Orville E. Hodge: high flying lifestyle

Hodge is fingerprinted by Paul Terrill, chief investigator for the Sangamon County Sheriff's Department, following his arrest in July of 1956. Photo credit: chicagoist.com

Like Paul Powell's illicit shoebox fortune and Otto Kerner's tax evasion, the case of Orville E. Hodge is often cited as a major one in the seemingly perpetual financial scandals carried out by Illinois public officials.

Born in Anderson, Illinois, in October of 1904, Hodge moved with his family to Granite City when he was four years old. In his adulthood, he would inherit his father's company, the Hodge Agency, and specialize in realty, insurance, and construction. After serving in the Illinois house of representatives, he was elected as the state's auditor of public accounts. Known as a jovial figure who made friends easily, Hodge was considered a rising star of the Republican Party who had the governor's office in his future.

Starting the auditor role in 1953, Hodge initially met with success. He negotiated a budget for his office that brought an additional $2.5 million to the auditor's office over the previous biennium. In 1955, however, Hodge came before the Illinois legislature with hat in hand. He had spent enough of the budget that it would run out before the end of the term. The legislators approved a $525,000 emergency appropriation to bail him out, trusting that Hodge was a capable official.

The next year, an unraveled financial scheme proved just how wrong this assumption was. Investigative reporter George Thiem, writing for the Chicago Daily News, pursued a tip that Hodge was mismanaging his accounts. Thiem uncovered 15 instances where Hodge had written state warrants, or checks, totaling $108,000 to people or firms. None of those named on the checks ever received a dime. The revelation would earn Thiem a Pulitzer Prize and Hodge a stay in prison. State and federal authorities began investigating his accounts in July of 1956.

The investigation uncovered a chronic pattern of embezzlement that had started in May of 1955. In addition to writing false warrants and state contracts, Hodge had falsified expense reports and set up dummy employees to receive kickbacks from their salaries. Although investigators initially found irregularities amounting to $536,226, the figure began to steadily climb as more and more misconduct was brought to light. Governor William G. Stratton, who at first ordered Hodge to double his $50,000 bond, now urged the auditor to resign. Hodge did so, with Stratton inviting retired University of Illinois comptroller Lloyd Morey to take over the position for the six months remaining in Hodge's term.

Federal investigators soon ordered the arrests of Hodge as well as Edward A. Epping, his former office manager, and Edward A. Hintz, the resigned president of Chicago's Southmoor Bank and Trust. Epping was accused of taking six state checks to the bank, where Hintz cashed them. Hodge was charged with using the assets to purchase a number of luxury items including two private airplanes, four luxury cars, a resort hotel suite in Florida, a home on Lake Springfield, and other real estate and stocks. The total amount of stolen money was uncertain, and indeed varied among reports; most put the figure in the area of $1.5 million while others said it was considerable higher, citing the specific sum of $2,500,008. "Where do they get that $2.5 million?" Hodge himself would later ask in a prison interview. "I was sent here for $650,000 and they're getting that back." One calculation suggested that Hodge had embezzled more than $1 million by depositing phony state warrants in federally insured banks, misappropriated $500,000 by liquidating the funds of closed banks, and acquired another $1 million through illegal expense accounts, expenditures, and fraudulent contracts.

Hodge was charged with both state and federal crimes, since the activity had involved the misappropriation of bank loans insured by the United States. Hodge wrote a 176-page "clean breast" statement, admitting to the wrongdoing and saying he had misappropriated funds both to maintain a high standard of living and to further his aspirations to be governor. He admitted that Epping and Hintz had been involved in the scheme, but denied that they had benefited personally. Hodge also returned $528,000 to the state shortly after the wrongdoing was discovered and vowed to give up his assets to aid the restitution.

In August, just one month after the illegal activity came to light, Hodge pleaded guilty to federal charges of embezzlement, forgery, running a confidence game, and conspiracy to defraud the state. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison, with the stipulation that the term would be cut in half if he made good on a $816,427 restitution. Later in the same month, Hodge was sentenced on state charges that he had embezzled $637,000. The prosecutor, a fellow Republican named George Coutrakon, wanted to make an example out of Hodge by sentencing him to 42 to 45 years in prison. However, Hodge was ultimately ordered to serve 12 to 15 years in prison, concurrent to the federal sentence.

Soon after, Hintz was sentenced to three years in federal prison. In September of 1956, Epping was ordered to serve four to five years behind bars. A policeman, William Lydon, was found guilty of conspiring with Hodge to get false bids on remodeling contracts to the tune of $88,787; a jury convicted him of conspiracy in November of 1957 and fined him $2,000. The final conviction related to Hodge came in January of 1958, when Epping was further convicted on federal charges of forgery, running a confidence game, and embezzlement. He was sentenced the next month to another one to 10 years behind bars.

The court confirmed that Hodge had paid his restitution in 1957, meeting the requirement to reduce the federal sentence. Morey would use his brief time in office to develop a reform program, while his successor Elbert S. Smith continued this reorganization and efforts to get back the money Hodge had stolen. The state would ultimately recover more than $2 million. Hodge served six-and-a-half years of the remaining sentence before Governor Otto Kerner reduced his sentence to 10 years so he would be eligible for parole. He was released at the end of January in 1963.

Nearly broke, Hodge returned to his hometown of Granite City to start working in his sister's hardware store. He later began working as a used car salesman and real estate agent. Hodge died in December of 1986.

