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Question of the day
Monday, Sep 26, 2011 - Posted by Rich Miller * As a young kid, I was often sent to West Kankakee Liquors on Station Street for grownup supplies (times were different back then). The fastest way to the liquor store was through my grandma’s back yard, down the alley and in the back door, where I’d pass through a storage room. Old men would sit on cardboard cases of beer in that back room, drink, smoke and tell stories. I loved walking through that room. I don’t think I ever stopped to talk to anyone, and I don’t ever remember seeing Mayor Tommy Ryan there, but I wouldn’t have known who he was anyway. I was just a kid, and by then my parents no longer lived in Kankakee, so I didn’t much care who the mayor was. But that distinct aroma of beer, cardboard boxes and cigarette smoke will be with me for the rest of my life. The same goes for my dad, who was regularly dispatched to that very same store when he was a kid. My paternal grandfather, Laverne Miller, was a Kankakee Democrat and a devout Teamster. He was related to the liquor store’s owner, and was an occasional running buddy of Mayor Ryan’s, even though Ryan was a Republican. I talked to Mayor Ryan about that back room years ago when his younger brother George was still governor. He remembered it well. The room had apparently become an icon in his mind for the way things used to be and should have been. Ryan shared some memories of my grandfather that I won’t go into here, but suffice it to say they liked to bust each others’ chops on occasion. …Adding… From a commenter…
All true. * Mayor Ryan died Saturday…
As with any politician, particularly those from Kankakee, Mayor Ryan had his faults. That town was just flat-out crooked. But, today, I can only think of that back room on Station St. and about how almost everybody associated with it has either passed on or moved on. * The Question: Do you have any old-time political stories you’d like to share?
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- amalia - Monday, Sep 26, 11 @ 12:04 pm:
once upon a time I did precinct work for a committeeman in chicago. I was young, I knew no one, and I was simply interested in working for Democrats.
at the end of my first election day, the precinct captain handed me $15, and said, “this is from the committeeman.” I asked what the money was for since I was a volunteer. “The committeeman wants to be sure to thank you.” It was my first introduction to Chicago politics, the strange land.
- Loop Lady - Monday, Sep 26, 11 @ 12:14 pm:
I was working for a Il Senate candidate and going thru files. I found a fifty dollar bill in a Blago for Congress file and asked the candidate what it was for. It was given to said person by Blagos “people” as street money to thank him for his help.
Candidate couldn’t say refuse the money, didn’t want to spend it, and so stuck it in the file.
I took it and spent it on feeding campaign workers.
- tubbfan - Monday, Sep 26, 11 @ 12:16 pm:
The one and only time my parents put up a yard sign was for a “reformer” candidate in Glendale Heights during the 70’s after Mike Royko called that town the armpit of DuPage County. The candidate won, but turned out to be as crooked as the previous administration. My parents were forever jaded from that point forward.
- train111 - Monday, Sep 26, 11 @ 12:22 pm:
I grew up in a small rural town in Wisconsin.
We had an aldermanic race where one candidate ran the city hospital (now closed), was tied into some hinkey dealing, and housed his mistress at a horsefarm just outside town while his wife and kids lived in another house a block away from us. The other (incumbent) candidate had recently been arrested for a domestic disturbance in which he had struck his wife. It was an interesting race with all kinds of small town type gossip to boot. The guy who hit his wife wound up winning by a substantial margin as I recall.
Sometimes the small town guys put the big city guys to shame.
train111
- Stones - Monday, Sep 26, 11 @ 12:29 pm:
I just recall the “old days” which for me was in the late 70’s early ’80’s. I recall many bbq’s at the home shared by Senators Egan and Rock. There were not only D’s there but plenty of R’s as well. Plenty of stuff going on that could have made the papers and gotten people in a lot of trouble. That being said there was a geniune comaraderie there that I understand does not exist anymore.
