Adam Andrzejewski is a businessman and government transparency advocate from the town of Herscher, Illinois and now resides in Hinsdale, Illinois. Since 2011, Andrzejewski has spearheaded a national effort to capture and display all government spending at OpenTheBooks.com — a charity he founded. Andrzejewski was the first announced candidate for the Illinois Gubernatorial election of 2010.
Personal life
Adam Andrzejewski, the eldest of seven children, was born in Herscher, Illinois to John and Janet Andrzejewski. His grandparents Andrew and Theresa Andrzejewski came to the U.S. from Poland in 1928 and settled in Evanston, Illinois. During the Great Depression the Andrzejewski family shared a small apartment and Andrew Andrzejewski worked for over 14 hours a day. His father taught history and political science at Limestone Elementary School for 38 years until he retired in 2008. His father also ran for state representative in 1976, and again in 1978, attempting to unseat the then house majority leader, George Ryan. He lost both bids, however, and Ryan later became the Governor. His mother, Janet Norris Andrzejewski, a native of Sugar Grove, Illinois, taught primary education for one year, and then stayed at home after the birth of Adam. Her family came to Illinois in 1844 and settled in Blackberry township, Kane County as a land grant family farm. Janet's father, Sgt. Don Norris, fought in the 745th Tank Battalion, First Infantry Division in World War II and earned a Bronze Star. After the war, Don and Marna Norris raised ten children on the family farm and have 79 descendants as of 2016. As a junior at Herscher High School, Andrzejewski participated in Illinois Boys State, a summer leadership program sponsored by the American Legion, where he was elected Senator in the mock election. After he graduated from Herscher High School in 1987, he attended Northern Illinois University on a varsity debate scholarship where he graduated with a business degree in 1992. In 2017 Adam and his father attended the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner.
Career
In October 1997, Adam Andrzejewski co-founded an independent publishing business with his brother, Abram Andrzejewski. The publishing company, HomePages, employed nearly 150 people and had an annual revenue of nearly $20 million. In 2007 Andrzejewski sold his shares to his brother and an investor. Then, Adam Andrzejewski started a grassroots initiative to enable local counties and school boards to post their check register online.
On March 1, 2009, Adam Andrzejewski announced his intent to run for the office of governor in the Illinois gubernatorial election of 2010. Andrzejewski was the first to announce his campaign to run for the office which had previously been held by Rod Blagojevich, who was replaced by Pat Quinn after he was impeached. Andrzejewski was one of seven Republicans to file with the Illinois State Board of Elections to be placed on the ballot, submitting over 14,000 signatures. The other Republican candidates included Bill Brady, Kirk Dillard, Andrew J. McKenna, Jim Ryan, and Bob Schillerstrom. Andrzejewski’s platform was based on government transparency with a slogan of “Every Dime Online in Real Time” and an aggressive “forensic audit” of all government spending. On January 25, 2010, Andrzejewski received an endorsement at the Union League Club of Chicago from Lech Wałęsa, Solidarity founder and 1983 Nobel Peace PrizeLaureate. On 1 February 2010, Andrzejewski was endorsed by talk radio host Rush Limbaugh. On February 2, 2010, Andrzejewski was came in fifth out of seven candidates in the Republican primary for Governor of Illinois losing by 40,000 votes.
Andrzejewski is a regular contributor for Forbes. He has also contributed several times to The Wall Street Journaleditorial page. Andrzejewski was featured on an episode of John Stossel's-Innovation Nation to discuss the OpenTheBooks mobile app, website, and data and how it helps people hold elected officials accountable and bureaucrats.
