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Today’s Big Jim roundup

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Governor JB Pritzker issued a proclamation [yesterday] declaring a statewide day of remembrance in honor of the passing of former Governor James ‘Big Jim’ Thompson and the launch of a virtual guidebook for Illinois residents to electronically sign and share their favorite memory of Illinois longest serving governor. The virtual guestbook can be found online here.

“Today, as a state, we mourn the passing of former Governor Jim Thompson and I invite residents across the state to sign the virtual guestbook with their favorite memory of Governor Thompson,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “’Big Jim’ lived a big life and got big things done for Illinois. But perhaps most importantly, he was a kind and decent man who set the standard for what public service can and should look like in our state. May his memory be for a blessing.”

Governor Pritzker also ordered all persons or entities governed by the Illinois Flag Display Act to lower flags in honor and remembrance of Gov. James R. Thompson.

* Gov. Thompson’s family held a small funeral yesterday at the Cathedral of St. James in Chicago. A family spokesperson supplied a photo…

All rise.

* Mark DePue interviewed Thompson in 2015 for the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library. Here’s an excerpt that illuminates some challenges facing the current governor…

DePue: You start off January also with signing a piece of legislation requiring people in Illinois, citizens of Illinois, to wear seatbelts.

Thompson: Yeah. Boy, today nobody would blink an eye at that. Today, 99.9 percent of the people automatically buckle up. They’ve been persuaded that it saves lives, and they want to save their life. And unless they’re drunk or stupid, they do that. But boy, at the time, it was a hot item. Very controversial. People looked at it as a government intrusion on their lives.

One time I was in southern Illinois where the opposition was the hottest. I was at the Giant City State Park Lodge, and I think we were there either for an occasion or it was Sunday chicken dinner. As I generally did, I walked through the kitchen to say “hi” to the workers in the kitchen. And this old lady was washing dishes in there. She must have been, God, eighty, eighty-five years old. I walked up to her, and she said, “You’re the one!” I said, “I’m the one, what?” “You’re the one with that goddamned seatbelt law! I’ll never vote for you,” and she just went on and on and on. So I said, “Well, thank you very much; I hope you’ll reconsider.” [I] got out of there, and the restaurant manager, who was a dear friend of mine, was apologizing for her. I said, “Why? She’s entitled to her opinion.” But boy, that was typical down there. They didn’t like this intrusion.

Same thing with legislation requiring motorcycle drivers to wear helmets, which still hasn’t passed. Same feeling. But yeah, I signed it, and it’s one of the best things I ever did, I think. And it’s the law today, and it’s the law everywhere. Finally, I believe it was required by federal law, as most of those driving things are. You either follow the federal law or you lose your highway funds. And I can’t remember now whether it was because of the federal law that I signed the state one, or I signed the state one apart from the federal law. But I remember it was really controversial, and I got a lot of complaints and letters and stuff like that about it. I’ll never forget the lady in the kitchen in southern Illinois. And she had to be eighty-five, if she was a day.

DePue: God bless her, she had strong opinions at eighty-five.

Thompson: Yes, she did. Well, they all do down there, southern Illinois, western Illinois…land of strong opinions.

* Related…

* There was no bigger Illinois booster

* Former Statehouse Journalist Remembers “Big Jim” Thompson

* Jim Thompson’s Height Once Cost Andy Shaw a Chicago Tribune Internship

posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Aug 20, 20 @ 10:42 am

Comments

Just a shame that we can’t have more politicians like “Big Jim”. He was a truly great leader .

Comment by Iowa City Thursday, Aug 20, 20 @ 10:56 am
“land of strong opinions.”

lol what an understatement.

Comment by Boone's is Back Thursday, Aug 20, 20 @ 11:05 am
Rest In Peace.

Comment by Frumpy White Guy Thursday, Aug 20, 20 @ 11:05 am
“Why? She’s entitled to her opinion.”

More of this, please.

Comment by phocion Thursday, Aug 20, 20 @ 11:09 am
When they secede and form their own state/thing, Big Jim gave them their new license plate slogan:

“Southern Illinois, western Illinois: land of strong opinions”

Comment by Scott Cross for President Thursday, Aug 20, 20 @ 11:50 am
This picture is one of the truly sad things about the pandemic where people who have earned a real tribute at the time of their passing have a funeral like this. My father in law passed away in April. He was the “mayor” of the local VFW and had done color guard duty hundreds of times, but was limited to 10 for his funeral and internment, including the priest and funeral director. Wishing peace to the many who have lost a loved one during these times.

Comment by The Way I See It Thursday, Aug 20, 20 @ 11:50 am
===”Giant City State Park Lodge[…] and the restaurant manager, who was a dear friend of mine”===

For what it’s worth I have heard this story from the restaurant manager, but I thought it was also worth pointing out that the Giant City Lodge is a state contract, and Thompson would stay at the location over night for free and he stayed there over night with some frequency.

I am often fascinated by the amount of willful looking the other way folks entrenched or involved in Illinois government engage in when recalling our relatively recent past, even when that corruption just casually comes up and pokes us in the eye.

Comment by Candy Dogood Thursday, Aug 20, 20 @ 11:54 am
Scott Cross for President

And if the rest of Illinois keeps their criminals and college students they won’t have much else.

Comment by Anyone Remember Thursday, Aug 20, 20 @ 12:03 pm
Charlie Wheeler has a great in-depth article from several years ago about the late Governor. While some may question his decision to short the pension systems, Gov. Thompson did the right thing with the 3% COLA, in a time when nobody ever imagined an inflation rate going below 5% (let alone 0%) in their lifetimes. May “Big Jim’s” memory be eternal, and an inspiration for Illinois’ future leaders.

Comment by Ares Thursday, Aug 20, 20 @ 12:12 pm
“Land of Strong Opinions”

I’m going to borrow that one for future reference.

Thanks, Big Jim. My parents were both huge fans, by the way - although Central Illinois might best be characterized as the Land of Tepid Opinions.

Comment by dbk Thursday, Aug 20, 20 @ 12:25 pm
Rest in Peace, Big guy.
You worked overtime to make Illinois a place to do business.

Comment by Old Sarge Thursday, Aug 20, 20 @ 1:28 pm
Reading the kitchen story helped me put my finger on one of the reasons he was effective, and what frustrates me about some pols (and coworkers, frankly.) He wasn’t afraid. Wasn’t afraid to wade into a place full of strangers and stick out his hand first. Wasn’t afraid of interacting with people holding different viewpoints. Wasn’t afraid, frankly, of being human. I remember watching him come to events with one trooper (a very tall trooper) as his security detail and thinking how easy it was to just say “hi” to him and thank him for coming.

Yeah, I know that times are different regarding security, but you felt like the guy was genuinely willing to engage and be wrong. Someone you could argue/discuss something with, and in the end, still have a constructive relationship with.

Comment by Johnny Tractor Thursday, Aug 20, 20 @ 2:00 pm
Governor Thompson inspired me to serve over 30 years in Illinois state government. His management approach of finding common ground with political opponents was an effective model at that time. I miss that in our current national politics.

Comment by BeaverBrook Friday, Aug 21, 20 @ 8:52 am