- OneMan - Monday, Sep 26, 11 @ 12:33 pm:
When I was a kid you could count on all of the politicians being at the 4th of July parade in Dolton. Every year Governor Thompson would be there and come over and shake my hand and one year I ran out into the street to shake the hand of Adli Stevenson Jr. since he had to ride since he hurt his ankle. Got interviewed by Trib reporter after that and had my brother yell at me for giving the Trib reporter my name
- Rich Miller Sr - Monday, Sep 26, 11 @ 12:34 pm:
Blues Cafe is still the best place to eat lunch in Kankakee as it has been for more than a half-century. Blue Chouinard was the Republican Township Road Commisioner for West Kankakee and beyond. My Dad ran against Blue once and lost. Later my wife and I lived in a rented house in West Kankakee and water would puddle in front of the house in the parking area. I made a comment to Blue one day at lunch and the very next day a township truck spread some gravel that stopped the puddle from forming. When Dad was killed in an accident Blue, Tommy Ryan and other Republicans came to the wake. It was the way things worked. Not all bad in Kankakee!
- Dirty Red - Monday, Sep 26, 11 @ 12:40 pm:
Condolences to the Ryan family. I can imagine they have had a hard road with the Governor’s on-going legal battles and the loss of Lura Lynn.
- One of the 35 - Monday, Sep 26, 11 @ 1:13 pm:
Jim Edgar was running for reelection for the 95 race. During the summer of 94 he came to Galesburg to campaign during the big Railroad Days celebration. We approached a food booth with home made cookies and pies. An elderly lady sat behind the table leaning on her cane. Edgar stuck out his hand and said,”Hi, I’m Jim Edgar, I’m running for reelction as your governor”. The old lady thought about it for a second and replied, “Are you boys gonna buy something or are you just messin around?”
- GMatts - Monday, Sep 26, 11 @ 1:14 pm:
I lived in Kankakee 12 years growing up. Chouinards grocery used to deliver to us. Linskey’s Liquer was next to Blues, wasn’t it?
McBroom (Ed) was the big wheel back then.
- Nearly Normal - Monday, Sep 26, 11 @ 1:16 pm:
My family tells the story about my maternal grandfather who was a Republican precinct committeeman in Tazewell County in the late 1920’s. He came home from a meeting in Pekin and talked about this young man who wanted to get a start in politics. “he’s kinda funny-looking and I don’t know if he will amount to anything.”
That young man lost his first attempt to be elected to the US Congress in 1930–about the time my grandfather was dying from a bad heart.
But, the young man persisted and became a Congressman and then a rather well-known US Senator.
That was Everett Dirksen. I wish my grandfather could have lived to see that happen. My mother was nine when she lost her father just as the Great Depression was starting.
- k3_Spfld_Chi - Monday, Sep 26, 11 @ 1:36 pm:
About a year ago, Mr Ryan started working at the Republican HQs in Kankakee again. He wasn’t as swift as he probably was then just an older gentleman working the door and phones. He obviously lost his clout and was calling cold like everyone else. He was just doing it because he loved it and missed it. I never asked him anything about his brother or his fall from power. Prior to seeing him in the Kankakee HQs, I had run into him a couple of times about 5 years prior to that in Fountain Hills, Az but when I had asked him about that he couldn’t recall. I only knew him as a gentle older gentleman but he was very pleasant and entertaining in his older age. He will be missed. I don’t think the younger people in Kankakee really realized who he was. A lot of Ryans live in kankakee and they aren’t all family but most are Republicans.
- Lincoln's Penny - Monday, Sep 26, 11 @ 1:45 pm:
i will always remember campaigning for my dad when i was a kid. He beat an incumbent who had been in office for a while. You cant beat the retail campaigning of small town parades and county fairs.
- x ace - Monday, Sep 26, 11 @ 1:59 pm:
West K3 Liquor next door to Ryan’s Drug Store run by Mayor Tom and Co. Bd member, Chairman, State Rep/Speaker of the House, Sec. of State , Governor George Ryan. Suspect the liquor store and the barbershop on the other side of the drug store had favored nation status.
No tables , no bar, no stools, no bartender , no T V , no cocktails, ( No Women ) and, of course, No On Premise License.
Pay for your ” Little Joe ” on the honor system and sit on the empty boxes of returnable bottles. Keep up with neighborhood news about Roper , A. O. Smith , General Foods, the Railroads . sports , and K3 politics.
Truly an old fashioned neighborhood hangout.
( Linskey’s Liquor ( now Born’s tavern } and Blues Cafe a block or so apart. West K3 Liq and Ryans then maybe 5 blocks west of Blues )
- Rich Miller - Monday, Sep 26, 11 @ 2:15 pm:
All true, x ace. All true.
