The Tribune Editorial Board’s attacks on people who are left of center have fallen to a new low by trying to compare U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia’s decision to drop his reelection campaign and support his chief of staff for the position to President Donald Trump’s widespread assaults on the democratic process in our country (“A sleazy end to Jesus ‘Chuy’ Garcia’s long political career,” Nov. 5). Trump is illegally grabbing power to help himself, his family and a small number of very rich people at the expense of the American people. Garcia was faced with a tough decision on a short timeline and asked someone to stand for office to make sure that his district continued to have an effective representative who would fight for them in very difficult times, with no ulterior motive or corrupt benefit accruing to anyone.
Garcia gave notice to elected officials across the Southwest Side and western suburbs. The editorial board appears to be upset because he didn’t give notice to Ald. Ray Lopez, who the board endorsed in 2024 because he spouts the right-wing talking points that it likes. Patty Garcia (no relation to the congressman) is extraordinarily well respected by all who work with her in the community but has relatively little name recognition because she has done her work in the trenches rather than having it splashed across the news with clever sound bites.
As a 41-year resident of Little Village, I can state that the voters, who have been well served by Chuy Garcia over the decades, know and appreciate what they get with him, even if the editorial board doesn’t like it, and we will be equally well served by the person who will continue that work — Patty Garcia — because she has already been doing it.
— Carl Rosen, Chicago
Disdain for voters
I wholeheartedly agree with the editorial about the “sleazy” end to U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia’s career. The list of area officeholders who have pulled related sordid stunts should shock and dismay every citizen who believes in democratic values. Unfortunately, this ploy is all too common and successful.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, my representative was Bill Lipinski, who I gladly voted for. When Lipinski “anointed” his son Dan in 2004 to succeed him, I was appalled. I never voted for Dan, nor the various self-proclaimed neo-Nazis and clowns who ran against him. In quixotic fashion, I voted for other primary candidates and write-in candidates in the general elections or left the office blank.
Garcia has been my representative since the 2022 election, and I voted for him in 2022 and 2024. I sympathize with the health issues Garcia and his family are dealing with and understand why he is not running again and wish them well. But I believe the timing of his announcement was an intentional ploy to ensure no one other than his chief of staff would be on the ballot. Whatever his excuses, he has shown real disdain for the citizens he was elected to represent.
I will not be voting for his chief of staff. I hope I have a reasonable choice next year.
— John Kunkle, La Grange
Did Garcia cheat?
The editorial claims that U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia’s last-minute decision to retire and not run for reelection as Illinois’ 4th Congressional District representative prevented others from running for that position, thereby trampling on voters’ rights.
On Monday, Oct. 27, Garcia’s cardiologist advised him to retire. His wife then asked him to retire. He decided sometime later not to run for reelection. On Monday, Nov. 3, Patti Garcia (no relation), Chuy Garcia’s chief of staff, announced she was running for his seat. Apparently, she spent the weekend gathering signatures. It seems to me that notifying your staff first when you’ve decided to retire would be normal protocol. And it seems that Patty Garcia had to make a quick decision and hit the ground running to get the requisite signatures in time to file her candidacy.
That just seems opportunistic and a far cry from “sleazy” — especially in the context of everything that’s going on today in Washington, D.C.
Here is the information the editorial board left out: Petition filing officially began on Oct. 27 — the same day Garcia’s doctor advised him to retire. And according to NBC News, candidates were lined up that Monday starting at 6 a.m. My question is: What was stopping a potential opponent from filing to run prior to his retirement announcement?
Kat Abughazaleh declared she was running for Illinois’ 9th Congressional District in late March, more than a month prior to Jan Schakowsky’s announcement that she was retiring.
It seems like a big stretch to accuse Garcia of cheating Illinois voters. It’s possible he did wait an extra couple of days to announce his retirement in order to give his chief of staff an edge. But any potential candidates who felt they are the best person for the job didn’t have to wait until Garcia’s retirement announcement to decide to run.
— Lisa Kosowski, Chicago
Risk to the disabled
Access Living urges Gov. JB Pritzker to veto the physician-assisted suicide bill passed by the legislature. If this legislation becomes law, Illinois doctors will be able to prescribe lethal medication to patients who have six months or less to live. This is an unacceptable risk to disabled lives and vulnerable people throughout Illinois.
I understand how awful, unknowing and painful the end of life can be. It was scary and difficult as a daughter and caregiver who supported my mother at the end of her life. It’s understandable why assisted suicide might be seen as a way to mitigate the pain. However, assisted suicide endangers the lives and rights of people with disabilities and those who are marginalized.
Community members come to Access Living to be supported, uplifted and recognized for their power to determine how and where they want to live their lives. Access Living supports efforts to ensure that people with disabilities have what they need to live the lives of their choice.
People with disabilities have faced a long history of the devaluation of our lives by medical professionals, making people more likely to face coercion into suicide to avoid “being a burden” or “costly to society.”
A 2021 survey of U.S. physicians found that 82% believe people with disabilities have a lower quality of life, and close to 20% agreed the U.S. health care system treats patients with disabilities unfairly. Many disabled people report that their doctors fail to listen to them or spend sufficient time in discussions about care.
As we have seen in past cases when bias and discrimination influence medical decisions, “choice” becomes an illusion. Many people may feel pressure into choosing suicide because of inadequate access to health care, home and community-based services, and appropriate palliative care, not because they truly wish to die. The experience of California mother Stephanie Packer, whose chemotherapy was denied while her insurer covered assisted suicide, is an example of how cost-saving motives can outweigh care.
When we as a society view the right to die as a greater right than the right to live with the proper supports, we are no longer allowing someone to die with dignity — we are steering them to assisted suicide.
We urge Pritzker to veto this legislation.
— Karen Tamley, president and CEO, Access Living
Claims of coercion
The Nov. 4 editorial “Pritzker should veto ‘right to die’ bill passed in the veto session” suggests that the bill would endanger people with disabilities because physicians allegedly are biased against them and would nudge them to end their lives. There are no substantiated reports of that happening in the 11 states plus the District of Columbia that currently allow terminally ill patients to choose aid in dying.
In my 15 years of reporting as a journalist on medical aid in dying (MAID) laws around the country, I have always asked opponents for evidence of abuse or coercion of patients under these laws and have carefully followed up on their claims. But I have found no credible evidence of such abuse or coercion. Other journalists also have found that these claims have not held up to scrutiny.
As I reported last year in Chicago Magazine, the longtime executive director of Disability Rights Oregon wrote in 2019 that his agency had never received a complaint about coercion since Oregon became the first state to permit MAID in 1997.
In addition, under the bill passed by the Illinois legislature last month, no patient, including patients with disabilities, would be eligible to receive MAID unless two physicians certify that the patient is expected to die within six months and is mentally competent to choose MAID.
There are reasonable debates about the morality of medical aid in dying. But the U.S. has nearly 30 years of experience with such laws, and that experience does not support opponents’ claims of abuse or coercion.
— Harris Meyer, Chicago
Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/09/letters-110925-jesus-chuy-garcia/