* Ted McClelland has an interesting little timeline of what our governors of the past 100 years did before getting the state’s top job…
Pat Quinn: Cook County Board of Tax Appeals, state treasurer, lieutenant governor.
Rod Blagojevich: state representative, U.S. representative
George Ryan: Kankakee County Board, state representative, House speaker. lieutenant governor, secretary of state
Jim Edgar: state representative, secretary of state
Jim Thompson: U.S. Attorney, Northern District of Illinois
Daniel Walker: Law clerk to Chief Justice Fred M. Vinson, aide to Gov. Adlai Stevenson
Richard Ogilvie: Cook County Sheriff, Cook County Board President
Samuel Shapiro: Kankakee County state’s attorney, state representative, lieutenant governor
Otto Kerner: U.S. Attorney, Northern District of Illinois, Cook County Circuit Court judge
William Stratton: U.S. representative, state treasurer
Adlai Stevenson: assistant to the Secretary of the Navy, U.S. delegate to the United Nations
Dwight H. Green: U.S. Attorney, Northern District of Illinois
John H. Stelle: state treasurer, lieutenant governor
Henry Horner: probate judge
Louis L. Emmerson: secretary of state
Len Small: state senator, state treasurer
Frank Lowden: U.S. representative
Edward F. Dunne: mayor of Chicago
Thoughts?
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- siriusly - Wednesday, Mar 6, 13 @ 11:20 am:
really interesting - most interesting to me is the perpetual notion that IL Attorney General is a stepping stone to Governor, but none on this list was ever AG
Also - only one Mayor of Chicago
- John Galt - Wednesday, Mar 6, 13 @ 11:20 am:
Lots of folks from either the US Attorney’s office of the judiciary.
- John Galt - Wednesday, Mar 6, 13 @ 11:23 am:
That’s OR the judiciary.
- Stones - Wednesday, Mar 6, 13 @ 11:24 am:
Private sector employees need not apply
- wordslinger - Wednesday, Mar 6, 13 @ 11:26 am:
I didn’t know a governor had been mayor of Chicago. I’ll have to read up on Edward Dunne.
- Dirty Red - Wednesday, Mar 6, 13 @ 11:31 am:
Stevenson wasn’t at the UN until after he was governor.
- walkinfool - Wednesday, Mar 6, 13 @ 11:35 am:
No hedge fund managers or dairy kings?
- Arthur Andersen - Wednesday, Mar 6, 13 @ 11:36 am:
Doesn’t bode we’ll for Rauner if history is a guide.
- Brendan - Wednesday, Mar 6, 13 @ 11:38 am:
Ditto what Dirty Red said.
- Secret Square - Wednesday, Mar 6, 13 @ 11:40 am:
“Private sector employees need not apply”
Wasn’t George Ryan a pharmacist before he was any of that other stuff? And weren’t some, perhaps most, of the others private practice attorneys before they were public officials?
- South of I-80 - Wednesday, Mar 6, 13 @ 11:40 am:
It would be interesting to see, what they did AFTER they left office!
- wordslinger - Wednesday, Mar 6, 13 @ 11:41 am:
DR, Stevenson was on the commission that founded the UN was in the U.S. delegations prior to being elected governor.
- Old and in the Way - Wednesday, Mar 6, 13 @ 11:44 am:
- South of I-80 - Wednesday, Mar 6, 13 @ 11:40 am:
It would be interesting to see, what they did AFTER they left office!
In some cases 3 to 5 years in jail…..
- Precinct Captain - Wednesday, Mar 6, 13 @ 12:00 pm:
Who will be the next governor who was a mayor of Chicago? Or a mayor anywhere in the state for that matter?
- 32nd Ward Roscoe Village - Wednesday, Mar 6, 13 @ 12:03 pm:
South of I-80: I don’t know if this was before or after his was governor, but Henry Horner wrote a great treatise, “Horner on Decedent’s Estates in Illinois” that is (updated) still in use today and still bears his name. They probably didn’t have the pensions then that they do today, so he needed to keep working!
