Ellen Corley, born in Georgia and a progressive Democratic candidate for Illinois’s 5th Congressional District, brings four decades of real-world experience to a campaign built on one core conviction: The hidden machinery of corruption - inside government, finance, and media - must be exposed and dismantled before it destroys what remains of American democracy.

A former high school teacher turned marketing research consultant with an M.B.A. from the University of Illinois at Chicago, Corley entered public life in 2008 when the financial crisis caused many families to lose their homes. People's ruin ignited a decade-long investigation into police brutality, wrongful convictions, and the flow of dark money that shields both. From organizing with the Chicago Alliance for Racist Political Repression to testifying at City Hall on civilian oversight of the police, she has earned a reputation as the district’s most relentless voice for the exonerated and the erased.

Corley’s platform is unapologetically systemic. She calls for:

• Criminal justice overhaul that ends cash bail, abolishes private prisons, and re-directs federal dollars from militarized policing to restorative justice and mental health courts.
• Medicare for All funded by closing the carried-interest loophole and taxing algorithmic trades that skim billions from working families.
• Election reform that outlaws SuperPACs, mandates paper ballots, and makes Election Day a federal holiday.

She has supported police accountability for withholding torture files, who has marched with Jon Burge survivors, and who refuses corporate PAC money on principle. Her volunteers - former students, exonerated citizens, and grandmothers from Jefferson Park - knock doors with a simple question: “When was the last time your congressman fought for you instead of the donor class?”

In a district that stretches from Lake Zurich, Illinois, to million-dollar condos, to blocks still scarred by foreclosure, Corley is running to prove that government can be a solution for the many, not a shield for the few. Her slogan is borrowed from the wrongfully convicted men she has stood beside for fifteen years: “Equal rights aren’t equal until they’re enforced.”

Ellen Corley for Congress – District 5

Top 25 Platform Planks
Campaign by Ellen – Real Change, No Compromise

1. End Corruption – Fund the People, Not the Military
2. Achieve Radical Transparency – Prosecute State Crimes
3. Release the Files – Assassinations, Epstein, Maxwell, and P.R.O.M.I.S.
4. Protect Civil Liberties and Human Rights
5. Achieve Judicial Oversight
6. Prosecute the Prosecutors
7. Reform Business – Break Up Monopolies & Prosecute Organized Crime
8. Re-Evaluate Totalitarian Regimes in Civil Rights Laws – End the Cold War
9. Defeat the Deep State
10. End Mass-Scale Domestic Surveillance
11. No Kings, No Dictators
12. End the Forever Wars
13. End the Gaza Genocide
14. End Torture by Police and the CIA
15. “Restore Right Regulations” – Reform Our Criminal Justice System
16. Abolish ICE – End Militarization of the Police
17. End “Welfare-to-Work” – Protect Food Stamps & Defend Labor
18. Fight Corporate Control – Stop De-Regulation & Privatization
19. Outlaw Government Propaganda
20. Reform Elections – Achieve Fair Elections
21. “Restore Right Regulations” – Protect Voting Rights & the Environment
22. Protect Medical Freedom and Privacy
23. Protect Reproductive Rights – Achieve Equality of the Sexes
24. Reform Social Security and Education
25. Reform Taxes & Monetary Policy – Solve the National Debt Crisis

Ellen’s Campaign for Congress – 5th District

**Top Four Issues

1. Expose and End Corruption, and Achieve Accountability
   Get New Investigations into Corruption, Create More Inspector Generals' Offices, and Enforce and Expand Laws Against Honest Services Fraud.

2. Achieve Radical Transparency
   Including through Releasing Files on Operation Paperclip, Nazis, N.A.S.A., C.I.A., Kennedys and Other Assassinations, Epstein & the Maxwells, and P.R.O.M.I.S. Spy Software.

3. Reform Criminal Justice
   Investigate and End Torture by the Police and the C.I.A., Reform the Law to Allow Prosecution of Prosecutors, and Reform Judges’ Powers.

4. “Restore Right Regulations”
   To Protect Social and Environmental Progress, Protect the Civil Rights of the Accused and Exonerees, and Make Elections Fair and Accessible for Voters and Candidates.

No corruption. No compromise. No surrender.

ELLEN A. CORLEY’S TWENTY-FIVE POINT PLATFORM
FOR THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FROM ILLINOIS’S FIFTH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

Election: Tuesday, November 3, 2026

Ellen for Congress – Illinois 5th District

Detailed 25-Point Platform

1. END CORRUPTION; AND FUND THE PEOPLE, NOT THE MILITARY
   Fight and prosecute deception, fraud, corruption, and abuse of power (especially by police, military, and government officials). Improve spending on education, health, social programs, and modernizing our infrastructure by significantly reducing U.S. military spending.

