Bill Lipinski

William Oliver Lipinski (born December 22, 1937) is an American politician and lobbyist who was a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from 1983 to 2005, representing a district in Chicago.

Life and career

Pre-congressional career He was born in Chicago, and was educated at Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa. Lipinski served in the United States Army Reserve from 1961 to 1967. He was given a patronage job as public administrator with the Chicago Park District of the city of Chicago.

Congressional career In 1982, he challenged incumbent Democrat John G. Fary in the primary for , which included most of southwestern Chicago. He won largely by running up the totals in his city council district, and was handily elected in November.

Lipinski became the mentor of future City Clerk of Chicago, James Laski, who by 1988 had become chief-of-staff of the joint Democrat Service Office for the city's southwest side, and acted as a personal aide to Lipinski.

Lipinski played an important role in getting federal funding for the CTA Orange Line.

Lipinski was conservative by national Democratic standards. He strongly opposed abortion, and described himself as a staunch conservative on foreign policy. He was a member of the Blue Dog Coalition.

Lipinski endorsed Bill Bradley for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2000.

During the 2004 election cycle, Lipinski easily won the primary election, which practically assured him of a 12th term in Congress. On August 13, 2004, however, Lipinski withdrew his name from the November 2 general election ballot, announcing that he would retire at the end of his 11th term, which expired on January 3, 2005. As the 23rd Ward committeeman, he was able to persuade state Democratic party leaders to name his son, Dan Lipinski, a University of Tennessee professor, to replace him on the ballot. The younger Lipinski won all of his reelection bids up until 2020, when he lost his primary election in 2020 to Marie Newman.

Lobbying career In 2007, after leaving the House of Representatives, Lipinski opened a one-man lobbying firm. In its first eight years, the firm was paid $4 million by clients with business before the House Transportation Committee: the Chicago Transit Authority, Metra, BNSF Railway, and the Association of American Railroads. Lipinski was an influential member of the Transportation Committee, and his son served on the committee. This was described as concerning by Public Citizen; the younger Lipinski said that his father has not lobbied him and has pledged not to do so.