Full Text of HR0802 93rd General Assembly
HR0802 93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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| HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of | 3 |
| Representatives wish to posthumously recognize Pat Polas on | 4 |
| receiving the 2003 Eleanor Roosevelt Outstanding Democratic | 5 |
| Women of the Year Award given by the Illinois Democratic Women | 6 |
| (IDW); and | 7 |
| WHEREAS, Pat Polas was born in 1921; she started in | 8 |
| politics in 1932, when she was in the fourth grade, by helping | 9 |
| her father work precincts and wearing all her Democratic | 10 |
| buttons to school, which aggravated the teachers, most of whom | 11 |
| were Republican; and
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| WHEREAS, She continued to work on campaigns through high | 13 |
| school, and, as a college student, she worked on a successful | 14 |
| gubernatorial campaign in Indiana; and | 15 |
| WHEREAS, She married Harry F. Polas, an attorney and former | 16 |
| Chief Justice of the Illinois Court of Claims, had two sons, | 17 |
| and followed the "Mommy Track", as it was called back then, | 18 |
| with PTA, scouts, and YMCA; and became the proud grandmother of | 19 |
| six; and | 20 |
| WHEREAS, After her sons graduated from grammar school, she | 21 |
| went back to college and received a degree from Mundelein | 22 |
| College of Loyola; and | 23 |
| WHEREAS, Then her husband decided to enter politics; still | 24 |
| attending college, she managed his
congressional campaign for | 25 |
| an open seat; she later became very involved in Senator Esther | 26 |
| Saperstein's campaign; after graduating from college, she went | 27 |
| to work for Senator Saperstein; when the Senator ran for | 28 |
| re-election in 1972, she resigned her position as the Senator's | 29 |
| legislative assistant to manage the Senator's campaign; and |
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| WHEREAS, Following that experience she started her own | 2 |
| consulting business, and was a very dedicated and powerful | 3 |
| lobbyist for the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA); she fought to | 4 |
| increase feminine representation in the Illinois Delegation to | 5 |
| the Democratic National Convention, and the Democratic State | 6 |
| Central Committee; and | 7 |
| WHEREAS, In 1976, she was part of the original steering | 8 |
| committee of the Illinois Democratic Caucus, later to be known | 9 |
| as the Illinois Democratic Women; she was one of the | 10 |
| co-conveners in 1978 through 1979, and also became the first | 11 |
| President of IDW, as it is known today, from 1980-1982; and | 12 |
| WHEREAS, Mrs. Polas was never content to sit on the | 13 |
| sidelines, and, in 1980, she managed Senator Howard Carroll's | 14 |
| campaigns for State Senator and Ward Committeeman; after those | 15 |
| successful campaigns Senator Carroll hired her as his | 16 |
| Legislative Assistant; she also served as Treasurer of the 50th | 17 |
| Ward Democratic Organization in Chicago; and | 18 |
| WHEREAS, Never one to take a minute for herself, she served | 19 |
| on the Board of Directors of the American Civil Liberties Union | 20 |
| (ACLU) of Illinois, working as Vice President for Legislation; | 21 |
| she served as President of Northtown-Rogers Park Mental Health | 22 |
| Council and ERA of Illinois; she was a member of the Community | 23 |
| Mental Health Board of Chicago and the ERA Summit; she was a | 24 |
| historian for IDW and a staunch advocate for AARP issues; and | 25 |
| WHEREAS, Pat Polas who passed away on June 26, 2003, was | 26 |
| most deserving of this long overdue recognition; therefore, be | 27 |
| it
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| RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 29 |
| NINETY-THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we | 30 |
| honor the memory and legacy of Pat Polas and recognize her hard | 31 |
| work and dedication over the years; and be it further
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| RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 2 |
| presented to the family of Pat Polas as an expression of our | 3 |
| respect.
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