- Fed Up - Monday, Sep 26, 11 @ 2:19 pm:
Back in the 70’s I was working on campaigns for independent Democrats. For 2 consequetive elections I was assigned to work the home precinct of Chicago City Council floor leader Tom Keane. I dutifully rang his bell (never got an answer) and left our literature on his front porch, just as I did for the rest of the residents. The 2nd year, I believe it was when his wife Adeline was running for Alderman, I challenged some of the regular organization workers for illegal electioneering, I believe they were her sons. All of a sudden this little woman, she couldn’t have been more than 4′8″ or so (I’m 6′3″) came after me like a lion. It was Adeline. Tom was there with her and had to physically restrain her from attacking me. She won the election. After the polls closed, the regular organization tried to recruit me, but I stuck with my idependent principles and turned them down.
- Bemused - Monday, Sep 26, 11 @ 2:30 pm:
My family did live one summer in Kankakee but for the most part I grew up in Terre Haute IN. Back in the 60s the town was known for it’s houses of ill repute and gambling. Some of the local Pols were less than reputable themselves. Anyway I remember in the late sixtys my father being approached by what I would call a real candidate for Mayor to put his name on the ballot. He figured dad would draw some votes away from a main rival. My dad as a candidate was a hoot to us. The guy who talked to dad lost and was later found in a compromising position with his secretary. A later Terre Haute Mayor made Time Magazine over a tiff with the local Sheriff who shut down some Cat Houses the Mayor did not want shut down. So I laugh when I see the tag line ” Politicians and Diapers should be changed often and for the same reasons”.
- Team Sleep - Monday, Sep 26, 11 @ 2:39 pm:
When I was in sixth grade, Senators Paul Simon and Carol Moseley Braun came to my hometown and held a joint townhall meeting. I grew up in a fairly Democratic area but I was surprised to see that no one would ask questions to or speak with Senator Braun. My dad, who has been a Republican since he could ride a bike, took me over to meet Senator Braun. She thanked us profusely for taking the time to talk to her and bring up our concerns.
- Jake From Elwood - Monday, Sep 26, 11 @ 2:47 pm:
Does a hug from Geraldine Ferraro count?
I was all of 11 or 12 at the time.
- Oswego Willy - Monday, Sep 26, 11 @ 2:48 pm:
In 1994 I was working a race and it was about 3 weeks out and the polling was very bad for the opponent, who was an incumbent and running in a dicey new seat. The candidate I was working for and the opponent ment out of town for “coffee” and when the candidate came back, the candidate had the next 3 piece of mail that was going to come out, the mail universe and the GOTV plan the opposingparty was going to run against the candidate.
I ask, “Why did this candidate do this?”
The reply, “The candidate can read a poll, knows the hand each of us have … and needs a job in January.”
Nostagically, I miss the “civility”
By the way, the incumbent loser … did get that job, with the help of the winner … and the tracking poll was off 0.2%.
- JL - Monday, Sep 26, 11 @ 3:29 pm:
Let me preface, I am only 24, so “old time” means something much more recent to me. I had a politically confusing upbringing. My father was a Democratic Precinct captain by the age of 15, while my maternal grandfather ran Don Rumsfeld’s first campaign and was the chairman of Big Jim’s gov campaigns. The one story I will always remember was coming home to see a napping John Stroger on my couch before a Winnetka Community House candidates forum. I am not sure if I was more stunned to see the Cook County Board President on my couch, or that he was attending a candidates forum in enemy territory.
- Stones - Monday, Sep 26, 11 @ 3:44 pm:
I’ll share one more. During the 1970’s I served as a Page in the Illinois House. Some members were more friendly than others, some good tippers - others not so much. Whenever John D’Arco’s light came on there was a race to his seat because he was a great tipper!
One guys I will always remember was Jessie White. One of the nicest guys I ever met in Springfield. He always had a smile on his face and was extremely pleasant. It’s nice when good things happen to good people.
- JBilla - Monday, Sep 26, 11 @ 3:57 pm:
My dad told me about an impromptu rally they pulled off downtown when Jackie Kennedy was coming into union station. It was during her husband’s run and da’ (first) Mayor Daley sent the operatives to make a scene. They didn’t have time to organize an event, so they reversed the escalators and commandeered the loudspeaker. The picture in the Trib the next day looked like mass hysteria.
