Lisa Ellman MPP/JD 2005

Alumna puts policy into practice in Obama presidential campaign

Google "Lisa Ellman" and voteellman.com is the first Web site returned. It's a holdover from a successful effort to be a state delegate supporting John Kerry. The 2005 alumna of both the University of Chicago's Harris School and Law School is not currently running for anything. At least not yet.

Instead, she's now putting her experience to use as the Senior Policy Associate for Illinois Senator Barack Obama's presidential campaign. Ellman, who took a class from Obama while in law school, will oversee aspects of the campaign's policy development, in addition to managing a community meeting project through which the campaign will involve ordinary people in policymaking.

Ellman accepted the job on the spot in early March. Interviewed for this article while getting ready to take a leave of absence from Mayer, Brown, Rowe and Maw in Washington, D.C., Ellman was thrilled at the opportunity to apply her Chicago education in a real-world context.

In the classroom, one debates theoretical alternatives, but in a political campaign the discussion of possible solutions or systemic changes has to lead to something concrete, Ellman said. "If a voter in Iowa says, 'what would you do about No Child Left Behind?' You have to have an answer."

Thinking about what a candidate should stand for is a difficult task, especially these days, said Ellman. "The way society is today with technology, it's all about the eight second sound bite. But the reality is that what these campaigns are about is what the candidates are going to do for the country once in office."

Ellman speaks from experience. After graduating with a history degree from University of Michigan, she went to work for Senator Carl Levin (D-MI). She also worked as Deputy Policy Director in the office of Elizabeth Edwards during the 2004 Kerry-Edwards campaign.

Helping others run for office has been Ellman's modus operandi ever since high school, when she first got a taste of politics as campaign manager for her Dad's bid for the local school board. "It was an opportunity for me to see how a person can make a difference in our community."

Now, when she encounters a candidate she believes in, she asks herself the question: "What do I have to offer and how can I help?"

Having exposure to both law and public policy is a good background, Ellman said. She pursued a joint degree, while also co-authoring the book Are Judges Political? An Empirical Analysis of the Federal Judiciary (Brookings Press, 2006), because she was looking to gain the skills needed to find "practical solutions to real-life problems that affect people every day.."

"As a lawyer you learn to argue cases. You work within the law. And at policy school you're asked, 'well, what if the laws are different?' The combination of the two-understanding how the law works and how to change it, and why it's important to change it in order to come to better results for everybody-is something I was really excited about."

But will voteellman.com ever be revamped for another candidacy? Hedging with an aspiring politician's aplomb, Ellman says, "I know that I want to work in government and policy.but I think there is more than one way to do that and to help people. Obviously, public service is one way, but there are so many different ways to serve."

Jenn Q. Goddu