Sources: History of the State of Illinois Comptroller Office, "State Auditor to Be Ousted in Shortages" in The Dispatch on Jul. 12 1956, "Governor Tells Illinois Auditor to Get Off Ballot" in the Palm Beach Post on Jul. 12 1956, "Funds Loss Set At $800,000" in the Portsmouth Times on Jul. 19 1956, "Illinois Orders Arrest of Hodge, Two Others" in the Milwaukee Journal on Jul. 21 1956, "Hodge Pleads Innocent in Illinois Fund Scandal" in the Milwaukee Journal on Jul. 26 1956,  "Ex-Official to Give Up All Assets" in the Miami News on Aug. 9 1956, "Hodge Admits Guilt in State Fraud Case" in the St. Petersburg Times on Aug. 14 1956, "Hodge Guilty; Gets 20 Years" in the Milwaukee Journal on Aug. 15 1956, "Illinois Gets Million Plus From Hodge" in the Miami News on Aug. 17 1956, "Auditor Gets 12 Years For Tapping Ill. Till" in the Meriden Record on Aug. 21 1956, "Bankers is Sentenced to 3 Years" in the New York Times on Aug. 25 1956, "Hodge's Office Manager Gets 4 to 5 Years" in the Leiston Evening Journal on Sep. 8 1956, "Hodge's Sentence Cut" in the New York Times on Mar. 5 1957, "Orville Hodge Whimpers Year Enough Time in Jail" in the Lakeland Ledger on Aug. 16 1957, "Policeman in Hodge Case Fined" in the Daytona Beach Morning Herald on Nov. 25 1957, "Jury Convicts Auditor's Aide" in the Spokesman-Review on Jan. 13 1958, "Orville Hodge is Back Home" in the Palm Beach Post on Feb. 1 1963, "Orville Hodge, Auditor Who Robbed State" in the Chicago Tribune on Jan. 1 1987, "Orville Hodge Married Again" in the Milwaukee Journal on Sep. 9 1965, "Lots of Other Illinois Pols Have Found Trouble" in the Carmi Times on Jun. 27 2011, The Gentleman From Illinois: Stories From Forty Years of Elective Public Service by Alan J. Dixon, The Man Who Emptied Death Row: Governor George Ryan and the Politics of Crime by James L. Merriner

Otto Kerner: tainted reputation

Image from msnbc.msn.com

Otto Kerner, Jr. would be far from the first politician accused of financial misconduct who fought his conviction and accused the court of besmirching his name. But when Kerner complained that the jury's finding of guilty had "deeply and irreparably tainted the good reputation that [he] cherished," he had a significant legacy to defend. Until his day in court, Kerner was best known for having delivered one of the most progressive opinions on race relations by the United States government.

Born in Chicago in August of 1908, Kerner earned a bachelor's degree from Brown University in 1930, attended Trinity College at Cambridge University in England from 1930 to 1931, and earned a Juris Doctorate from the Northwestern University School of Law in 1934. He enlisted in the National Guard after graduation and transferred to field artillery two years later. With the outbreak of World War II, he served in both the European and Pacific theaters. When he retired from the service in 1954, Kerner was a major general with a Soldier's Medal, Bronze Star, and Army Commendation Ribbon.

Kerner entered politics soon after, becoming the U.S. District Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. He held this position from 1947 to 1955 before serving as a Cook County judge from 1955 to 1960. During his time in these positions, Kerner led an effort to reform adoption procedures. Running on the Democratic ticket, Kerner was elected governor of Illinois in 1960. He was re-elected four years later. Kerner served on the National Governors' Conference Executive Committee from 1967 to 1968, and he chaired the Midwestern Governors' Conference that same year. There was a minor scandal in December of 1964 when Theodore J. Isaacs, Kerner's former campaign manager, was charged with misconduct and conspiracy for allegedly receiving fees from two envelope companies. The charges blew over, but it wouldn't be the last time that Isaacs appeared before a judge.

Kerner was perhaps best known for his role as chairman of an 11-member bipartisan committee convened in the summer of 1967 by President Lyndon B. Johnson. A series of devastating race riots had broken out across the country in recent years, and Johnson wanted to know why. Officially known as the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, the group was nicknamed the "Kerner Commission" due to Kerner's leadership role and progressive record as the Illinois governor; he had worked to integrate the National Guard, and although Chicago had not been exempt from the riots the disruptions had been much less severe than those in Detroit and elsewhere. For several months, the committee members met with civic leaders, police officers, politicians, and social scientists to discuss the racial situation in the country.

The result was a groundbreaking report in March of 1968 identifying a number of deep-seated problems and recommending several sweeping reforms. It confirmed the assertions of many civil rights leaders and was a general indictment of the degradation of race relations, blaming "white racism" as the crux of the problem. The report also said racism had become institutionalized, with racist policies not only leading to the creation of black ghettos but keeping them intact and rationalizing their existence. As a result, black citizens had poorer access to education and health facilities and were more susceptible to poverty and unemployment than white citizens. The report also accused police departments of having confrontational tactics when policing the ghettos and contributing to the severity of the riots by responding too slowly to the disruptions. Some members of the media were accused of being irresponsible in reports that could "seed the thoughts of riots."

The findings included the ominous finding that "our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white - separate and unequal." It recommended an immediate effort to improve ghetto conditions by better access to jobs and housing, including 550,000 new jobs and 600,000 new housing units in 1968 alone. Members also suggested a need for welfare reform, guaranteed income for every American family, and full-year schooling for children. Shortly before it disbanded, the commission released a supplemental report in July of 1968 saying more ghetto residents than expected - 18 percent - had joined in the riots and that the participants were not just criminals or "riff-raff" but a large number of urban youth.

This secondary report was likely in response to a complaint accusing the commission of not placing responsibility for the riots on the rioters themselves. Richard Nixon, running on a "law and order" platform in 1968, accused the Kerner Commission report of blaming "everybody for the riots except the perpetrators." The report may have illuminated a number of issues, but the scale of the recommendations (and belief that the riots were more the fault of conspirators than a release of outrage about social conditions) meant that it did little else.

A year after the release of the report, an independent study by the nonprofit organizations Urban America Inc. and The Urban Coalition found that little progress had been made in race relations. It borrowed a line from the Kerner Commission in concluding, "A year later we are a year closer to being two societies, black and white, increasingly separate and scarcely less unequal." Testifying before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee in May of 1971, Kerner said he thought police tactics had improved since the riots but that underlying racial issues had not been addressed.

Kerner decided not to run for a third term due to a "deep concern for the health and happiness" of his family." He resigned his governorship early, handing over the reins to Lieutenant Governor Samuel Shapiro in May of 1968. However, Kerner soon accepted a presidential appointment as a federal appeals court judge in Chicago.

