McHenry County Blog

Looking for something else, I found a summary of the Daily Herald’s endorsements in McHenry County’s Republican primary.

All the incumbents were endorsed. When the paper couldn’t find enough incumbents running, it endorsed incumbent Republicans who were defeated by Democrats two years ago.

It appears the Daily Herald doesn’t think there is reason for any voter unrest in McHenry County.

But it does remind me of Dan Walker political operative and Department of Transportation Rest Stop Inspector Gary Fears.  In 1976, my intern Art Sternberg, then a Lakewood resident, now a Chicago lawyer, examined Fears’ time cards to make sure he didn’t take more time off for politics than he had coming in vacation and personal days off.

And off the public payroll came Fears.

At the time Springfield Republican Bill Cellini’s group got money to build a new Downtown hotel next to the new convention denter, Fears got money to build a Holiday Inn in Collinsville, my failing memory tells me.

At one point Walker ally State Rep. Hal Byers said that Fears wanted to know why I disliked him so much.  Since I had never met Fears, I had and have no animosity toward him.  I just thought if Dan Walker were going to have political operatives they should be on his political payroll, not my constituents’.

I don’t know whether it was then or later, that someone, maybe Byers, told me that Fears was a member of “the Incumbent Party.”  He supported whoever was in power.

Maybe the Daily Herald is a member of the Incumbent Party, too.

when I saw the Chicago Tribune editorial on McHenry County’s former Democratic State Representative Tom Hanahan, I sent his and my former State Senator Jack Schaffer an email asking for his memories. It gave me two of the five belly laughs that everyone should have every day to keep healthy. It follows:

Sorry Cal, I don’t check my emails as often as I should.

I did have an opportunity to talk to Tommy about a week before he died. While you could tell the disease was getting to him, you could also tell that the old Tommy was still there. You are right, I do have a lot of memories of Tommy.

In 1974 when the RTA was being created, I was a little curious as to what Tom was going to do about it because the labor unions were very much for the new unit of government and Tom was first and foremost a labor guy.

He must have convinced his leaders that he had to oppose it or he wouldn’t be back (a very accurate perception), which led to a very unusual election in that primary with the four of us; Tommy, you, Bruce and I out stomping against the RTA.

I recall one meeting in Crystal Lake (at the Nature Center) at which all 4 of us took different approaches as to why the RTA was evil – Tommy said it was bad for working men and women. As the meeting broke up a proponent for the RTA, who I knew, thought the four of us had covered every negative angle he could think of against the RTA.

The crowd was so hostile, I felt the need to walk the proponent back to his car. And as you know, 90%+ of the voters voted no with the largest primary turnout in history.

Another time, Tom and I were working on a piece of legislation to give homeowners property tax breaks if they improve their homes, or put an addition on.

I got wind, through a friend in the Dept. of Rev., that the Dept. was about to adopt rules that would require three inspections to qualify for the exemption.

I got hold of Tommy and we both went to see the Director of the Dept of Rev. I don’t recall that I got 5 words in during the meeting but Tom did such a war dance on his desk and threatened him and his descendents…the rule came out with a simple procedure.

During the RTA fights, we came up with the idea to send Gov. Walker petitions signed by people in the area opposing the RTA.

The problem was Tom got along with the democratic Governor Walker no doubt about as well as Jack Franks did with democratic Governor Rod Blagojevich…probably for some of the same reasons.

Governor Walker indicated he’d be happy to meet with me but refused to meet with Tom.

So we issued press release saying that opposition in McHenry County was bipartisan and if the Governor wouldn’t meet with Tommy then I wouldn’t meet with him either.

You’ve already talked about Tommy’s famous/infamous (choose your own word) opposition to the ERA (Equal Rights Amendment), but one of the things that I do definitely remember the time during candidates nights when the speeches and Q & A were over;

• you would be in the corner talking about property tax assessment,
• Bruce in another corner discussing creeping socialism,
• I would be talking with a group about Mental Health and the state budget, and
• Tommy would be in the front of the room talking to every good looking woman there about the ERA with a huge grin on his face.

