Kairis offers Green Party alternative to voters in 14th District

Dan Kairis says he's a voter who's found himself in a booth staring at a ballot looking for the lesser of two evils during too many elections. So the South Elgin resident decided to give voters in the 14th Congressional District an alternative by running as the Green Party candidate to replace incumbent Democrat Bill Foster.

For Kairis, Democrat and Republican are synonymous with selling out to the interests of powerful lobbyists and large companies who bankroll their campaigns. Kairis joined the Green Party because all of its candidates, albeit on a volunteer basis, have vowed to not take any corporate campaign contributions.

"My mother told me a long time ago that all you need is three words to know all you need to about somebody: Follow the money," Kairis said. "When you have the millions of dollars, if not billions of dollars, put in the coffers of the Republican and Democratic parties by corporations, who do they have allegiance to? It's certainly not the citizens."

Kairis referenced all the recent corporate bailouts the government funded versus the lack of comparable money given to bail out individual citizens who have been struggling. He pointed to the ability of other companies to go through bankruptcy and emerge relatively unscathed as opposed to the lifelong trauma of filing personal bankruptcy.

"How many more instances do we have to have to know that we allow this to happen?" Kairis asked. "We've got so much influence by so few people."

That view is why Kairis has considered himself and independent for the past 20 years. In that time, he's aligned himself with other movements and candidates that the major parties have avoided, such as being an advocate for the expulsion of illegal immigrants from the country and being a major supporter of Ross Perot when he ran for president.

Kairis said he's not concerned about the falling behind simply because he doesn't have the same money to get his message out that other candidates in the race for the 14th Congressional District may have.

"Fortunately, spending lots of money doesn't always work," Kairis said. "You can ask Jim Oberweis how much he spent."

Kairis has been a resident of the Fox Valley since he was 4 years old. He is a product of the Oswego school system, but spent his senior year at East Aurora High School. Kairis has a degree from Northern Illinois University and has been married for the past 37 years. He and his wife have two adult-aged sons.