2. ACHIEVE RADICAL TRANSPARENCY AND PROSECUTE STATE CRIMES
   De-classify state secrets. Create more offices of the inspector general and ombudsman offices in more jurisdictions to root out political corruption with official authority. Restore and reform our democratic republic through full transparency in all government agencies and firms contracting with government.

3. RELEASE FILES ON ASSASSINATIONS, EPSTEIN, MAXWELLS, AND P.R.O.M.I.S.
   Support independent citizen investigations into the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, the affairs of Ghislaine and Robert Maxwell (including the PROMIS surveillance software theft), and the John F. Kennedy assassination. De-classify all files on the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, John Lennon, Jimmy Hoffa, Tupac Shakur, Notorious B.I.G., and others. Demand investigations of Operation Paperclip, Nazis at NASA, and the CIA’s MK-ULTRA Program.

4. PROTECT CIVIL LIBERTIES AND HUMAN RIGHTS
   Restore and enforce the U.S. Bill of Rights (especially freedom of speech), enforce the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in the United States, and restore civic literacy. Reform the criminal justice system to emphasize rehabilitation, restorative justice, education, and job skills over punishment.

5. ACHIEVE JUDICIAL OVERSIGHT
   End the use of “national security” or “state sovereignty” to hide crimes. Restore the Independent Special Prosecutor to prosecute elected officials. Strengthen the DOJ’s Office of Professional Responsibility. Combat judicial bribery through honest services fraud laws. Expand these laws to hold the president and appointees accountable for treason and high crimes without individual trials.

6. PROSECUTE THE PROSECUTORS
   Make it easier to prosecute prosecutors for malicious prosecution and fraud by overturning Imbler v. Pachtman. Amend the Eleventh Amendment to end prosecutorial immunity, police immunity, military immunity, and corporate immunity.

7. REFORM BUSINESS by BREAKING-UP MONOPOLIES and PROSECUTING ORGANIZED CRIME
   Use and expand the Sherman Antitrust Act to abolish monopolies in both government and business. Strengthen RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act). Expose the fascist “New World Order” plot and false “supply-side” economic theory.

8. RE-EVALUATE DEFINITIONS of TOTALITARIAN REGIMES in CIVIL RIGHTS LAWS, and END THE COLD WAR
   Update civil rights laws with modern definitions of totalitarianism. End the War on Communism. Restore the House Un-American Activities Committee to target Nazis and fascists. Resume de-Nazification efforts, investigate Operation Paperclip, divest from Nazi-collaborating companies, and repeal parts of the 1995 National Security Revitalization Act.

9. DEFEAT THE DEEP STATE
   Dismantle the FBI, CIA, and NSA. Repeal the 2015 USA Freedom Act. Review the existence of the seventeen intelligence agencies. Audit and end unnecessary states of national emergency.

10. END MASS-SCALE DOMESTIC SURVEILLANCE
    Investigate theft and misuse of PROMIS, PRISM, Pegasus, Palantir, and related technologies. Expose PROMIS theft by Mossad and its spread to adversaries. Hold commissions on domestic surveillance abuses.

11. NO KINGS, AND NO DICTATORS
    Curb unitary executive power. Review and repeal Reagan’s Executive Order 12333 and amend the National Security Act of 1947 to limit the security state.

12. END THE FOREVER-WARS
    End entangling alliances, pre-emptive wars, and U.S.-led coups. Dismantle the Military-Industrial Complex. Establish a Department of Peace. Reduce military spending and redirect funds to education, health, and infrastructure. Advocate rapprochement with Russia and China, and nuclear disarmament.

13. END THE GAZA GENOCIDE
    End offensive weapons sales to Israel. Oppose Zionist occupation. Expose Mossad spying and Hasbara propaganda. Repeal anti-BDS legislation for government contractors.

14. END TORTURE BY POLICE AND THE C.I.A.
    Investigate Chicago’s Jon Burge torture scandal. Protect anti-torture laws. Declassify all MK-ULTRA and related CIA torture program files.

15. “RESTORE RIGHT REGULATIONS” TO REFORM OUR CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM
    Decriminalize most drugs, legalize cannabis, treat addiction as a health issue. End mandatory minimums and three-strikes laws. Demilitarize police, end joint U.S.-Israeli training, repeal federal death penalty.