- CircularFiringSquad - Monday, Sep 26, 11 @ 4:02 pm:
Plenty of stories, but first…
x ace we think you left out “lite gov” on the Ryan laundry list….Let’s offer one from another state while growing up…..A friend’s dad was running for township chairman and the kids helped out, pass out lit…he won…next spring we were all offered jobs….without our own call we went to a board of elections warehouse, signed on as a repairman and used some drapes from a “scrapped” machine to recarpet another summer repairman’s sports car…the drapes were way heavy…as the job was winding down two foremen got pinched for selling “scrapped” machines and pocketing the cash…and some like to tell this only happens with the Ds in IL.
- Justice - Monday, Sep 26, 11 @ 4:18 pm:
Having worked with the politicals over many, many years as an outside private sector vendor “I saw absolutely nothing.” Yep….nothing”
Well…there was a good reason for the shoe boxes….!
- soccermom - Monday, Sep 26, 11 @ 4:46 pm:
This one’s a little embarrassing, but — when I was a wee lass, my dad took me out to the Rockford airport to meet a candidate who was doing a brief stop. My dad was so excited, as he’d been a fan of this guy for years. And that, children, is how mother shook hands with Ronald Reagan…
- 32nd Ward Roscoe Village - Monday, Sep 26, 11 @ 4:57 pm:
My mother grew up in Kansas, a red state that has elected a whole slew of Democratic governors. In 1936, however, it was a Republican Kansas governor, Alf Landon, running against FDR. My mother was 7 and her older sister 8, and their father was one of the few Democrats in town and so was well-known as such. Alf Landon happened to be in my mother’s neighborhood and was introduced to a bunch of the kids, including my mother and aunt. When it came time to shake hands with Governor Landon, the two of them stood there with their hands behind their backs, stating proudly, “We’re Democrats!” The person squiring the candidate around explained, “Those are George Collins’ daughters.” Well, that night when my grandfather heard what had happened, my mother remembers him sitting her and my aunt down to explain that it was okay to shake hands with a Republican.
- Cheryl44 - Monday, Sep 26, 11 @ 4:58 pm:
Ha! I was working college radio when Reagan came to town, stumping for some local pol. I wasn’t there as a member of the press, my Dad was visiting and wanted to go. Someone I knew in the Young Republicans saw me and let us into the VIP section. And that’s how I ended up shaking hands with Reagan. My father was *very* impressed.
- retired/rep. - Monday, Sep 26, 11 @ 6:15 pm:
Cool story,Rich.I have lots to tell you but cant here.I lived there nearly 30yrs watching the Ed and Tom and George run the whole show.When I was a Bradley Trustee i got to know TR. he was a decent guy who cared for the city. When i became county treasurer/Dem chairman, i had a great friendship with Ed McBroom. Even vacationed at his villa once with some friends.For a Republican town and county, i was pretty fortunate when it came to politics. Yeh we all had political spats but we could still sit down and have a beer together! Ain’t that way anymore….too bad.
- Rich Miller Sr - Monday, Sep 26, 11 @ 7:23 pm:
The 1959 West Station Street locations: Blues Cafe 960, Linskeys Liquors 1098, The Gov Small Mansion 1477, Ryans Drugs 1666, next door was West Kankakee Liquors at 1680, Drivers License Exam Office 1686. Also, Ed McBroom didn’t take over the machine until his dad died on 22 Feb 1959.
- 47th Ward - Monday, Sep 26, 11 @ 7:28 pm:
I got hooked on politics in high school at Bishop Mac in K3 before I could even vote. I worked for Chuck Pangle in the 1982 post-cut-back House race against the all powerful Ed McBroom, Chairman of the County GOP. Rumor had it that it was a good idea to buy a Cadillac from McBroom if you were interested in getting any government contract (a scam not unlike Near North Insurance in Cook County). Pangle won in a squeaker, and I knew what I wanted to do when I grew up.
And Mr. Miller points out, Blues Cafe is an instutition. Try the biscuits and gravy. You won’t be disappointed. Thanks for the memories Rich.
- x ace - Monday, Sep 26, 11 @ 8:46 pm:
And a block east of the original Blues location was the ” 880 Club”.