- train111 - Wednesday, Mar 6, 13 @ 12:09 pm:
One time Chicago mayor Edward Dunne was a one termer who was elected in 1912 solely because the GOP had two candidates–a ’stalwart’ and a ‘progressive’ just like in the Presidential election where Roosevelt and Taft split the GOP vote allowing Woodrow Wilson to win. The GOP handily kicked Dunne to the curb in 1916 when they again had only 1 candidate.
train111
- state employee - Wednesday, Mar 6, 13 @ 12:20 pm:
Why not try giving a private citizen a chance?
- Six Degrees of Separation - Wednesday, Mar 6, 13 @ 12:27 pm:
Wow, two held positions with Kankakee County, vs. three with the much larger Cook County and one with City of Chicago. This should put another gleam in Dad’s eye from yesterday’s thread.
- Six Degrees of Separation - Wednesday, Mar 6, 13 @ 12:28 pm:
@state employee…looks like you will get a chance to vote for Bruce Raunner in the R primary if you dare to pull a R ballot, LOL!
- first warder - Wednesday, Mar 6, 13 @ 12:35 pm:
As Governor, Dunne also gave women the right to vote in 1913. He was a big advocate of public utility ownership, and as mayor, founded the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District. Famously, he refused to shut down the brothels in the Levee District under the theory that if such activities were contained in one area, it would be easier to control, thus earning him the wrath of “do-gooders” that followed him throughout his career. He also founded the Irish Fellowship Society, and an organization to
shut down the Ku Klux Klan.
- Anon - Wednesday, Mar 6, 13 @ 12:37 pm:
Walker sticks out to me. A law clerk . . . then an aide?
- Dirty Red - Wednesday, Mar 6, 13 @ 12:47 pm:
Did not know that, slinger. Thanks!
- Cheryl44 - Wednesday, Mar 6, 13 @ 12:49 pm:
I don’t think Dunne gave women the right to vote. He didn’t veto the bill.
- Boone Logan Square - Wednesday, Mar 6, 13 @ 1:13 pm:
A functional GOP would beg Patrick Fitzgerald to run for governor.
- x ace - Wednesday, Mar 6, 13 @ 1:33 pm:
Don’t think Walker jumped from Aide to Gov. ,
Think ,inbetween , he was CEO at Montgomery Ward.
And he headed a Commission to Investigate Police Brutality in Chacago a result of the infamous Dem. Nat. Convention.
Then Gov.
- Just Observing - Wednesday, Mar 6, 13 @ 1:54 pm:
=== Why not try giving a private citizen a chance? ===
1. Public officials are private citizens.
2. As pointed out, many (if not all) held some sort of private sector job prior to public office.
3. Someone from the private sector has to run and the electorate have to elect him or her.
- david vite - Wednesday, Mar 6, 13 @ 2:16 pm:
Actually Dan Walker was the General Counsel at Montgomery Wards.
- Esquire - Wednesday, Mar 6, 13 @ 2:17 pm:
There is a fair single volume biography of Dunne (Frank Lowden, who had presidential aspirations until he crossed Bill Thompson, has a two volume biography). When Dunne was the last mayor to serve a two year term. He narrowly lost a primary race to Harrison to return to the mayoralty in 1911 and his gubernatorial campaign benefited between a split between the Republican Regulars and the Progressives (when the Progressives were playing on the GOP side of the fence).
Dunne was a proponent of voter initiatives, referenda, and recalls, but those ideas stalled in the General Assembly and missed by one vote.
To round out the past century (going back to 1900), Charles S. Deneen was an attorney for the Sanitary District and served two terms as Cook County State’s Attorney before becoming governor. Later, he was a US Senator. Richard Yates was a legacy candidate who became governor because his father was a well liked former governor, among other things. Yates later served in the Congress.
- Esquire - Wednesday, Mar 6, 13 @ 2:19 pm:
@Cheryl 44:
Dunne was in office when women received the right to vote, but, for a brief time, women were allowed to vote only in state and local elections. National suffrage came about a short time later.
