Hours before a fund raiser at a White Sox game in U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago, busy State Sen. Dave Koehler took time to chat with the Community Word about the award he’s receiving on Sept. 21, when the Peoria Historical Society and the Institute for Principled Leadership recognize outstanding community leadership at the Henri de Tonti Celebration at the Pere Marquette. Koehler also spoke about public service, politics and government.
After a successful but contentious 2012 campaign against Republican challenger Pat Sullivan, Koehler reflects on the pluses and minuses of campaigning and the impression voters get of politics.
“I really enjoy the contact with my constituents,” he says, “but campaigning itself can be an ordeal, between the ads and flyers – which are terribly expensive.
“A lot of stuff that goes on in Springfield is really very good,” he continues. “People would be surprised. Day in and day out, there’s a lot of real soul-searching and seriousness, more than people might think. Legislators are more sincere than they’re given credit for.”
The award Koehler’s getting is named for the explorer who not only is credited with establishing a settlement at Lake Pimiteoui in what’s now greater Peoria, but is described by historians as a man of “patience and conciliation” (De Tonti tried to negotiate a truce at Starved Rock between invading Iroquois, who sided with the British in the French and Indian War, and native Illini tribes protected by French explorers).
“It’s a very nice honor – a surprise,” Koehler says. “I’m uncomfortable calling attention to myself, so it’s humbling, too.”
Appropriately, Koehler turns the conversation to that concept of conciliation.
“Skilled people know how to collaborate, how to seek consensus without giving up what you believe in. For years I’ve recommended Roger Fisher’s book ‘Getting to Yes: How to Negotiate Agreement without Giving In,’ which shows good ways to talk things out.”
As far as political influences, Koehler mentions his father, a UCC minister, and Eliseo Medina, a former co-worker with the United Farm Workers (UFW) and now secretary-treasurer of the Service Employees International Union, plus national and local leaders.
‘Certainly [UFW president] Cesar Chavez was a mentor and a hero, and Chris Hartwire, a Presbyterian minister and my boss at the Farm Workers Ministry, was influential,” Koehler says. “They showed me spirituality and activism points of view – and putting those two together. Also, George McGovern. I was still in South Dakota when I started paying attention to politics, in college. McGovern was probably one of the first votes I ever cast. I learned about the Christian Rural Overseas Program he helped with [a bipartisan Food for Peace effort launched by Republican President Eisenhower and expanded by Democratic President Kennedy). I met him; I knew him. It was a privilege to introduce him when he spoke at Bradley in 2007.
“Locally, Camille Gibson and George Shadid,” he continues. “It may come as a surprise given our political backgrounds, but Camille and I became good friends and allies when we served on the City Council together, especially about neighborhood issues. From George, I watched how he worked in a bipartisan way and learned how he dealt with various folks and issues while staying true to his ideals. He’s passionate – you never have to guess where he stands – but it’s important to emulate the way he had with cooperating while adhering to his principles.”
Koehler has said, “Politics, as far as I’m concerned, is 95% relationships and communication,” and in 2013 he hopes his approach is constructive in the legislature.
“I see myself as being very pragmatic without being cynical,” he says. “I enjoy public service, the challenge. I work hard on the bills I carry, although I’m more selective in what I sponsor.
“I vote for what I think is in the best interests of the district, and what I think is right,” he adds, “not what is politically beneficial. Voting for civil unions wasn’t a ‘safe’ issue for a downstate Democrat.”
Even now, early in his second four-year term, Koehler tries to keep his contributions in perspective, he says.
“I’m awestruck when I go in to the Capitol and see the big dome and so on,” he says. “Decisions are made there that affect people’s lives, and we’re there to do a job for the people. It’s an awesome responsibility to do what we’re supposed to be doing. It’s serious as well as fun.”
Part of what’s sometimes fulfilling, if not exactly fun, is seeing success from the consultation and cooperation of law-making, he says, noting that his shepherding through Illinois’[health] insurance exchange was an example of reaching across the aisle and finding common ground.
“We had 90 proponents testify in favor of the bill, everyone from Laura Minzer from the Chamber of Commerce to Jim Duffett from the Campaign for Better Health Care, and just four or five opponents testified,” Koehler recalls.
Such successes are due to bipartisanship, he adds.
“There are some very good Republican Senators I respect and have good rapport with,” he says. “They have a lot of political pressure on them – some are petrified of a right-wing challenge in a primary, which can make them almost immobile. So [the result is] they support something and do everything but vote yes.
“There is also a good camaraderie between Republicans and Democrats,” Koehler has said. “I have always enjoyed working in a bipartisan way on many issues. A lot of cooperation takes place that never gets seen or even talked about.”
A month before the veto session in Springfield, Koehler is busy contemplating how he can help address state issues as varied as pension reform and tax reform, containing the budget and improving the speed with which the state pays its bills.
His schedule seems nonstop.
Earlier the day he’s being honored downtown, Koehler will be at the Itoo Hall for the Peoria Democrats’ annual Family Picnic, followed a few days later by Tazewell Democrats’ steak fry at the Laborers hall in Pekin.
KOEHLER BIO BOX:
Koehler, 64, was born and raised in South Dakota, graduating from high school in Huron and earning a Bachelor’s degree in religion from Yankton College, a United Church of Christ (UCC) school. In 1971, he went to seminary in Ohio and was ordained a UCC minister in 1974.
He interned with the United Farm Workers’ National Farm Workers Ministry and then worked for the union in Arizona before moving to Cleveland to direct its office there before again relocating to New York City, where he directed the union’s boycott office.
Koehler, his wife Nora Sullivan and their young daughter Kate in the mid-’70s moved to California to live and work at the UFW’s headquarters in Keene, from where he led the California Farm Workers Ministry. In 1978, the Koehlers left California to visit family in South Dakota and Ohio (where Nora’s from) and got an offer from a UCC minister to work with Friendship House on Peoria’s Near North Side. He’s lived in Peoria ever since.
Besides being a community organizer for Friendship House, Koehler pastored a UCC church in rural Stark County for decades, and served two terms on the Peoria County Board, from 1982 to 1988. In 1985 he was hired as the first director of the Peoria Area Labor Management Council, a non-profit effort to promote cooperation between labor unions and employers, and from 1989 to 1997, he served on the Peoria City Council.
After serving as administrative assistant to State Sen. George Shadid, Koehler in 2006 was appointed to succeed him as Senator for the 46th District, and was elected to a full term in 2008. He and Nora have three daughters and two granddaughters.