Path to Power
Schakowsky grew up in Chicago, Ill.
She earned a degree in elementary education from the University of Illinois in 1965 and taught in a Head Start program for two years after graduation.
Schakowsky became a stay-at-home mom after the birth of her two children, but found time to organize six women into the National Consumers Union. In 1969, the group printed a handbook showing consumers how to decipher bar codes to learn when perishable supermarket goods were made.
The booklets shamed many major food manufacturers into printing clear “sell-by” dates on their products.
From 1976 until 1985, Schakowsky worked at the Illinois Public Action Council, a progressive consumer advocacy group. As program director, she focused on protecting people from toxic chemicals and fought for energy reform.
In 1980, Schakowsky divorced and later remarried Robert Creamer, the executive director of the Illinois Public Action Council.
Illinois State Council for Senior Citizens
In 1985, Schakowsky became director of the Illinois State Council of Senior Citizens. She helped seniors organize to demand lower-cost prescription drugs and benefits and tax breaks. She remained on the Illinois Public Action Committee’s board.
In 1989, Schakowsky organized a Chicago senior citizens’ rally protesting an increase in the cost of catastrophic illness coverage under Medicare. The seniors won national attention after a group of them chased after Rep. Dan Rostenkowski (D-Ill.), then Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, and blocked his car.
Illinois General Assembly
In 1990, Schakowsky parlayed her success as an organizer into a seat on the Illinois General Assembly, where she represented the 18th District, Chicago’s wealthy northern suburbs.
She served for eight years on that body, chaired both the Human Services Appropriations Committee and the Labor and Commerce Committee, and was as a Democratic Floor Leader and Secretary of the Conference of Women Legislators.
She sponsored bills strengthening the Hate Crimes Act, supporting public libraries, and guaranteeing homeless people the right to vote.
U.S. House of Representatives
In 1998, Schakowsky entered the race to represent Illinois’ 9th district, comprising the liberal northern areas of Chicago and the wealthy northern suburbs of Evanston and Niles. In a tough, three-way Democratic primary, Schakowsky was “known as a liberal, feisty activist for seniors, consumers and women,” the Associated Press reported.
Schakowsky beat more moderate and better-known opponents, including J.B. Pritzker, the heir to the Hyatt hotel fortune who is also the brother of Obama campaign finance chair Penny Pritzker.
"I don't think I can be defined as too far left in a district like this," Schakowsky said at the time.
She sailed to victory in the general election.
Robert Creamer’s Bank Fraud Scandal
Schakowsky’s 1998 congressional win came despite the fact that during the campaign her husband Robert Creamer was under investigation for bank fraud. In 2004, he was indicted for bank fraud and tax violations. In 2005, he pleaded guilty to charges that he perpetrated a check-kiting scheme and failed to collect withholding tax from an employee.
"In my heart, I know that these mistakes do not define or diminish this good man, or the good work that he has done over the last 40 years or that he will do in the future," said Schakowsky.
Creamer served five months in an Indiana prison, but has since returned to politics, where he is known as a prominent Chicago political fundraiser. He is also a guest-blogger for The Huffington Post.
Democratic Majority
In January 2007, Schakowsky’s longtime friend Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was elected as the first female Speaker of the House. Pelosi appointed Schakowsky chief deputy whip, a crucial post in the Democratic leadership.
Schakowsky faces re-election in 2010.
