Beyond Obama – An Intro to Illinois' Major Political Figures (Part 1)
Posted By: Michael Sweeney
August 26, 2008
Welcome to Illinois politics, home of Lincoln, Stevenson, Dirksen, Daley, Obama…as well as a crapload of other, lesser figures who are often professional and cagey, but also often…uh...just crappy.
Sure, we may well be providing the US with its next President, but we also are to blame for the recent one-term Senatorial blips of Peter Fitzgerald and Carol Moseley Braun. And, there’s also worse – much worse...For example, of our state’s last eight Governors, three of them – Otto Kerner, Dan Walker, and George Ryan – have served time in prison. (And, quite frankly, the current Gov. Rod Blagojevich, seems more than a bit nervous about the various investigations and rumors swirling around his administration.)
So…to provide a current overview of the kings and queens, the wild-cards, and the flat-out jokers in Illinois politics, here’s the first of a two-part report – this posting focusing on the more internal-facing IL state politicians while part two looks at the external influencing political leaders from this state:
(Important Note: Keep in mind that WHEN Barack Obama is elected President, these are the men and women who will likely be selecting his Senatorial successor...in fact, I’d call it a solid 95% bet that one of the people listed in these two posts WILL BE chosen as the next US Senator from Illinois…)
Illinois Politicians, Part 1 – “All Politics is Local”
Illinois is, really, two very different states.
The first part is Chicago (and its suburbs), which knows it is the economic engine of not just the state, but also of the entire Upper Midwest.
Chicago is pretty much in charge of itself – although, technically, at least, it sends local politicians down to serve in the state’s House and Senate in the capital of Springfield.
The other part is the rest of the state, scattered across many long miles of Interstates and distant college towns…parts of which are even further south than Richmond, Virginia. That part of the state is ruled (such as it is) locally and out of Springfield.
The odd thing is that, in some cases, local politicians here – be they a city ward’s Alderman or a county’s executive or even a Sheriff in some regions – can be more influential and more powerful (at least in an immediate, on-the-ground sort of way) than even the “big boy” elected officials serving in Washington. And, even though we’re not focusing on (for example) the Knox County Coroner or the Mayor of Peoria, that can be a mind-set to remember as we take a look at some of the top local-facing political leaders Illinois currently has…
Gov. Rod Blagojevich – This former US Congressman (and once-golden-boy son-in-law of longtime Chicago Alderman Richard Mell) seemed to be gusting into Springfield as a new, reformist breeze after Gov. George Ryan slunk out of town, on his eventual way to prison.
But then Blago stopped coming to Springfield all that much (preferring his Chicago home to the Governor’s Mansion) and – apparently; allegedly – started the meat a-cookin’ for HIS Democratic side, after some 26 straight years of Republican leadership in the state, resulting in accusations of hiring fraud, donations-for-state-contracts, and massive kickbacks.
He has been strongly rumored to be the “Public Official ‘A’” mentioned in a number of grand jury indictments as a big gun who (allegedly) raked it in from various schemes involving state jobs and pension fund investments…and, despite all of this, he has been doggedly hanging on to his perhaps-lower-than-W’s approval rating and hoping to ride things out until the end of his term in January, 2011. We shall see…
The Madigans – Papa Mike is the Speaker of the IL House of Representatives (AND the Chairman of the state Democratic Party)…and daughter (step-, actually) Lisa is the state’s Attorney General.
Mike has been Speaker for nearly 25 years and currently clashes with Gov. Blago (recently, he has been quashing and stalling many of the Governor’s plans as they pass his powerful desk)…AND he is seen as grooming Lisa to eventually become the state’s Governor. At this point, she seems more likely than anyone in the state – of course, including Blago – to become the state’s top executive after the 2010 elections.
Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn – If you follow history, you may be familiar with the backfiring move of the “hiding” of the blusterous, unclassifiable force that was Teddy Roosevelt by the supposedly clever GOP leadership, who figured they had buried him as McKinley’s VP. Six months later – ooops. The same thing may end up happening with longtime consumer and reform advocate Quinn, who was once State Treasurer, but who is now perhaps one Blagojevich indictment (well, or a conviction, anyway) away from becoming the state’s most populist Governor since probably John Peter Altgeld in the 1890s. Stay tuned for updates…
State Republican Leaders – There are none left, apparently. They pretty much ran the whole damn state from 1977 until 2003, but, with the Jim Ryan loss in the ’02 Gov race, the Jack Ryan sex-swinger flame-out in ’04, and even the last-chance-landslide loss by the last GOP elected state official (and bizarrely bottle-redheaded gal) Judy Baar Topinka in ‘06, they’ve all been wiped out now.
There are currently zero Republican state office-holders…and the next generation of potential Republican state candidates has yet to emerge.
State Sen. Emil Jones – The powerful, but about-to-retire President of the IL Senate was Obama’s mentor back when the Senator was in state politics (in fact, they represented neighboring districts).
He has famously feuded with Mike Madigan and sided with Gov. Blago in the past. And he may have just cashed in much of his lifetime political capital to get his son, Emil III, appointed to replace him on the November ballot - a going-away gift to him from a grateful President Obama (Jones really was key in Obama’s ’04 Senate campaign) may be an appointment to the two-year-only-then-REALLY-retire US Senate seat.
Chicago Aldermen – You may have heard of the old “Council Wars,” back when Alderman “Fast Eddie” Vrdolyak ran a majority-group of rebelling Aldermen to hold Mayor Harold Washington’s administration in semi-perpetual check. But that all ended more than 20 years ago…and today’s City Council is full of Daley rubber stampers (heck, the mayor initially appointed more than 30 out of the 50 of them).
However, there is one independent – of Daley and others – force: 40-year Alderman Ed Burke, who gets what he wants. Even Mayor Daley (mostly) sidesteps him (the two men mostly dislike each other, but in a usually practical way – Daley got to be in ultimate charge, so he doesn’t seem to mind tolerating the entrenched and powerful Burke).
The rest of these can maybe fix a parking ticket or get a stop sign put up for you…but, beyond the borders of their owns wards, don’t rely on them for much else.
Cook Country Board President Todd Stroger – A joke and an apparent moron. Completely unqualified – except for sharing the last name and genetics of his father, previous Country Board Prez, John Stroger – to lead the $3.2-billion-dollar-budgeted Cook County (the second-largest county in the US, which includes all of the City of Chicago and its closest suburbs).
Jesse White / Dan Hynes / Alexi Giannoulias – These three Dems are the other elected state officials. The popular Secretary of State White is the longtime sponsor of the “Jesse White Tumblers,” a famous inner-city youth activity group.
Comptroller Hynes is another “legacy” IL pol (his dad Tom was formerly Cook County Assessor and President of the IL Senate); he lost to Obama in the ’04 Dem Senate primary.
Treasurer Giannoulias is a newcomer who overcame some negative banking pub to ride in on the ’06 Dem landslide; that year he was 30 and became the nation’s youngest elected State Treasurer. White probably won’t run again…and the other two are eying their potential future elevations, depending on who else goes where in the state-officer hierarchy.
That does it for Part 1, look for Part 2 next week here at TSR.
For more coverage of Illinois politics – and its most prominent figures – look for my regular, weekly posts here on The Stonecipher Report. (And, to – freely! – subscribe to my twice-weekly column, And, in the News…, send an email to: m_l_sweeney@hotmail.com)
Michael Sweeney is our newest contributor at The Stonecipher Report. He is a Chicagoan, a lifelong political follower AND a since-Ernie-Billy-Fergie-and-Ronnie devoted fan of the now-first-place Chicago Cubs…so this autumn may be far too much combined excitement for his rapidly-aging heart…