In December of 1969, an investigation began into the allegation that Kerner received $50,000 in bank stock shortly before ordering the dismissal of a second indictment against organized crime figure Joseph Amabile, who had been sentenced to 15 years in prison on extortion conviction. Although nothing came of this inquiry, Kerner would land in hot water less than two years late on a similar accusation.

In July of 1971, investigators questioned Kerner about a hefty profit he made in racetrack stock while serving as governor. Five months later, a federal grand jury indicted him on charges of bribery, mail fraud, tax evasion, perjury, and conspiracy. The jury also indicted three former administration officials and one of their secretaries: Isaacs, who had served as state director of revenue between 1961 and 1963; William S. Miller, chairman of Illinois Racing Board from 1961 to 1967; Joseph Knight, director of state institutions between 1962 and 1968; and Faith McInturf, Miller's former secretary and business associate.

The charges alleged that Kerner conspired to acquire $356,000 in racetrack stock for the bargain price of $70,158, and that this amounted to a bribe since it intended to influence his decisions on horse racing matters. Prosecutors also charged that Kerner evaded $84,129 in taxes by false reports to the Internal Revenue Service.

Kerner promptly took leave of his post but did not resign. The case zeroed in on him and Isaacs, since Knight was too old and ill to stand trial and the charges against McInturf eventually evaporated. The state dropped the charges against Miller when he agreed to testify against his co-defendants.

The trial against Kerner and Isaacs began in January of 1971 and lasted for seven weeks; the state called 40 witnesses, the defense 31. Majorie Everett, a former head of Chicago Thoroughbred Enterprises, said she made stock available to Kerner and Isaacs in 1962 and contributed $45,000 to the governor's campaign. Miller said Kerner knew the contributions were made with the intent that he would favor Everett's interests with his decisions; he said Kerner accepted simply by saying, "Well, that's very nice of Marj." The government also asserted that Kerner and Isaacs went through a complex system of hiding the assets and avoiding taxes on them. On the stand, Kerner denied that he ever interpreted the stock and contribution as a bribe.

The jury disagreed; they found Kerner guilty of a total of 17 charges and Isaacs guilty of 15. It was the first time a sitting federal judge was convicted of criminal charges. Kerner vowed to fight the conviction and refused to give up his post, meaning he could only be removed by impeachment. In April of 1973, he and Isaacs were each sentenced to three years in prison and a $20,000 fine. Kerner complained, "My real punishment, deserved or not, has already been inflicted...I was never tainted, and I was never bought."

His argument about the interpretation of the stock and campaign donation held some merit during the appeals process. An appeals court agreed to dismiss the bribery charge, but upheld the other convictions. In June of 1974, the Supreme Court denied a review of the cases; Kerner's argument, in part, was that he could not be indicted while a sitting judge. Some members of Congress were getting tired of this particular ambiguity. In July, Kerner finally resigned from the judge's position as efforts to impeach him gained momentum. He started serving his sentence the same month.

Kerner remained imprisoned until March of 1975. By that time, his health had declined precipitously. Although he had kicked the habit, Kerner had formerly been a longtime smoker; surgeons removed a tumor from his lung and gave him a 50-50 chance of survival. Kerner's poor health sped up his release from prison, and he accepted a job consulting with Lewis University-Chicago's special services center to improve the mental attitudes of prisoners.

President Gerald Ford received a request to pardon Kerner in October of 1975, but rejected it. Kerner was again under consideration for a pardon in May of 1976, but was already fighting a losing battle against resurgent lung cancer at this point. He died the same month and, due to his military service, was buried with honors at Arlington National Cemetery.

Sources: National Governors Association, "Advisers Map Plans to Fight Discrimination" in the Ocala Star-Banner on May 30 1963, "Wild Scene as Governor Orders Illinois Adjournment" in the Telegraph-Herald on Jun. 27 1963, "Nine Public Officials Indicted on Charges of Malfeasance" in the Reading Eagle on Dec.17 1964, "Illinois Governor to Quit Politics" in the Spokane Daily Chronicle on Feb. 7 1968, "Anti-Riot Panel Urges Major National Effort" in the Beaver County Times on Mar. 4 1968, "Armed Cops Not Answer - Kerner" in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Mar. 13 1968, "Riot Commission Calls For Action on Report" in the St. Petersburg Times on Apr. 10 1968, "Illinois Governor Resigns" in the Press-Courier on May 21 1968, "Riot Commission Report is Challenged" in the Sumter Daily Item on July 27 1968, "One Year Later: The Nation Still Drifts Toward a Racial Upheaval" in the Lewiston Morning Tribune on Mar. 2 1969, "Kerner Silent on Charge" in the Southeast Missourian on Dec. 3 1969, "Judge Kerner Testifies For Senate Group" in the Gettysburg Times on May 26 1971, "Kerner Gain in Racetrack Stock Cited" in the Milwaukee Sentinel on Jul. 30 1971, "U.S. Jury Indicts Judge Kerner" in the Milwaukee Sentinel on Dec. 16 1971, "Kerner Pledges Battle to Erase Conviction" in the Toledo Blade on Feb. 20 1973, "Indictments Against Miller, Aide Dropped" in the Chicago Tribune on Mar. 3 1973, "Kerner Gets Three Years, $50,000 Fine" in the Ellensburg Daily Record on Apr. 20 1973, "Kerner Free of Bribery Conviction" in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Feb. 20 1974, "Kerner: Honor Dearer Than Life" in the Ellensburg Daily Record on Feb. 20 1974, "High Court Refuses to Review Kerner Case" in the Portsmouth Times on Jun. 17 1974, "Kerner Quits Bench, Faces Prison Term" in the Beaver County Times on Jul. 25 1974, "Lung Tumor Removed From Former Governor" in the Beaver County Times on Mar. 12 1975, "Kerner to Work With Inmates" in the Free Lance-Star on May 22 1975, "Ford Reject Pardon for Former Governor" in the Virgin Islands Daily News on Oct.18 1975, "Pardon Eyed For Kerner" in the Spokesman-Review on May 7 1976, "Otto Kerner Dies; Paroled Year Ago" in the Schenectady Gazette on May 10 1976, Encyclopedia of American Race Riots edited by Walter C. Rucker and James N. Upton, Crime and Punishment: A History of the Criminal Justice System by Mitchel P. Roth

Charles A. Hayes: bounced out

Image from bioguide.congress.gov

Before he came to the House of Representatives as an elected member, Charles Arthur Hayes appeared in Congress to defend himself against accusations of Communism. In 1959, 57-year-old Joseph Poskonka told the House Un-American Activities Committee that he had endured insults and beatings for 16 years as a member of the Communist Party. The reason he did so was not out of a strong devotion to the party's ideals, he testified, but because he was an informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation assigned to infiltrate the United Packinghouse Workers of America union and report on any Communist activities there. He told the committee that the union was rife with such subversion, and that Communists were trying to take over areas of American industry related to food production in order to tamper with it should the country go to war with the Soviet Union.

