Steve Askin Papers

Steve Askin (born 1953) was Harold Washington’s Communications Director during his unsuccessful run for mayor in 1977. Askin at first served as a communications assistant in the campaign. He took over the Communications Director role in mid-March 1977, after the resignation of Don Rose. After losing the election, Washington continued serving as Illinois State Senator until 1980 when he was elected to the U.S. Congress. Askin joined Congressman Washington’s staff in December 1980 serving as Press Secretary, based in Washington, D.C. Askin later volunteered in Washington’s north side campaign office during the successful 1983 Chicago mayoral election.

Askin has devoted his career to uncovering corporate and governmental abuses that harm the poor, working people and people of color in the U.S. and internationally. In a global journalism career, Askin’s writings include investigations of sanctions-busting under South African apartheid for Business Week, the global trade in landmines for Human Rights Watch, and union-busting for the Chicago Reporter and In These Times. From 1994 until his retirement at the end of 2017, he served as a Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Research Coordinator leading investigations of companies that deny workers their right to a just wage and union representation.

Askin dropped out of the University of Chicago to work with Harold Washington in 1977 though he belatedly received his AB degree from that same university in 1991. He earned an MBA in Accounting at Columbia University in 1993.