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| Affiliation | Democratic |
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| Name | Arthur L. Turner |
| Address | 2102 S. Avers Ave.
Chicago, Illinois 60623, United States |
| Email | None |
| Website | [Link] |
| Born |
December 02, 1950
(73 years)
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| Contributor | Wishful Thinking |
| Last Modifed | ev
Nov 06, 2011 05:53pm |
| Tags |
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| Info | Years served: 1981 - Present; Deputy Majority Leader
Legislative assignments: Committees on Rules; Revenue; Conflicts of Interest; Property Tax, Subcommittee on (Sub-Chairperson); Whole, Committee of the.
Biography: Committees on Aviation; Revenue; Rules; Committee of the Whole; Conflicts of Interest; Ex officio member of all House committees.
Arthur L. Turner, Democratic candidate for Illinois Lieutenant Governor, has led a life devoted to serving others. Turner is committed to promoting community vitality by spurring economic development on the local level, improving educational opportunities, encouraging innovative and strategic solutions to public safety issues, and increasing access to quality health care. Throughout his legislative career he has sought to protect the interests of those who pay their taxes and play by the rules, while also taking care to look out for the wellbeing of the state's most vulnerable citizens, including children, disabled individuals, and the elderly.
Born in Chicago's North Lawndale neighborhood, Turner's parents instilled in him a strong moral foundation and emphasized that the only path to success was through hard work and education. They taught by example, his father was employed as a laborer with the Chicago Public Schools and his mother attended night school to become a physical therapist. His parents were generous, opening their home to extended family and friends migrating north to Chicago or elsewhere, and who needed a helping hand on their way to building a new life. Thanks to his mother and father, at an early age Turner understood the importance of being dependable, charitable and just, principles that would later guide him as a husband, father, community leader and a policymaker.
Turner attended Illinois State University in Bloomington-Normal where he earned his Bachelor's degree in Business Administration, the first in his family to go to college. He later obtained a Master's degree in Social Justice from Lewis University in Lockport.
After college, Turner was eager to return home and get involved with his neighbors and the businesses in his community. He joined with fellow graduates and leaders to develop a local Chamber of Commerce to encourage economic development and job creation. Those efforts led to his work with the Chicago Archdiocese Campaign for Human Development committee which provided funding for local groups. Then went on to become a founding member of the Community Communication Associates, a local group that provided technical assistance and training for nonprofit organizations. He then became an investigator for the Cook County State's Attorney's Office, where he focused on consumer scams, white collar fraud and crimes involving official misconduct by public officials.
At the same time, he enjoyed helping residents of his neighborhood, mowing lawns for elderly neighbors, fixing their flat tires, and aiding them with home repairs. It was by volunteering to coach Little League teams and helping children prepare for college that he came to find his true calling as a public servant. While tutoring students at a local parish, he began to gain an appreciation for the fact that some of the barriers to success were placed there by wrongheaded government policies that discouraged innovation and new approaches to enabling children to learn.
It was that recognition that motivated Turner to run for state representative so that he could work to remove obstacles and find a way to make sure every child had an opportunity to grow up healthy and reach their full potential. Under his leadership, impoverished areas of North Lawndale have become home to the largest number of charter schools in Illinois, many of which are meeting with success and demonstrating new ways of educating children.
Turner's record reflects his ability to bring people together to reach consensus on difficult policy issues. He was a key advocate for the creation of the Illinois Affordable Housing Trust Act, which funds affordable housing opportunities for moderate-income to low-income families and individuals statewide. Administered by the Illinois Housing Development Authority, the fund generates on average over $20 million dollars a year to achieve its goals. In 2001, he led a bipartisan effort to develop the Illinois Affordable Housing Tax Credit program, which leverages over $95 million dollars in resources towards workforce housing programs and the development affordable housing.
Throughout his time in Springfield, Turner has demonstrated that he is an innovative, effective leader who is not afraid to make tough decisions and take difficult votes. He showed exceptional leadership in moving Illinois into an era of increased reliance on renewable energy before it was popular to talk about the need to develop a green economy. In 2000, he was the chief sponsor of legislation that would require power companies to produce 5% of their power from renewable energy resources by 2010 and 15% by 2020.
Turner has always been committed to fighting crime, bringing offenders to justice, and standing up for victims' rights. He also knows that those efforts must be complemented with ones to strengthen our economic base to create better employment opportunities and implement more thoughtful measures to reduce recidivism rates. Some of his work as state representative has focused on how to save taxpayers' money be diverting non-violent drug abusers from costly imprisonment into treatment programs that help them put their lives back together and become productive citizens.
First elected state representative in 1980, Turner quickly became known as an innovative, out of the box thinker. Over his nearly three decades as a legislator, he has served on myriad committees, including Labor and Commerce, Energy and Environment, Consumer Protection, Insurance, and Criminal Justice. He has held leadership positions on the Housing Committee and the Higher Education Committee. Currently, Turner sits on the influential Rules Committee and serves as an ex officio member of all other House committees. He is also the Deputy Majority Leader, a position he was first appointed to in 1993 and reappointed to in 1997 when Democrats regained control of the House.
In addition to his work in the General Assembly, as a board member of social service nonprofit groups Turner fought to lower the infant mortality rate in his district, earning recognition from local and national policymakers as providing a model for them to use in other communities across the country.
Turner also served on the board and is an alumnus of the American Council of Young Political Leaders, an international exchange program for young legislators. As a participant, he traveled to Israel, Australia, New Zealand, Kenya, South Africa and many other countries. While abroad, Representative Turner observed other governments' practices, focused on commerce and trade issues, and studied new and innovative ways to promote economic development and sustainability for local businesses.
Over the years, Turner has received numerous awards from organizations that recognize his commitment to making Illinois a great place to live and work. He has received steadfast support from the Illinois Farm Bureau, many business associations, and organized labor groups for his commitment to a better standard of living for all, regardless of their ethnicity, income, gender or where they live in Illinois.
Turner and his wife Rosalyn raised their two sons, Arthur and Aaron, in North Lawndale. The Turners reside only a block from his childhood home.
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