Poskonka identified Hayes as one of several union leaders in the Communists' pocket. Hayes, then serving as district director of the United Packinghouse Workers of America and vice president of the Illinois state AFL-CIO, was summoned to Washington to testify before the committee as part of a three-day hearing focusing on the UPWA. He invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination eight times when questioned on any past involvement with the Communists. He did choose to denounce the movement and say he was not a Communist at that time. The Fifth Amendment declaration unnerved AFL-CIO officials enough that they asked Hayes to step down from his state position, but he refused. Congress did not press Hayes on his activities, and the matter faded away.

Hayes was involved with union activities for most of his life. Born in Cairo, Illinois in February of 1918, he graduated from high school in 1935 and went to work as a railroad section hand. From there, he went to work with a flooring company and organized a successful strike in 1938. Following this victory, he formed a union of black carpenters and joiners and served as its president from 1940 to 1942. The union later opened up to white workers as well.

Hayes transferred his union activities to the meatpacking industry after leaving the flooring company to become a fresh pork worker. He joined the grievance committee of the United Packinghouse Workers of America union in 1943, became a field representative for it in 1949, and served as district director from 1954 to 1968. He later served as vice president of the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North America union, and held the same post in the United Food and Commercial Workers Union. This latter organization was the largest one included in the AFL-CIO, and he remained there from 1979 until his retirement in 1983.

Though Hayes pushed for the traditional goals such as improved working conditions and better wages and benefits, he was also active in civil rights. He fought for desegregation in the dressing rooms and cafeterias of the meatpacking industry, as well as improved advancement opportunities for black workers. He sought to get women and blacks to serve as leaders in labor unions, and in 1972 he joined other black labor leaders in a Miami Beach conference to form a coalition in support of Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern to counter opposition by some white labor leaders. He organized rallies in support of the Montgomery bus boycott and provided financial support and manpower for events organized by civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.

In April of 1983, two-term congressman Harold Washington was elected the first black mayor of Chicago. He resigned his seat in the House of Representatives, and a special election was scheduled for August to fill the vacancy. Thirteen candidates threw their hats in the ring for the Democratic nomination in July, but Hayes had a special advantage. He supported Washington in his 1977 attempt at the mayor's office, as well as the successful 1983 campaign. In return, Washington threw his support behind Hayes. This angered many of the other candidates, who charged Washington with using machine tactics such as intimidation to ensure a Hayes victory, but they conceded that they would support Hayes if he won the nomination. Hayes came away with the Democratic nod after securing 45 percent of the vote. This election essentially guaranteed his entry into the House; the district was mostly black and strongly Democratic, and in August he got 94 percent of the vote after running against Republican candidate and newspaper columnist Diane Preacely.

It was the first of five consecutive victories in the House elections. After the 1983 election, Hayes announced that he was serving notice on Republican President Ronald Reagan. Saying that Reagan's cuts to anti-poverty programs had left one-third of the nation's blacks under the poverty line, he declared, "We must replace him with a chief executive who is committed to solving the problems of poor people. We've got to put America back on the track of greatness." His other goals upon entering office included a reduction in unemployment, which was especially burdensome in his district; a bilateral freeze on nuclear weapons; a national health service; and shifting funds from military budget to aid domestic programs. He authored the Dropout Prevention and Reentry Act to provide $500 million in federal funds to state and local governments to cut down on the dropout rate, which was also especially high in Chicago. He got in another jab at Reagan along the way, saying the President's cuts to education were “a callous disregard for the dreams and aspirations of millions of poor and disadvantaged children and young adults.” Hayes also sponsored numerous bills to try to decrease unemployment rates and provide relief for workers laid off in massive plant closings in Chicago. One of these bills, the Income and Jobs Action Act of 1985, sought to boost the provisions of 1978 Humphrey Hawkins Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act to increase employment opportunities with the growth of productivity.

In his continuing advocacy of civil rights, Hayes ran up against the law soon after his re-election in November of 1984. He had introduced legislation to impose economic and diplomatic sanctions against South Africa to get that country to end the discriminatory practice of apartheid. The Reagan Administration disagreed with taking a harsher stance, feeling that change could be achieved through diplomatic efforts. As a result, Hayes and several others took part in large-scale protests at the South African Embassy at the end of the month to protest apartheid, seek the release of several black labor unionists jailed in that country, and pressure the White House into changing the diplomatic stance and putting sanctions into place. Numerous people were arrested due to violations of a city code forbidding protesters from being within 500 feet of an embassy. Secret Service agents arrested Hayes inside the embassy itself after he entered along with Reverend Joseph Lowery, the head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Immediately before the arrest, Hayes told reporters that he could not sit idly by while racist policies stood and that he was hoping to end "the atrocious situation in South Africa." He was released immediately after the police booked him on a charge of misdemeanor unlawful entry. Numerous other high-profile people were arrested in the protests, including several Democratic congressmen and Yolanda King, the daughter of Martin Luther King, Jr. Within days of his arrest, the charges against Hayes and 10 others were dropped.