It was across from Bird Park and was a regular campaign stop for K3 Republican politicians ( and a Democrat or two , as well). During the Ryan years , it was a favored hangout of firemen , other city workers, employees from the State Hospital , and other assorted supporter’s of the “machine. “
- VanillaMan - Monday, Sep 26, 11 @ 9:08 pm:
I heard that Old Man Bush was going to be at my high school a week before Election Day 1988. That election sucked hard, remember? Well, I still hadn’t decided whom to vote for, so I just went to hang out, and see what I could see.
The place was a freaking zoo with an army of SS protecting the VP. There was like no way I could get near the place, but what the heck, right? I obviously know the place and I started checking out all the back door entrances I knew. Well, I ended up standing in the VIP entrance with a hand full of local pols smoking and killing time. I hung around a bit, and a SS guy tells the group that it was time to move on in. The guy ahead of me turns around and gives me a VIP pass.
I am not dressed up while everyone else is. But I get in and the guards herd us all directly in front of the podium. I kept thinking that someone is going to notice the tall blonde guy wearing the hoodie standing directly in front of the VP podium, but no one seems to care.
An hour later, Schwartzenegger and Bush show up and stand directly in front and above me and shouts to the crowds. I am so unimpressed.
I follow the herd out the doors and I decided to head for one of my family’s favorite haunts in downtown Homewood, Three Brothers. I sit down and who comes in? Secret Service checking the place out.
A minute later, Bush and Schwartzenegger show up again and shakes everyone’s hands including mine. They sit down at the booth next to me and eat lunch with us. No one was allowed into the restaurant while the VP and friends were there. Old Man Bush and the Governator couldn’t have been cooler. I was very impressed with them both.
A week later, I voted for Dukakis.
- Orange and Blue - Tuesday, Sep 27, 11 @ 12:10 am:
In my relatively short life, I’ve been lucky enough to meet President Obama and a few other high profile politicians. Despite that, my favorite earliest memory was serving as a page with Senator Vince Demuzio. I was only about ten or so at the time, and like most ten year olds was getting pretty bored sitting in the back of the room watching people argue about things I didn’t understand.
Vince must have noticed this and called me up to his desk to sit by him for quite a while. He took the time to explain how voting worked and some other basic legislative things, and later introduced me in front of the chamber. I was pretty shy as a kid and remember awkwardly waving in my chair while all of the other Senators applauded, until Vince boomed “Well, stand up son!” in only the way that he could.
Looking back, I assume this was probably pretty standard practice for most pages, but I think it’s one of the reasons I’m still involved today. He was a great guy.
- Toi Hutchinson - Tuesday, Sep 27, 11 @ 12:43 am:
I went to a small Catholic grammar school in Flossmoor, Il and i will never forget my 8th grade field trip to the capitol. We all got a chance to meet Governor Thompson in the rotunda and I remember thinking that he was the tallest man i ever met! He wrote us all letters that I still have somewhere welcoming us to the capitol. It was a really nice touch. Years later, during the impeachment trial, I got to tell Governor Thompson how old I was when I first met him and that I grew up and became a Senator. He smiled, gave me a warm hug and wished me well.
- Toi Hutchinson - Tuesday, Sep 27, 11 @ 12:46 am:
Sorry for typos…trying to type on my iPad!
- Way Way Down Here - Tuesday, Sep 27, 11 @ 7:50 am:
I was once sitting in a VFW with Ralph Dunn soaking up stories when someone came over and asked him where he stood on (pick an issue). Ralph looked up at the guy and said, “What county am I in?”
- Thoughts... - Thursday, Sep 29, 11 @ 2:12 pm:
Winter of ‘77 and I was a youngster. My mom had been a relatively high-ranking state employee but had recently lost her job with the election of Big Jim. It wasn’t really a ‘political’ job, at least not in the way you’d think of it. There was talk among my mom and others similarly dismissed about a lawsuit. Then one cold night there’s a knock on the door, I go to answer, and standing there is the tallest guy I’d ever seen. and he says, “Hi son, I’m Governor Thompson, is your mom at home?”
I don’t know what was said, but he sat in our living room talking for about a half hour. She hated Thompson before that (she was a big D) but after the severance came, didn’t have a bad thing to say about the guy.