A man who was convicted of a hate crime has turned in his paperwork announcing his intent to run as a Republican for Cook County Commissioner, intending to unseat the county’s gay Commissioner, Democrat Kevin Morrison.
Kevin Ake, 60, was convicted of a hate crime in 2002 after placing over 100 harassing phone calls to a lesbian YMCA director in Lakeview after his Bible study group was denied permission to hold a meeting at the facility.
According to court records, in one of the messages Ake can be heard saying, “I’m gunna (sic) come after you with all that I have through my heavenly Father… You better watch out … I’m coming. The holy spirit is coming after you.”
At the time, Ake received a sentence of 14 days in jail and two and a half years of probation. Now, Ake says the charges were an overreaction. “I left a bunch of messages on the executive director’s answering machine,” Ake said. “They blew it out of proportion and charged me with the felony hate crime.”
In a phone interview this week with the Chicago Tribune, when asked if he is sorry for his previous actions, he replied, “No, I’m not.” He later added he was “persecuted by a homosexual, and then I served my 14 days. And that was 20 years ago.”
