Rich Whitney is an attorney from Carbondale, Illinois, now working as an appellate public defender. He is one of the founding members of the Illinois Green Party, and served as its first candidate for governor in 2006. Whitney is an activist with the Green Eco-Socialist Network and serves as a steering committee member of Southern Illinoisans Against Fracturing Our Environment (SAFE), a group devoted to the fight against fracking and other fossil fuel extraction. He is an active participant in the Peace Coalition of Southern Illinois, the Chicago Committee Against War and Racism, the United National Antiwar Coalition, and the Illinois Coalition Against Fracking, and serves as vice-chair for the Jackson County Mass Transit District.