Jim Oberweis

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Jim Oberweis
Member of the Illinois Senate
from the 25th district
Assumed office
January 9, 2013
Preceded by Chris Lauzen
Personal details
Born James D. Oberweis
(1946-06-10) June 10, 1946 (age 77)
Aurora, Illinois, United States
Political party Republican
Spouse(s) Elaine (?-2003, div.),
Julie (2008-)
Children 5
Residence Sugar Grove, Illinois
Alma mater University of Illinois (B.A.)
University of Chicago (MBA)
Religion Roman Catholicism

James D. "Jim" Oberweis (born June 10, 1946) is an American businessman, investment manager and politician from the state of Illinois. The owner of Oberweis Dairy, in North Aurora near Chicago, he is currently a member of the Illinois Senate, representing the 25th district since January 2013.

A perennial candidate for higher office, he sought the Republican nomination for the United States Senate in 2002 and 2004 and the Republican nomination for Governor of Illinois in 2006. He was the Republican nominee for Illinois's 14th congressional district in a March 2008 special election and the November 2008 general election, losing on both occasions to Democrat Bill Foster. He was finally successful in an election campaign when he was elected to the Illinois Senate in 2012. He ran for the U.S. Senate again in 2014, losing to Democratic incumbent Dick Durbin.

Education

After graduating from Marmion Academy in Aurora, Illinois, he attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he joined Phi Kappa Tau fraternity. He received a B.A. from Illinois, and then an MBA from the University of Chicago.[1]

Career

In 1968, Oberweis became a junior high school teacher at Waldo Junior High in Aurora, teaching math and science.[2] In 1970, he changed careers and became an investment stockbroker. Within a few years, he was promoted to manager of a branch office.

In 1976, he began publication of an investment newsletter, the Oberweis Report, which reported on emerging growth companies. The Report was rated highly among investment advice newsletters. In 1978, Oberweis and his first wife, Elaine, established their own investment management company, Oberweis Securities in Aurora, Illinois. Oberweis Securities was very profitable. In 1986, Oberweis used his gains from Oberweis Securities to purchase control of his family's business, Oberweis Dairy.[citation needed]

After the death of his father Joe in 1984, and his successor and oldest brother John suffering an incapacitating stroke in 1986, Jim Oberweis turned day-to-day operations over to outside presidents who embarked on acquisition programs highly leveraged with debt. Elaine Oberweis (University of Chicago MBA '89)[3] left their brokerage business in 1989 to rescue the dairy business from near-ruin.[4]

He remained active in the investment field. In 1987, he founded Oberweis Emerging Growth Fund.[citation needed]

In 1989, he established Oberweis Asset Management (OAM). OAM specializes in "small-cap growth equities investing", and has individual accounts for institutional investors and a family of mutual funds for individual investors. As of 2015, OAM had about $2 billion under management.[5]

Oberweis moved the Oberweis Dairy from Aurora to its present location in North Aurora. He also began a chain of company-owned dairy stores, and has maintained a dairy delivery business to homes in the Chicago area. A franchise program began in 2004, to expand the dairy business outside of northeast Illinois.[6]

Television

Oberweis became a financial news anchor and host of the show "Catching Winners Early" on the Financial News Network. In Chicago, Oberweis became a regular guest on the Ask an Expert show. Oberweis was also a popular guest on CNBC, CNN and Bloomberg TV.[1]

Political activity

Oberweis has sought elective office six times, finally succeeding in the 2012 race for the 25th State Senate district seat. His record of losing elections has earned him the nickname "the Milk Dud".[7]

2002 U.S. Senate election

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See also: United States Senate election in Illinois, 2002

In 2002, Oberweis sought the Republican nomination for U.S. Senator, but lost in the primary, finishing second of three with 31%.[8]

2004 U.S. Senate election

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See also: United States Senate election in Illinois, 2004

Oberweis ran for Senator again in 2004, but again lost in the primary, finishing second of seven with 24%.[8]

Soon after the primary, the winner, Jack Ryan withdrew due to personal scandal. Some Republicans felt that as the second-place finisher, Oberweis should replace Ryan, but the state central committee chose Alan Keyes instead. Keyes lost to Barack Obama by the largest margin for the Illinois U.S. Senate race in history.[9]

Oberweis's 2004 campaign was notable for a television commercial in which he flew in a helicopter over Chicago's Soldier Field and claimed enough illegal immigrants came into America in a week (10,000 a day) to fill the stadium's 61,500 seats.[10]