- frustrated GOP - Wednesday, Mar 6, 13 @ 2:38 pm:
“Wow, two held positions with Kankakee County, vs. three with the much larger Cook County and one with City of Chicago. This should put another gleam in Dad’s eye from yesterday’s thread.”
Yes, but there were three from Kankakee, Ryan, Shapiro, Small. Didn’t Small go to jail too?
Interesting that all had some govt. experience before gov.
- Secret Square - Wednesday, Mar 6, 13 @ 2:53 pm:
“Didn’t Small go to jail too?”
No, but he should have!
- Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Mar 6, 13 @ 2:57 pm:
Cool stuff, Rich.
Many ways to become governor, no clear road map, but can someone point out to me, any IL Atty Generals?
So Lisa could make more history if she ran and won.
I know some states that IS the natural … not so here according to that list. US Attorney, 3, AG, 0.
- Publius - Wednesday, Mar 6, 13 @ 3:12 pm:
Henry horner wrote the book prior to being governor. He died in office.
- Just The Way It Is One - Wednesday, Mar 6, 13 @ 3:21 pm:
Extremely intriguing breakdown. Viewed differently, in terms of breakdown of these 18 Governors, interestingly, the biggest group–13 of these 18–served in a past position as at least one of the following: either a Statewide Elective Post (e.g. Lt. Gov. or Sec. of State, etc.), U.S. Rep. or U.S. Attorney. 2 of them had as one of their main, previous careers a position in the Courts/Judicial Branch (1 as Law Clerk and 1 as Probate Judge). Interestingly, for all of the hype the following positions get in the Media, only 2 of them ever served as a previously-elected Executive of a major, local Government Entity in Illinois (1 as Mayor of Chicago, 1 as Cook Co. Board President). And, finally, only 1–Adlai Stevenson–had his background exclusively in U.S. Political Posts!
One last point–the 2 posts which MOST OFTEN, 4 TIMES to be exact, which led to that man at some point in the last Century to eventually become Governor of Illinois? Lieutenant Governor and State Treasurer (albeit 3 of those Treasurers held those Posts WELL-over 50 years ago)…whadya know? Go figure….
Nevertheless, does that undeniable statistic thus suggest that somewhere down the line a greater likelihood, then, that the Land of Lincoln may very wel yet be seeing a Sheila Simon, Dan Rutherford, or yes, even, Judy Baar Topinka, as one of our future Governors?!!! Or, who among you may become one of the Prairie State’s FUture Lt. Govs., Treasurers, and someday…??? Why not go make your plans now???
- Just The Way It Is One - Wednesday, Mar 6, 13 @ 3:26 pm:
I stand corrected myself–former State Representatives are ALSO tied at 4 of them becoming future Governors, too, (+ with the one former State Senator, 5 of the future Govs. served in one or the other Branch of our Legislature, the REAL “Background Post” Winner! So…I guess this may mean you can never start out too small in Illinois Politics, ey? Who knows where it could lead to?!!!
- train111 - Wednesday, Mar 6, 13 @ 3:29 pm:
Len Small beat the rap and the most of the individuals from the jury that acquitted him wound up with state jobns. Blagoof holds no candle to Small.
train111
- Six Degrees of Separation - Wednesday, Mar 6, 13 @ 3:49 pm:
And Len’s family still owns the local paper, and several other downstate news outlets.
http://www.sngnews.com/getPub.djp?p=history
- Conservative Veteran - Wednesday, Mar 6, 13 @ 8:18 pm:
The last two republican governors (Edgar & Ryan) held other statewide offices, so, if Treasurer Rutherford runs, he’s the Republican who is most likely to win. I might not support him, since I don’t know enough of his views.
- Esquire - Wednesday, Mar 6, 13 @ 9:28 pm:
Quite a few Attorney Generals tried to become Governor, but came up short in the primaries or the general elections.