16. ABOLISH I.C.E. AND END MILITARIZATION OF THE POLICE
    Abolish ICE and DHS. Strengthen Posse Comitatus Act. Support open borders policy and oppose border walls.

17. END “WELFARE-TO-WORK”, PROTECT FOOD STAMPS, AND DEFEND LABOR
    Raise minimum wage to a true living wage ($15+). End punitive welfare-to-work rules. Fully fund SNAP. Expose failures of neoliberal and supply-side economics.

18. FIGHT CORPORATE CONTROL, DE-REGULATION, AND PRIVATIZATION
    Reverse privatization of public services and elections. Oppose investor-state dispute settlement systems and TPP-style deals.

19. OUTLAW GOVERNMENT PROPAGANDA
    Break up media monopolies. Repeal Smith-Mundt Modernization Act. Restore Fairness Doctrine. Expose Operation Mockingbird and use of crises for rights restrictions.

20. REFORM ELECTIONS AND ACHIEVE FAIR ELECTIONS
    Part One: Create “digital democracy” via secure e-voting platform “Voice of IL-05” — constituents directly guide votes (“Your Voice, Her Vote”).
    Part Two: Overturn Citizens United. Pass amendment: corporations are not people, money is not speech. Expand ballot access equally for all candidates.

21. “RESTORE RIGHT REGULATIONS” TO PROTECT VOTING RIGHTS AND THE ENVIRONMENT
    Enforce Voting Rights Act and major environmental laws. Support Green New Deal-style initiatives. Ban fracking, new pipelines, fossil fuel subsidies. Phase out nuclear power. Moratorium on new GMOs.

22. PROTECT MEDICAL FREEDOM AND PRIVACY
    Transition to Medicare for All. Strengthen HIPAA. Investigate COVID protocols and related potential crimes.

23. PROTECT REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS AND ACHIEVE EQUALITY OF THE SEXES
    Restore Roe or pass national reproductive rights law. Affirm Equal Rights Amendment ratification. End discrimination based on sex, race, orientation, gender identity, etc.

24. REFORM SOCIAL SECURITY AND EDUCATION
    Fully fund Department of Education. Expand SSI. Implement Universal Basic Income ($10,000+/person/year). Cancel student debt and provide tuition-free public college.

25. REFORM TAXES AND MONETARY POLICY, AND SOLVE THE NATIONAL DEBT CRISIS
    Repeal regressive property taxes. Enforce progressive taxation. Fully audit and ultimately abolish the Federal Reserve. Replace fractional reserve with full-reserve banking. Create public banking and issue debt-free currency.

Ellen for Congress – Illinois 5th District
No corruption. No compromise. No surrender.

Biggest Challenge Facing Our Country and How to Address It

In my opinion, the biggest challenge facing our country is that Congress is not fighting and investigating corruption. Unbeknownst to most Americans, under current secret terms in the Patriot Act, the president can increase his own power each year using executive orders. I will challenge the way that executive orders are used, such as authorizations to use military force and to spy on Americans under the pretense of national security. I will help bring about best practices of good government, as opposed to the worst practices of politicians' self-dealing and graft. I would also help to fight and investigate corruption by expanding honest services laws and by achieving oversight over congressional committees, such as appropriations.

Working Across the Aisle to Pass Important Legislation

I would reach across the aisle by working with other lawmakers, regardless of party affiliation—such as Thomas Massie and other honest Republicans in Congress—who want to end the Deep State. I will do this by sponsoring legislation that would take steps toward ending our illegal "forever wars" and pushing for an end to Israel's genocidal destruction of Gaza. I will also propose reforms that would achieve free speech and oppose censorship, and advocate for auditing and ending the Federal Reserve System. I will also propose investigating Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, and offer national security reforms that would ensure other countries are not spying on the United States, nor providing us with (nor stealing our) surveillance software.

First Piece of Legislation to Introduce After Election and Why

If elected to be the Democratic candidate from my Illinois 5th District in the March primaries, I would spend the next seven months surveying experts to learn exactly what legislation has been passed and what legislation has not even been considered or gotten out of committee. My hypothesis is that the legislation needed to address government corruption has been removed. At this stage, the legislation I would introduce is to audit and remove executive orders like the one that gives the president authorization to use military force every year without congressional oversight. We also need to remove executive orders like the 1981 Reagan-signed Executive Order 12333 that gave the CIA the ability to spy on us with AI, which it explicitly forbade.