Bill Text: IL SR1685 | 2017-2018 | 100th General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Mourns the death of Paul R. Booth
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2018-05-03 - Resolution Adopted [SR1685 Detail]
Download: Illinois-2017-SR1685-Introduced.html
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1 | SENATE RESOLUTION
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2 | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate are saddened to | ||||||
3 | learn of the death of Paul R. Booth of Washington, D.C., who | ||||||
4 | passed away on January 17, 2018; and
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5 | WHEREAS, Paul Booth was born in Washington, D.C. on June 7, | ||||||
6 | 1943; he was greatly influenced by his parents, who were both | ||||||
7 | Socialist Party members; his mother was a psychiatric social | ||||||
8 | worker, and his father was an economist with the Department of | ||||||
9 | Labor, who helped craft social security during the Roosevelt | ||||||
10 | administration; he graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in | ||||||
11 | 1957 and from Swarthmore College in 1961; during his sophomore | ||||||
12 | year, he attended a National Student Association conference and | ||||||
13 | was so impressed with the Students for a Democratic Society's | ||||||
14 | (SDS) founder, Tom Hayden, that he decided to form an SDS group | ||||||
15 | at Swarthmore; the group grew into one of the largest in the | ||||||
16 | country; and
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17 | WHEREAS, Paul Booth was described as a rare "cheerful | ||||||
18 | spirit" in the sometimes contentious drafting of the SDS 1962 | ||||||
19 | manifesto, singing and telling stories to maintain morale; and
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20 | WHEREAS, Paul Booth was a progressive activist who | ||||||
21 | organized one of the first major rallies against the Vietnam | ||||||
22 | War in Washington, D.C. in 1965; and
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1 | WHEREAS, Paul Booth met his future wife, Heather Tobis, at | ||||||
2 | a University of Chicago sit-in protesting the selective service | ||||||
3 | in 1965; after three days on the floor of the school's | ||||||
4 | administration building, he asked her to marry him; from that | ||||||
5 | day forward, he partnered with Heather on a significant number | ||||||
6 | of projects, including the founding of the Midwest Academy, a | ||||||
7 | training center that influenced thousands of organizers for | ||||||
8 | unions, student and women's rights groups, and environmental | ||||||
9 | peace, civil rights, and community organizations; and
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10 | WHEREAS, Paul Booth's politics were aligned with "the left | ||||||
11 | wing of the possible," and he believed in a policy of "build, | ||||||
12 | not burn," which kept "contact with ordinary people and | ||||||
13 | mainline institutions"; and
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14 | WHEREAS, Paul Booth, a protege of community organizer Saul | ||||||
15 | Alinsky, left SDS to become a labor organizer in 1966; he | ||||||
16 | worked on environmental issues in Chicago and then became the | ||||||
17 | research director for the United Packinghouse Workers of | ||||||
18 | America; and
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19 | WHEREAS, Paul Booth served with the American Federation of | ||||||
20 | State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) for over 40 | ||||||
21 | years, and he helped found AFSCME Council 31; he served as | ||||||
22 | Assistant Director in the 1970s and rose to the position of |
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1 | Executive Assistant/Chief of Staff for union Presidents Gerald | ||||||
2 | McEntee and Lee Saunders; and
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3 | WHEREAS, Paul Booth was instrumental in negotiating and | ||||||
4 | administering the first contracts for the State of Illinois and | ||||||
5 | City of Chicago employees, "further speeding the demise of the | ||||||
6 | patronage system," according to a report from the Chicago | ||||||
7 | Tribune; and
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8 | WHEREAS, Paul Booth was the International Union's Area | ||||||
9 | Director in Illinois in the late 1980s; he was one of the | ||||||
10 | architects of the law that won collective bargaining rights for | ||||||
11 | public employees in the state; prior to the passage of the | ||||||
12 | Illinois Public Employee Labor Relations Act in 1983, there was | ||||||
13 | no legal guarantee of the right to union representation for | ||||||
14 | public sector workers; after the law passed, he worked as the | ||||||
15 | Chief Strategist and organized drives across the state and | ||||||
16 | country to help tens of thousands of public employees in | ||||||
17 | cities, counties, school districts, and state universities | ||||||
18 | gain union representation; and
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19 | WHEREAS, Paul Booth was credited with organizing a | ||||||
20 | coalition in Baltimore that successfully pressed for the | ||||||
21 | country's first living-wage law; this 1994 law formed the seeds | ||||||
22 | of the recent Fight for $15 movement, an issue that became part | ||||||
23 | of the Democratic Party's 2016 national convention platform; he |
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1 | was selected by Hillary Clinton to be a member of the committee | ||||||
2 | that wrote that platform; and
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3 | WHEREAS, Paul Booth's impressive resume cannot capture | ||||||
4 | everything he brought and meant to AFSCME in particular, and | ||||||
5 | the union movement in general; his leadership helped the union | ||||||
6 | grow and thrive, and become more diverse and dynamic; he was a | ||||||
7 | gifted organizer, who combined passionate idealism with | ||||||
8 | strategic smarts; and
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9 | WHEREAS, Even on the day he died, Paul Booth worked on an | ||||||
10 | article for the American Prospect and encouraged his wife to | ||||||
11 | attend a demonstration on Capitol Hill, where she was arrested | ||||||
12 | while protesting on behalf of "Dreamers"; and
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13 | WHEREAS, Paul Booth was known as a man of generosity, | ||||||
14 | decency, and integrity, who, as a mentor and teacher, believed | ||||||
15 | in paying it forward to the next generation of activists; and
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16 | WHEREAS, Paul Booth is survived by his "powerhouse" wife, | ||||||
17 | Heather; his loving sons, Eugene and Daniel; his five adored | ||||||
18 | grandchildren; and his many friends and admirers; therefore, be | ||||||
19 | it
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20 | RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDREDTH GENERAL | ||||||
21 | ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of |
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1 | Paul R. Booth and extend our sincere condolences to his family, | ||||||
2 | friends, and all who knew and loved him; and be it further
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3 | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | ||||||
4 | presented to the family of Paul Booth as an expression of our | ||||||
5 | deepest sympathy.
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