Shortly before Hayes' bid for the Democratic nomination in 1992, he was named in a wide-ranging scandal in the House. The Sergeant at Arms provided an informal banking service, and dozens of representatives had written bad checks on insufficient funds in the bank; the New York Times said the practice "effectively resulted in interest-free loans." Some representatives had only written a few checks in this way, but others had overdrawn hundreds. Hayes was among the worst offenders, with the House Ethics Committee reporting that he wrote 716 bad checks in a 39-month period. The news broke in March, in the last week of the primary campaign. Hayes said it wasn't much of an issue, since he had not broken the law or cost the taxpayers any money. "I want it clearly understood: I'm not a criminal, and I don't want to be treated like this," he said. Hayes' main opponent, Chicago alderman and former Black Panther Bobby Rush, had been arguing that Hayes had not achieved any significant legislative victories while in Congress and used the banking scandal to further support the argument. "Charlie Hayes' record in Congress is like his record of 700 overdrawn checks: insufficient ideas, insufficient commitment, insufficient action, insufficient funds," he said.

Other factors put Hayes' chances for re-nomination in jeopardy, namely a redrawing of congressional lines to change his constituency. However, the bounced checks received the bulk of the blame for his defeat. Even then, it was a fairly close contest. Rush received 42 percent of the vote, or 51,145 ballots, while Hayes came away with 39 percent, a total of 47,151 votes. Rush went on to win the general election, and has won every House contest in his district between 1992 and 2008. In 1993, the Justice Department cleared Hayes of any criminal wrongdoing in the banking scandal.

Hayes returned to work in labor and community matters in Chicago. He died of lung cancer in April of 1997. Two years later, the Charles A. Hayes Investment Center, a nonprofit technology center for underprivileged Chicago residents, opened in a building formerly used by the United Packinghouse Workers of America.

Sources: The Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, Black Americans in Congress at baic.house.gov, "Packer Union Leader Uses Fifth Eight Times" in the Chicago Tribune on May 7 1959, "Reds Run Union" in the Miami News on May 8 1959, "Hayes Asked To Quit AFL Post; Refuses" in the Chicago Tribune on May 20 1959, "Black Labor Group To Aid McGovern" in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune on Aug. 8 1972, "Union Urges Labor Dept. Rights Probe" in the Washington Afro-American on Feb. 13 1973, "Hayes Wins In Chicago" in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Jul. 27 1983, "Chicago Primary Winner Tries To Ease Bitterness" in the Palm Beach Post on Jul. 28 1983, "Hayes Wins Special Election" in the Free Lance-Star on Aug. 24 1983, "Hayes Goes To Congress" in the Afro-American on Oct. 1 1983, "SCLC Head Arrested In Embassy Protest" in the Tuscaloosa News on Nov. 27 1984, "Two Congressmen Arrested In Protest Against South Africa" in the Ocala Star-Banner on Dec. 1 1984, "Arrests Continue In South African Protest" in The Telegraph on Dec. 1 1984, "Congressman Who Wrote Bad Checks Faces Voters Today" in The Dispatch on Mar. 16 1992, "Illinois Democrats Boot 5 Congress Incumbents" in the Pittsburgh Press on May. 18 1992, "Charles Hayes, 79, Former Chicago Lawmaker" in the New York Times on Apr. 13 1997, "Former U.S. Congressman Charles Hayes Dies at 79" in Jet on Apr. 28 1997

William Lorimer: the fall of the "blond boss"

Image from bioguide.congress.gov

William Lorimer had served about a year in the United States Senate before he was put on the defensive. Openly referred to as the "blond boss" of Chicago, Lorimer maintained his innocence through three inquiries into whether he had been fairly appointed to his seat. Though he had always been popular in his home district, perhaps by enforced methods, it did little to help him on the national stage.

Lorimer was born in Manchester, England in 1861 and came to the United States with his parents when he was five years old. The family moved to Chicago in 1870, and Lorimer entered a variety of low-level jobs. Most sources say he worked as a newsboy, a bootblack, and in the city's packing houses. Others include titles as laundry solicitor and department store cash-boy in the list.

Lorimer was able to lift himself into city politics when he was still very young. After landing a job as a streetcar conductor, he organized the Street Railways Employees' Benevolent Association and was elected constable in 1886. Dabbing in real estate and construction work, he was named assistant superintendent of water main construction the next year and superintendent of the water department soon after. His first stab at elected office, a race for a superior court clerk's position, was met with failure in 1892.

Two years later, Lorimer set his sights higher and ran as a Republican for the House of Representatives. The Chicago Journal did not spare words in their opinion of the burgeoning boss's fitness for office: "His only demonstrated qualification of any kind is a 'pull' in Democratic wards," the paper stated. "He knows considerable about carrying primaries, but he knows no more about political, industrial, or social subjects than does a hole in the ground which doesn't care what goes down it." Lorimer's working class background and lack of serious education may have been seen as drawbacks. But his political machine, which exploited the largely illiterate immigrant population, organized wards in the city and Cook County, and promised rewards of public grants and contracts, probably helped with his election to the House.

Lorimer was returned to the House in 1896. The New York Times quoted him as saying in the month after the election that he would "quit politics for good" after casting a vote for Speaker of the House and a tariff bill. There was also speculation that he would run for mayor of Chicago. Neither turned out to be true, as Lorimer went on to win re-election in 1898 with the help of a circus-like campaign, where large tents were set up with music and political jokes. In 1900, Lorimer failed to win re-election, but came back in 1902. In a glimpse of things to come, his Democratic opponent charged that questionable tactics had been used in the race; however, Lorimer was able to keep the seat and win the next four elections.

In January of 1909, the Illinois legislature took up deliberations to choose a senator, as the term of Republican Senator Albert Jarvis Hopkins was set to expire in March of that year. The matter soon became a protracted battle, as Hopkins was able to come within 20 to 30 votes of confirmation but never achieved the majority needed to break the deadlock. Lorimer's name was not introduced into the process until much later, when a single vote in favor of him on one ballot hinted that he might be under consideration. On the legislature's 95th ballot, Lorimer was appointed senator after 108 members (55 Republicans and 53 Democrats) voted in favor of him. Ninety legislators were opposed.

