryWare Inc., a technology firm she founded 22 years ago. She resides in Elgin with her husband and their two college-aged children and is pursing another run for State Representative in 2010.

2nd Ward Alderman Bob Fioretti

was elected on April 17 and took office on May 21, 2007. His ward covers a number of communities in the city from Sacramento Street on the west side, through the loop, the south loop and south through Bronzeville to 37th Street.

Bob has devoted his career to securing justice for those he represented and as Alderman, provides the same dedication to the people of the 2nd Ward. Prior to being elected Alderman, Bob was a seasoned civil litigator, and demonstrated through determination and compassion he was able to achieve results for his clients. In 2006, he settled a case for his client who spent 11.5 years in prison for a crime he did not commit, and was cleared based on DNA evidence. His client soon after received a pardon from the Governor. Bob also served as lawyer for the family of Baby Tamia, which led to changes in Illinois’ adoption law. The Chicago mother of Baby Tamia phoned a toll-free number in a local newspaper for an adoption agency in Utah. The baby was temporarily placed in foster care in Utah to a parent with a prior drug conviction. For several months, Bob worked with state and local officials, and Baby Tamia was returned to her family.

Bob has litigated a wide variety of cases before federal and state administrative law judges as well as in the state and federal courts. He is a lawyer and partner in the firm of Fioretti, Lower & Carbonara and practices in the areas of governmental law, administrative law, zoning law and complex litigation. Prior to his career with Fioretti, Lower & Carbonara, he spent 15 years in private practice that encompassed environmental law, civil and criminal law, partnership and corporate counseling. Bob has practiced in the public sector, as the former Senior Supervising Attorney of the General Litigation Division for the Corporation Counsel for the City of Chicago. While there, Bob handled and was involved in over 500 civil rights cases. As a result, Bob’s personal trial experiences have led to over 100 state and federal verdicts and appellate court decisions.

Bob earned his law degree from Northern Illinois University (NIU) College of Law in 1978, and is a long-standing member of the adjunct faculty at NIU College of Law. He was President of the NIU National Alumni Association from 2000-2004 and is also Past President of the NIU College of Law Alumni Counsel. While serving as alumni president, he oversaw the establishment of a Chicago alumni office, the formation of a quarterly magazine, and was instrumental in the creation of the Barsema Alumni Center on campus. He has been a strong advocate in promoting the accessibility of higher education to many Chicago-area students through scholarship and outreach.

Bob Fioretti is an active member in several civic organizations and serves on numerous boards and committees including serving as Past President of the Historic Pullman Foundation, the Character and Fitness Committee of the Illinois Supreme Court and the Judicial Evaluation Committee of the Chicago Bar Association Executive Committee.

Bob’s roots are in Chicago’s south side. He was born and raised in Pullman/Roseland area. He is a first generation American whose father came through Ellis Island, moved to Pullman and got a job with the Pullman train car company. Bob received a Pullman scholarship to attend the University of Illinois where he earned his undergraduate degree in Political Science and served as Student Body President his senior year. He graduated from Mendel High School on 111th Street. Bob attended St. Anthony’s Grammar School on Kensington Avenue in the Pullman district, and in 1966 was named one of the youngest Eagle Scout’s in the state’s history.

Committee Memberships

Environmental Protection & Public Utilities

Health

License & Consumer Protection

Rules & Ethics

Special Events