NRI Raja Krishnamoorthi is a Democratic candidate for Illinois Comptroller

 

NRI Raja Krishnamoorthi, 36, of Hoffman Estates, Chicago, former state Deputy Treasurer, announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for comptroller on 24 August 2009. Election date is November 2, 2010. In April 2009, he resigned from his position as Deputy Treasurer of Illinois and opened a campaign exploratory committee.

He said, "We need a government willing to challenge the insiders and the status quo on behalf of hard-pressed taxpayers," he said. "In every public job I've held in Illinois, I made government more responsive and more accountable."

H will be the first NRI (non-resident Indian) elected to statewide office, used his announcement to propose tougher regulation of cemeteries, including a greater role for the comptroller's office, as a result of the Burr Oak Cemetery investigation.

• He was a member of the Illinois Housing Development Authority and served as a special assistant attorney general to Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan.
• He also worked on the 2004 U.S. Senate campaign of President Barack Obama.

Caption: In 2002, Barack Obama, then Illinois Senator, enjoys Indian food in the kitchen of Raja Krishnamoorthi's boyhood home in Peoria, Illinois.

Friend of Barack Obama:

• A long-time friend of Barack Obama, Krishnamoorthi served in several positions in Obama's campaigns, first in Obama's failed primary run in the 1st congressional district election in 2000.
• In Obama's successful 2004 U.S. Senate campaign, Krishnamoorthi was issues director during the primary and a senior advisor during the general election.
• He also advised Obama in the 2008 presidental election.

On 31 July 2009, Krishnamoorthi visited the White House, met with Obama, and mentioned to the Peoria Journal Star that he has some Obama campaign staff on his own campaign

Raja Krishnamoorthi was born in New Delhi, India. He was only 3 months old when his parents, Dr. K.S. and Vijaya Krishnamoorthi, were immigrated to Buffalo, New York from Tamil Nadu, India. His father attended graduate school in engineering and got a teaching position at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois.

• Raja was raised in Peoria and attended public schools and graduating as valedictorian from Richwoods High School.
• He went to Princeton University, where he graduated summa cum laude with a degree in mechanical engineering and a minor in public policy.
• He graduated in 2000 and did a job as he clerk for Judge Joan B. Gottschall at the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
• In 2002, he joined the Chicago law firm of Kirkland & Ellis, where he practiced business litigation and became a partner in the firm.
• In 2007, he left Kirkland & Ellis to become Deputy State Treasurer.

He attended Harvard Law School and graduating with honors.

He is married to Priya, a doctor; they have two sons. They live in the Northwest Chicago suburb of Hoffman Estates.

Illinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias appointed Krishnamoorthi his Deputy Treasurer for Policy and Programs on 12 September 2007, making Krishnamoorthi one of the highest-ranking Indian Americans to serve the State of Illinois.

Raja served on the board of the Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA), becoming chair of its Audit Committee.