The confirmation was not without incident; U.S. District Attorney and former Illinois Lieutenant Governor William A. Northcott was escorted from the floor by policemen after lobbying on behalf of Hopkins. Democratic state representative Lee O'Neil Browne took offense when another legislator insinuated that improper means had been used to attain the result. "I do not know what the gentleman means, but if he means that improper influences have been used then he is a liar," said Browne. "I hope he did not mean it. But if he did and will repeat his words to me outside of this hall I will pledge you that one of us will never make those remarks again."

When the vote was taken, the New York Times referred to Lorimer as an "ex-boss," since his ally-turned-rival Charles S. Deneen had brought together enough factions to win the state's gubernatorial race in 1904. However, the paper also mentioned that he remained strong in his own district. During the 61st Congress, which stretched through the deliberations of the Illinois legislature, Lorimer chaired the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of the Navy. Entering the Senate in June of 1909, he chaired the Committees on Mines and Mining as well as the Pacific Islands and Puerto Rico.

In April of 1910, the Chicago Tribune published a confession by Democratic state representative Charles A. White that he'd received $1,000 to vote for Lorimer during the Illinois legislature's debate. White said he'd also gotten $900 out of a "jackpot" used to influence the nomination process once the legislature had closed its session. Over the course of the next month, two more Democratic representatives said they had also been bribed, and a state senator said he'd received $2,500 for his vote. Though the confessors charged two other legislators in the matter as well, they all agreed that one man was the principal actor in the scandal: Browne, the Democratic leader of the lower house who had so pugnaciously denied any wrongdoing the previous year.

Lorimer, of course, denied the accusations and said they were part of an attempt to undermine the La Salle Street Trust and Savings Bank, which he had started in 1910. The Tribune reported in July that a vote-buying scandal may have been playing out on both sides: another plan had allegedly been in the works to buy 17 Democratic votes for Hopkins at $2,000 a pop, but the plot was aborted by the Speaker of the Illinois legislature and the state's Democratic National Committeeman. Both men denied there had ever been such a scheme. In September, Browne was acquitted on bribery charges after two trials.

Lending a boost to the scandal's publicity was a very high-level snub of Lorimer in September of 1910. Ex-President Theodore Roosevelt, noting that Lorimer was to be a guest of honor at a dinner of the Hamilton Club in Freeport, Illinois, said he would not attend if the accused senator would be there. Lorimer's invitation was immediately withdrawn, and Roosevelt's speech at the dinner blasted government corruption. In the Lorimer case, he implicitly expressed his belief that Lorimer was not entitled to the seat by saying, "I defy any honest man of intelligence not to come to the conclusion that the Legislature whose doings have been exposed was guilty of the foulest and basest corruption and, therefore, of the most infamous treason to American institutions."

The Senate Privileges and Elections Committee investigated the matter in September and October, and in December issued the determination that the bribery was not enough to take away Lorimer's majority in the legislature's vote, and thus he had been fairly elected. A minority report in January of 1911 said the senator was not entitled to his seat, and Republican Senator Elihu Root of New York criticized the majority conclusion as faulty. It didn't matter that Lorimer was not personally involved in the bribery, said Root, and it was not the committee's job to determine whether the Tribune had made a solid enough case; in the end, the election was fraudulent and Lorimer did not have the right to be in the Senate.

Root was not able to outshine Lorimer's memorable three-hour speech, which he made in the Senate in his own defense that same month. Lorimer recalled his poor upbringing, and credited the numerous relationships he had forged in Chicago over the years as the reason for his popularity among Democratic state legislators. He had helped one legislator get an appointment so he could care for his sick wife, he said; another was an associate of a former newsboy whom Lorimer had befriended in his youth. Democrats also supported his efforts to create a waterway from Chicago to the Mississippi River, he argued. When the Senate took up the issue in March, they voted 46-40 that Lorimer had been duly elected.

Meanwhile, the Illinois state senate had begun its own investigation in January of 1911. The biggest revelation of this effort was the discovery of more information on the "jackpot" fund that was used to elect Lorimer. Clarence S. Funk, general manager of the International Harvester Company, said Chicago lumber magnate Edward Hines had asked him to chip in $10,000 toward a $100,000 fund set up for Lorimer's appointment. The senate concluded in a 39-10 vote in May that Lorimer had not been fairly elected, and in June the legislature sent a resolution to the Senate asking for the investigation to be reopened.

Some members of the Senate had been keeping an eye on the Illinois legislature's work, and had already gotten that idea. In April, before the legislature had even issued their conclusion, Republican Senator Robert La Follette asked for the case to be reopened. In June, a select committee of eight senators from the Committee on Privileges and Elections was appointed to look into the 1909 appointment.

Cyrus McCormick, President of the International Harvester Company, confirmed Funk's story to the committee. The members also heard accusations that Hines had bragged about getting Lorimer elected as a way of keeping a high tariff on lumber. Hines was alleged to have said that the appointment "cost us a lot of money, but he is well worth it to all of us." Edward Tilden, President of the National Packing Company and a bank director, was accused of collecting contributions to recoup the Lorimer backers. Hines, in his testimony before the committee, threw some blame on President Howard Taft, saying he had urged support of Lorimer in order to have his vote in favor of the Aldrich-Payne tariff bill; Taft issued a denial of the accusation.

When the investigation concluded in February of 1912, five members of the committee concluded that Lorimer could keep his seat, while three were against it. Despite this finding, Lorimer was on much shakier ground following this third investigation. The alleged corrupt vote count from the legislature's 1909 action was up to 10: enough to have affected the final tally. Vice President James Sherman even asked him to resign, saying it would spare the Republican Party serious ill effect before the presidential election later in the year. Lorimer refused. "I was elected to the United States Senate honestly, and I would rather stand up and be counted out by my colleagues than to yield to any pressure to resign under fire," he said.

The Senate debate on the issue took place in June and July to allow the primaries to take place during the spring. Lorimer went on the offensive while speaking on his own behalf in July, criticizing senators who had been seeking his resignation and accusing the Chicago newspapers of turning public opinion against him. The "trust press," he said, did not pay their fair share of taxes. He charged Governor Deneen with taking more in fees than he deserved. He said Taft had treated him poorly, though the President apparently only remarked that he hoped the Senate would vote on the side of honesty and decency in the matter. Recalling Teddy Roosevelt's statements in 1910, Lorimer said, "He wants to get rid of the bosses. He doesn't want them on his side--especially if the people know him."

