SC Legislature, 14th District Kimberly Wilder, Green Party

SC Legislature, 14th District Kimberly Wilder, Green Party by Leonard Greco

Kimberly Wilder

Kimberly Wilder is a woman who believes in the power of words and music, the importance of the environment, the wisdom of the people and the dream of a better world through understanding.

A teacher, poet and now political candidate, she has helped to form the Green Party’s platform in Babylon Town this year which, she said incorporates many of those ideals.

Wilder is running in the 14th Legislative District against incumbent David Bishop, a Democrat and John Iliou, a Republican. A graduate of Sachem High School, she attended Roanoke College in Virginia. earning a teaching degree. She plays the flute and the piano, and, with her husband, recently published a joint collection of their poems.

Although Wilder finds herself in the thick of things both environmentally

Iliou, his wife and children

and now politically, she did not start out with the intention of running for political office, or against Bishop. At least not at first.

"The Green Party was having a meeting at my home and I was encouraging others to run. But I believe citizens need to be involved in government and I look at this race as my duty."

There are many people that have played important roles in helping shape Wilder’s views, personally, profes-sionally and politically. Tina Dawson, an educator, showed Wilder how teachers can inspire their students and bring education to the point where it has an impact on their lives

"Tina made school a community center, teaching her students about democracy," Wilder explained. "I was so influenced by her that I even wrote a poem about her, entitled Authentic Learning."

Another influential person in her life is political activist Bill McNulty.

"He is the calmest, wisest man I know," Wilder explained. "He embodies incentive, democracy and justice and can talk to people he may disagree with, and challenge authority with the calmest smile on his face you’ll ever see. He’s very strong and very just."

Of course, her parents—mother Karen Isaksson and father Norman, a mechanic with the Suffolk County Police Department— also played a major role in her life. She recalls spending time with her mother, who was a creative person, and experiencing the pleasure that came from making things with her hands.

"We used to make scarecrows with hangers and newspaper to sell them at the Babylon Country Fair," she said.

Wilder also has two brothers, Norman and Kristopher who have also helped shape her life, and enjoys spending time with a close group of friends and family. All of that has helped her be comfortable with the Green Party platform, which focuses on grass roots democracy, ecology, a local economy and social justice and nonviolence. She describes herself as a person who can work well with people and who enjoys a challenge, both intellectually and politically.

"I can brainstorm like a Banshee," she said. "But we can all use help and input from others and that’s one reason I want to become a county legislator. It’s a group of people who discuss issues, weigh the various factors involved and vote."

Wilder also believes strongly in the importance of exercising the right to vote and she’s concerned with the number of Americans who don’t go to the polls on election day.

"I’m a teacher and I know apathy means that people are feeling disenfranchised and oppressed," Wilder said. "When people feel their voices are not heard, then they stop speaking. People aren’t voting because they believe our democracy is broken and their elected officials aren’t listening to them anymore. If we want people to get out and vote again, we have to seek citizen/politicians who will make real change, listen to the people and act on the people’s needs and feelings."

To help accomplish that, Wilder said she would hold citizen meetings and board meetings at libraries and schools "and let the public know we want to hear their thoughts and ideas. Given that, people will know that their vote matters," she said.

What also matters to Wilder is caring for and appreciating the environment and the earth’s natural resources. She points to people-oriented organizations such as the Community Supportive Agriculture (CSA) which is a collection of gardens run by farmers and communities that work together, saying they represent the kind of commitment we have to make. "That way, what’s grown is what is needed," she said. "It’s a way of getting people back to the earth."

Preserving that earth is also important and Wilder has recently brought a lawsuit against the United States, The Army Corps of Engineers and local company, Giannini Construction to block development along Essex Lagoon and surrounding wetlands. The site, she said, is home to a variety of trees and foliage and local wildlife that should be protected.

"I wrote a poem about that, too," Wilder said. Called Message from Essex, it reads, in part: "If you own a tree, you have inherited a fortune . . . Your tree is a symbol of everything careful and steady . . .

Each tree you own is a treasure . . ."

When she’s not out fighting for the environment, penning a new poem, playing the flute or piano, Wilder can be found working as a tutor for a disabled Northport School District student or attending a family gathering or folk music concert.

John Iliou, Republican,

Conservative, Right to Life

by Leonard Greco

Although challenging David Bishop in the 14th LD is his first official political race, Republican John Iliou is no stranger to the political arena. He ran his first race for a seat on the West Babylon Board of Education at 18 years old. He lost that election, but the very next year at the age of 19, he won a three-year term amassing the most votes of any of the candidates at that time.

He left the Board after that first term to attend school in Albany and returned a few years later to once again win a seat on the Board of Education. That, Iliou said in a recent interview, was the beginning of his quest for a life in public service.

"I’m not running against David Bishop just to get a job," Iliou, who is a

law clerk for County Court Justice Joseph Ferneti, explained. "I truly want

the opportunity to serve the public. Even after my two (non-successive) terms on the West Babylon Board of Education, I became involved in my church and am still on the Parish Council (at St. Nicholas Shrine Church).

Iliou said that a number of people have had an influence on him, most notably, his father. "My father came to this country as a teenager with a third grade education," Iliou, who is also a former assistant town attorney, explained. "He worked very hard and managed a very successful business as a plumber. I remember as a child my father coming home after a 20-hour day and showing me his hands. He’d say, ‘I do this so you won’t have to.’ Instead, the elder Iliou encouraged his son to go to school and graduate from college."

He did. Iliou is a graduate of both Hofstra and Albany Law School of Union University. And although Iliou says that among the more difficult things he’s done in life was attending law school and passing the bar exam, his passion for public service has made him want to achieve more.

"At times it seems I’m driven, but those who know me know there’s more to me," said Iliou who describes himself also as compassionate and emotional. "My wife often tells me that I wear my emotions on my sleeve, and those emotions can sometimes work against me. On the other hand, because I become involved emotionally in what I’m doing, I am totally committed."

Iliou, who noted his father is also an emotional man, calls him his personal hero.

"I’m proud of my father," Iliou said. "He came here from Greece at a young age and overcame numerous obstacles. He accomplished so much with so little."

If he has a political hero, it is another fatherly figure, Ronald Reagan. "When he became president I was just 11 years old, and even then I was very interested in what he was saying. People like President Reagan are living proof that there’s very little you cannot do as long as you give it your best effort."

Iliou said there needs to be a greater effort in getting people who say they "can’t" make a difference.

"The best way for us to encourage people to participate the democratic system is to instill honesty in public service," he said. "Many people believe their vote doesn’t count and that most politicians are all liars, so we need to develop and instill trust in our system."

Iliou, who is married and the father of two children, is a lifelong resident of the Town of Babylon.