During his 2004 Senate campaign, Oberweis appeared in television commercials for Oberweis Dairies. The Federal Election Commission ruled that this was an improper corporate contribution to the campaign, and fined Oberweis $21,000 for violation of campaign finance law.[11]

2006 gubernatorial election

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See also: Illinois gubernatorial election, 2006

In 2006, Oberweis sought the Republican nomination for Governor of Illinois. (He started his campaign in April 2005.) He lost in the primary, finishing second of five with 32%.[8] As part of his campaign, he supported amending the Illinois Constitution to define marriage as opposite-sex only.[12] The winner of the primary was Judy Baar Topinka, who was defeated by Democrat Rod Blagojevich in the general election 49.8 to 39.3 per cent, with Rich Whitney, the Green Party candidate, receiving a little over 10.3 per cent.[8] Some media reports indicated that Oberweis received a large number of write-in votes in the November 2006 general election, and he spontaneously re-appeared in some tracking polls at 1 or 2 per cent in October of that year;[citation needed] this was apparently spontaneous and not officially organized.[citation needed] For that reason, the write-in votes were not officially tracked as they would with an official, declared write-in candidate, and a statewide total is not known.[citation needed]

2008 Congressional elections

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See also: Illinois's 14th congressional district special election, 2008

When U.S. Representative Dennis Hastert resigned his seat (Illinois' 14th congressional district) on November 26, 2007, Oberweis ran to replace him. Oberweis was endorsed by Hastert.[13] He won the primary for the special election for the remainder of Hastert's unfinished term with 56%. He also won the primary for the general election for the next term, with 58%.[8]

However, Oberweis lost the March special election to Democrat Bill Foster, getting 47% of the vote to Foster's 53%. He lost to Foster again in November, 58% to 42%.[8]

Illinois Republican Party State Central Committee

During the elections for the State Central Committee in March, 2010, Jim Oberweis ran and won a seat on the Illinois Republican Party's State Central Committee representing the 14th Congressional District.[2][14] In 2013, as State Central Committeeman, Oberweis led the effort to oust former Illinois Republican Party Chairman Pat Brady after his controversial public support of same-sex marriage.[15][16] Oberweis's efforts failed, however Brady eventually resigned because of the controversy.

Oberweis did not run again for the State Central Committee for the election in April 2014.[17]

State Senate

In the 2012 general election, Oberweis won the 25th State Senate seat previously held by Chris Lauzen, his former GOP primary rival in the 2008 congressional race. He had announced his bid in September 2011.[18] He defeated his Democratic opponent, Corinne Pierog, 57.5%-42.5%.

Committee assignments

  • Appropriations I
  • Labor and Commerce (Minority Spokesperson)
  • Environment
    • Subcommittee on Special Issues
  • Local Government
    • Subcommittee on Special Issues (Minority Spokesperson)
  • Public Health

2014 U.S. Senate election

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See also: United States Senate election in Illinois, 2014

Oberweis was the Republican nominee for the 2014 Senate election, for the seat held by Democrat Dick Durbin.[19] He defeated Doug Truax in the Republican primary with 56% of the vote. He was defeated by Durbin in the November election.[20]

Other accomplishments

Oberweis is an avid chess player. In 2013, he had a USCF rating of 1926 (class A).[2] He supported the Fox Valley Chess Club for many years. He also served as President of the Illinois Chess Association for two years, as Illinois delegate to the USCF,[21] and as a trustee of the American Chess Foundation and the Chess Trust Fund.[1]

Personal life

Jim Oberweis and his first wife, the former Elaine Marie Cisek, have five children but divorced in 2003.[3] He has two stepchildren with his current wife, Julie, and sixteen grandchildren.[22][23]

Oberweis is a Roman Catholic.[24]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ "Senator Jim Oberweis (R)". 99th Illinois General Assembly. Retrieved April 1, 2015.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ [1] Archived December 14, 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ [2][dead link]
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Skiba, Katherine & Kim Geiger (November 4, 2014) - "Sen. Durbin Charges to Victory, Will Serve Record 4th Term". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved January 15, 2014.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Henderson, Harold - 15 Candidates! We Can Help--The Reader's Guide to the Big Showdown Association of Alternative Newsmedia, May 15, 2005

External links

Party political offices
Preceded by
Steve Sauerberg
 Republican nominee for U.S. Senator from Illinois
(Class 2)
2014		 Most recent
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