Soon after, the Senate voted 55-28 that "corrupt methods and practices were employed in [Lorimer's] election, and that the election, therefore, was invalid." Thus expelled, Illlinois went on with one senator until March of 1913, when Republican and former Illinois Lieutenant Governor Lawrence Yates Sherman was elected to replace him.

Lorimer's troubles were not quite over. In 1914, the La Salle Street Bank and Trust failed, and Lorimer and other bank officials were indicted on charges that they misappropriated funds. Of the hundreds of thousands of dollars lost in the collapse, Lorimer was accused of making off with $70,000. He was acquitted after a trial, but the bank's vice president, William B. Munday, was convicted and served part of a prison sentence. In 1923, the indictments against both men were withdrawn.

Though he expressed interest in returning to Congress in 1916 and 1919, Lorimer's time in government was over. He returned to private business, getting involved in the timber industry and representing an American syndicate advocating railroad concessions to South America between 1921 and 1924. He did go to Washington again in 1927 to speak on behalf of the waterways issue he had consistently advocated, and in 1928 appeared in Congress on a flood control issue. He was met with some hostility by Congressman John Schafer, a Wisconsin Republican, who said Lorimer had been expelled from Congress and that his lumber company owned land in the area where the government could potentially buy up floodplains. Lorimer said he owned 1,000 acres in the area, but would be willing to give up the land rather than sell it.

In 1934, Lorimer collapsed in a Chicago railroad station, dead of a heart condition.

Sources: The Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, "A Republican Nominee for Congress" in the New York Times on Aug. 13 1894, "Intends to Quit Congress" in the New York Times on Dec. 9 1896, "The Jesters of Chicago" in the New York Times on Oct. 2 1898, "To Contest An Election" in the New York Times on Dec. 21 1902, "Lorimer A Senator" in the New York Times on May 27 1909, "Tells of Bribes to Elect Lorimer" in the New York Times on May 1 1910, "Lies, Cries Lorimer; Another Confesses" in the New York Times on May 29 1910, "Tried to Bribe Democrats" in the New York Times on Jul. 29 1910, "Roosevelt Ban Put on Lorimer" in the New York Times on Sept. 9 1910, "Root Tells Senate Lorimer Must Go" in the New York Times on Feb. 4 1911, "Issue Taft Denial of Aid to Lorimer" in the New York Times on Mar. 30 1911, "The Lorimer Case Again Before The Senate" in the New York Times on Apr. 7 1911, "Says Hines Boasted He Elected Lorimer" in the New York Times on Apr. 14 1911, "Refused to Give $10,000 For Lorimer" in the New York Times on Jun. 21 1911, "The Lorimer Case" in Volume XLV (April to September 1911) of Munsey's Magazine, "Lorimer Rejects Plea to Resign" in the New York Times on May 26 1912, "Lorimer at Bay" in the New York Times on Jul. 12 1912, "William Lorimer Indicted" in the New York Times on Oct. 9 1914, "National Affairs: Old Blond Boss" in Time on Apr. 30 1928, "Ex-Senator Lorimer Dies in Rail Depot" in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Sept. 14 1934, History of the Republican Party in Illinois 1854-1912 by Charles A. Church, The Case of Frank L. Smith: A Study in Representative Government by Carroll Hill Wooddy, Compilation of Senate Election Cases from 1789 to 1913

Paul Powell: living on a shoestring

Image from southernmostillinoishistory.info

Paul Powell was once quoted as saying, "There's only one thing worse than a defeated politician, and that's a broke one." The saying became especially pertinent after a surprising discovery following Powell's death.

Born in 1902 in Vienna, Illinois, Powell spent 30 years in the state legislature, including one term as speaker of the house of representatives in 1949 and two additional terms between 1959 and 1963. He was a delegate to the Democratic National Conventions between 1944 and 1964 and chaired the Johnson County Democratic Party in 1950. In 1965, he was elected Secretary of State.

In 1951, Powell was investigated for corruption regarding stock purchase in a harness-racing corporation. Having bought shares in the corporation for ten cents apiece, Powell was able to help the group get favorable racing dates and the shares increased to $17.50 each. He was cleared of any wrongdoing, and joked that the grand jurors had come away more interested in how to invest in racetrack stock. He was subject to another grand jury investigation in 1966 accusing his office of accepting bribes from truckers affiliated with organized crime in order to cut their operating fees. Powell was again cleared, although his former chief investigator, Frank "Porky" Porcaro, was later indicted for theft of state funds.

In 1970, while at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, Powell suffered a heart attack and died. His death was not made public until a day later, evidently so personal aides could remove certain personal papers from his office. John W. Lewis, another former state house speaker, was appointed as his replacement. John S. Rendleman, chancellor of Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville and executor of Powell's estate, went to the St. Nicholas Hotel in Springfield where Powell had been renting a suite to recover his personal effects.

The state had never paid Powell more than $30,000 a year. But when Rendleman searched the suite, he found some $800,000 in cash packed into shoeboxes, briefcases, and strongboxes in the room. The cache was not disclosed to the public until three months later, after a search of banks and other holdings to determine how much money had been hidden. That process would go on for years, and finally determine in 1978 that his estate was worth $4.6 million, including $1 million in racetrack stock. For some reason, Powell had also stashed away 49 cases of whiskey, 14 transistor radios, and two cases of creamed corn in storage space he'd been renting.

Exactly how Powell amassed such a fortune is something of a mystery, though much of the money probably came from residents who wrote driver's license renewal checks directly to Powell instead of to the Secretary of State's Office. Four years after Powell's death, a grand jury indicted a contractor, Chicago lawyer, and Arkansas businessman for directing $80,000 in kickbacks to Powell while he was in office. The state filed a lawsuit against Powell's estate and settled out of court for $1.6 million to go toward the state's historical library, state museum, and the restoration of the Governor's mansion.

