CHICAGO – The Illinois Alliance for Retired Americans (IARA) has endorsed Kwame Raoul, Democratic candidate for attorney general, today. IARA is a statewide organization that advocates for the rights and well-being of over 257,000 retirees and their families.
“Illinois needs an attorney general who will represent the needs of retirees,” IARA President Barbara Franklin said. “Kwame Raoul will listen to and be a champion for seniors across the state. We are proud to endorse him.”
“I’m thankful for the Illinois Alliance’s support and for retired Illinoisans’ activism for the public good,” Raoul said. “The attorney general plays an important role in protecting the rights and financial security of senior citizens, and people can count on me to step up on their behalf. Retired Illinoisans support their communities through volunteering, voting, advocating and sharing their wisdom; they are also disproportionately vulnerable to scams, mistreatment in long-term care settings, and financial exploitation by a relative.”
“As attorney general, I will go after fraud that targets seniors and safeguard their access to high-quality healthcare and long-term care at a time when the federal government has stepped back from its enforcement obligations, leaving them at risk,” Raoul said. “And I will always speak out against schemes to privatize Medicare and Social Security. Working people pay into these programs, and their security once they retire should be non-negotiable.”
In the state Senate, Raoul passed consumer protections for seniors and fought against pharmaceutical plan practices that create difficulties for retirees on fixed incomes. When his opponent Erika Harold ran for Congress in 2014, the Chicago Tribune editorial board, endorsing her, wrote that she was “unafraid, for example, to argue for specific (and unpopular) changes to Medicare and Social Security benefits.”