Elected officials can’t seem to retire.
The Illinois General Assembly Retirement System had an election of members recently to fill a board vacancy.
All receiving pensions from the system were eligible to vote.
The winner was former State Rep. and Revenue Committee Chairman Dan Pierce.
A Democrat, he edged out Southern Illinois former Republican State Rep. Bob Winchester. (He was running for State Rep. when I was running for State Comptroller. He radio ad was stunning. “Single shot for Southern Illinois” was his way of encouraging people to vote him and him alone in the old proportional election system in which each voters got 3 votes and could split them among one, two or three candidates with three to be elected in each district.)
The names of the candidates and votes received follow:
- 47 – Dan Pierce
- 46 – Bob Winchester
- 24 – Robert Bugielski
- 20 – Lee Preston
- 19 – Bob Terzich
- 7 – Bruce Douglas
- 7 – Roland Burris
All of the candidates, except Burris are retired State Representatives. Burris served as both State Comptroller and Attorney General.
Burris can still brag that he beat me for State Comptroller by over a million votes.