It’s almost impossible today to explain the cumulative voting system that allowed for a minority party member in every district, and while the system certainly had its flaws, we did see some incredible individuals elected because of it.

And Tommy Hanahan was one of those.

About the only thing Tommy and I had in common was the same constituency and because of that we worked together fairly well.

I doubt we’ll see his likes again.

Thanks for letting me share some of my thoughts with you (it’s more than the local paper did!!!!!)!

The pamphlet printed on my father’s offset printing machines–180,000, maybe more–can be seen interspersed throughout the article. The little kNOw RTA clip-on button, front and back, is also shown.

Other stories about Tom Hanahan:

Johnsburg Democratic Party State Rep. Tom Hanahan Dies – Part 1

Johnsburg Democratic Party State Rep. Tom Hanahan Dies – Part 2

More Memories on McHenry County’s State Rep. Tom Hanahan

Jeff Ladd Calls for RTA Tax Hike

The Wiring of Rep. Pete Pappas

Why did Pat Quinn leave state government?

Pages 356 and 357 of Taylor Pensoneau’s and Bob Ellis’ biography of Dan Walker gives this insight.

Quinn enjoyed the excitement of the campaign, but couldn’t adjust to the daily tedium of state government.

Wearing a tie didn’t excite him either.

His jobs included being Walker’s personal ombudsman where he learned how state government didn’t work for people and even got a taste of handling patronage the book says.

Government was just too tame for him.

“…the energy and enthusiasm of the administration was obviously beginning to wane after several years in office. Walker was no longer enough of a populist for me…His administration had stopped being a vehicle for organizing citizens.”

He was frustrated trying to operate as a “government insider.”

“He was itching to get back on the streets again, eager to resume raising cain with the political establishment, to further nurture the spirit of political mutiny at the grass roots unleashed by Walker.”

(Isn’t that a marvelous sentence?)

Quinn told Walker “it was time to hit the road again, time for me to do what I do best—which was organizing people to bring about change.”

“…no hard feelings. I just old him I was a better outsider than insider.”

Tomorrow – From the perspective of the 1993 out of print book, what did Pat Quinn do after leaving the Dan Walker administration?

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The picture is of Lt. Governor Pat Quinn facing a camera wearing a tie about a week after his running mate, Governor Rod Blagojevich was arrested woken by the FBI–as a courtesy–before being arrested.

The title of former Governor Dan Walker’s biography is “Dan Walker, the Glory and the Tragedy.”

Written by Taylor Pensoneau and Bob Ellis, it reports on page 355 what Pat Quinn thought of Walker’s term as governor.

Playing off Blackburn College political science professor John Forbes’ opinion that Walker had fallen “from a very promising guiding light in the Stevenson tradition to a largely confusing mishmash,” the book says,

“Patrick Quinn would not go that far, but he too was not satisfied that the full potential of Walker’s governorship was being fulfilled when the young political activist left Walker in 1975 after holding a series of posts in the administration.”

Tomorrow – Why did Pat Quinn leave the Dan Walker administration?

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Here’s a picture of Pat Quinn standing in the background as the man he replaced as Illinois Governor, Rod Blagojevich, speaks. The photo was in an ad run by the Illinois Republican Party.

You’ve read what others thought of Patrick Quinn’s role in Dan Walker’s 1972 primary and general election gubernatorial campaigns.

Today, we look at what Taylor Pensoneau’s and Bob Ellis’ biography of Dan Walker heard from Quinn himself. It’s on page 356:

It “was entrepreneurial in every way. It changed the way candidates ran for office. The citizens coalition it flowered was was a truly unique happening, a rare moment in history for the iconoclasts, the mavericks and the independent thinkers to bloom.”

Tomorrow – Pat Quinn evaluates Dan Walker’s term as governor.

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The picture of Patrick Quinn is from another press conference during the Governor Rod Blagojevich ouster process.

In Taylor Pensoneau’s and Bob Ellis’ biography of Dan Walker, “Dan Walker, the Glory and the Tragedy” is information on how Governor Pat Quinn apparently got his start in electoral politics.

Besides his primary election role, there is a bit about what he did in the 1972 General Election campaign.

On page 168, Quinn is described as

“the hard driving Patrick Quinn, by then campaign director for southwestern Illinois.

“…people like Quinn were supposed to be paid,” according to Steve McCurdy, but “I doubted it because there did not seem to be any money.” He said Quinn “ate” his expenses.

“Quinn was an interesting case,” the authors explain, “if only because of the unusually strong impression he made on those he encountered and because of his frenetic activism in Illinois pubic life in the years to follow.

“The living room of the Kolker home in East St. Louis provided free sleeping quarters for Quinn…

“Thinking back Sue Kolker recalled that ‘Quinn seemed to be everywhere at once, soothing the Walker to keep them going and yet trying to play games with the regulars by telling them the Walker effort was no longer completely independent. So serious and still humorous about it all, I never saw a politician work harder. He only slept a few hours a night.”

Tomorrow – The 1972 campaign in Pat Quinn’s word.

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The photo is of Governor Pat Quinn on his first day in office after he took over form impeached Governor Rod Blagojevich.

In Taylor Pensoneau’s and Bob Ellis’ biography of Governor Dan Walker, the two write of what Pat Quinn did in college.

On page 169 appears a sentence fragment about now Governor Pat Quinn’s college days:

“…he holder of an economics degree from Georgetown University, where he made Phi Beta Kappa, was sports editor and a columnist for the college paper, The Hoys, and attended every anti-Vietnam War War protest he could.”

Tomorrow – What Quinn did in the Dan Walker’s 1972 General Election campaign.

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The photo is of Patrick Quinn during the run-up to the impeachment of Rod Blagojevich. Quinn was still Lt. Governor.

In their biography of former Governor “Dan Walker, the Glory and the Tragedy,” Taylor Pensoneau and Bob Ellis, write of the role of Pat Quinn in the 1972 primary election campaign.

Quinn first appears in a couple of sentences about the primary election on page 139 of the biography:

“Populous Madison County obviously posed special problems for the Walker campaign in regard to organizing and other tasks.

“Consequently, several weeks before the primary, a 23-year old Chicagoan who had become a top troubleshooter for the campaign, Patrick Quinn, was dispatched to Madison.

“Almost overnight, the tireless Quinn pulled off a headquarters opening and galvanized scores of impressionable college students to go to bat for Walker.”

Tomorrow – What Quinn Did in College?

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The photo of Patrick Quinn was taken right after he was sworn in as Governor of Illinois, replacing impeached Governor Rod Blagojevich.

Now that impeached and convicted Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich says he has signed a six-figure contract to write a book, this January 2nd article needs to go up again.

Governor Rod Blagojevich seeks ghost writer to capitalize on the national infamy he is orchestrating prior to his entry into confined spaces for a prolonged period of time.

Seeking assistant who will work for a cut of the profits. Assistant must be capable of rendering tape recorded “BLEEPS” into language acceptable to an editor.

Dan Walker’s autobiography could be used as a template, cutting back and forth between prison memories and those of the outside world.

Experience in self-publishing might prove useful.

Oops. Scratch that last line.

Governor Rod Blagojevich seeks ghost writer to capitalize on the national infamy he is orchestrating prior to his entry into confined spaces for a prolonged period of time.

Seeking assistant who will work for a cut of the profits. Assistant must be capable of rendering tape recorded “BLEEPS” into language acceptable to an editor.

Dan Walker’s autobiography could be used as a template, cutting back and forth between prison memories and those of the outside world.

Experience in self-publishing might prove useful.