Twice widowed and with no children, Powell left $1.5 million to the Johnson County Historical Society Museum, which had previously worked on an annual endowment of $200 to display two rooms of antique farming equipment. Powell's home now houses a museum, as well as the Johnson County Genealogical and Historical Society.

The shoebox fortune spurred plenty of mockery. Senator Adlai Stevenson III of Illinois said after Powell's death, "His shoeboxes will be hard to fill." A novelty firm marketed a Paul Powell savings bank: shoebox-shaped, painted "money green," and offering "banking any hour of the day or night, and is easily hidden in a closet." The Third Unitarian Church of Chicago held something of a mixed bag remembrance of Powell two years after his death. While Reverend Donald Wheat recognized Powell for twice being voted the state's outstanding legislator and honored by veterans' groups, he also read the nursery rhyme "The Crooked Man" and the parable of the rich fool. When the church took its collection at the memorial, it was done with shoeboxes.

Powell's case is routinely noted during major accusations of political corruption in Illinois, particularly the cases of back-to-back Governors George Ryan and Rod Blagojevich. Mike Lawrence, director of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at the University of Southern Illinois at Carbondale, said during the Ryan matter in 2005 that residents were generally nonplussed by the 1970 scandal due to the perception that Powell had contributed positively to the state. "People were surprised about the amount of money," said Lawrence. "But there was sort of a sense if he gave us our share, what's wrong with him getting his share?"

Sources: The Political Graveyard, "Ex-Illinois House Speaker is Appointed to State Post" in the New York Times on Oct. 18 1970, "Paul Powell's Nest Egg" in Time on Jan. 18 1971, "Is Nothing Sacred?" in the Bryan Times on Jan. 23 1971, "U.S." in Time on Feb. 15 1971, "Remembering Paul" in Time on Oct. 23 1972, "Illinois to Share in Estate of Millionaire Official" in the New York Times on Aug. 19 1973, "OIS Payoffs Charged to 3 Men" in the New York Times on Feb. 1 1974, "Ryan case just latest in a long line of Illinois corruption scandals" on thesouthern.com on Aug. 22 2005, "Deja vu: Growing up with Chicago pols in the 'Land of 10,000 Snakes" in MinnPost on Dec. 10 2008, "A Brief History of Illinois Corruption" in Time on Dec. 11 2008, Directory of Historical Organizations in the United States by the American Association for State and Local History, P.S.: The Autobiography of Paul Simon by Paul Simon, Illinois Politics & Government: The Expanding Metropolitan Frontier by Samuel K. Grove and James D. Nowlan

Jack Ryan: a "sexless sex scandal"

Jack Ryan and ex-wife Jeri Ryan. Photo from cbsnews.com

Given the recent scandal involving Governor Rod Blagojevich of Illinois, it seems like a prudent time to look at a fairly recent Illinois scandal that also indirectly relates to Barack Obama. In 2004, Obama won his seat in the U.S. Senate, owing quite a bit to a couple of messy divorces on both sides of the aisle.

Jack Ryan, 44 at the time he ran for the Senate in 2004, earned a total of three degrees from Dartmouth and Harvard. After working with the Goldman Sachs investment firm, he left the financial sector in 2000 to become a teacher at the Hales Franciscan High School, a parochial school for boys in Chicago. His bid to replace Republican Peter G. Fitzgerald, who had won the Senate seat in 1998 and was opting not to run for re-election, was Ryan's first attempt at political office. He won the nomination on March 16, the same day Obama won the Democratic nomination.

Obama had been trailing in his race until the divorce records of frontrunner M. Blair Hull became public. Brenda Sexton, who had twice been married to Hull, accused him of physically attacking her and threatening her life. In addition to knocking Hull out of the top spot, the findings led to increased curiousity over Ryan's own divorce from Jeri Ryan, a television actress best known for her roles in Star Trek: Voyager and Boston Public, in 1999. His Republican opponents in the primary had called for the unsealing of the records, and following his nomination the Chicago Tribune and a Chicago television station sued for access to them.

Ryan's files had initially been open, but he successfully had them sealed in 2001 on the argument that doing so would protect his young son. There were signs, however, that the file might contain some interesting information. In 2000, Ryan had tried to seal portions of the documents that a judge said might contain "inflammatory, inappropriate, and embarrassing material," but failed; on that occasion, Jeri Ryan's lawyers had argued that he was attempting to seal the documents because they could be potentially dangerous to a political career. During the 2004 campaign, Ryan said he would not let the Democrats use his divorce records as ammunition; his lawyer said there would be a "feeding frenzy" if they were released and that the documents would be distorted. Jeri Ryan also came out against releasing the records.

A California judge ruled on March 29 that some of the records should be unsealed, once a court-appointed official had determined which documents would negatively affect the Ryans' then 9-year-old son. On June 21, several documents were unsealed.

The effect on Ryan's campaign was immediate and catastrophic. In the divorce records, Jeri Ryan said her husband had taken her to sex clubs in New York City, New Orleans, and Paris in the late 1990s and tried to get her to have sex in front of other people. The clubs in New York were described as containing whips and chains and other materials. She stated that the Paris sex club made her physically ill, and that she lost attraction for Ryan when he told her "it was not a 'turn-on' for me to cry."

Ryan had denounced the claims when they were first made as libelous and "smut." When they resurfaced, he referred to his original statement but did not reaffirm the denial. Ryan said he did arrange "romantic getaways" for he and his wife, and that they had briefly gone to an "avant-garde" club in Paris that neither had been comfortable at. He called the focus on the divorce "a new low for politics."

Though his main argument was that the divorce was a non-issue, Ryan curiously sought to put a positive spin on the accusations. In a radio interview the day after the revelations, he said that the accusations were not an indication that he broke any laws or commandments, stating, "I think if that's the worst people can say about me in the heat of a difficult dispute, I think it speaks very well about my character." In the same interview, Ryan said, "She says three times over eight years [of marriage], we went to places that she felt uncomfortable...That's the worst of it. I think almost any spouse would take that as, `Gosh, if that's the worst someone can say about me after seeing me live my life for eight years . . . ' then people say, `Gosh, the guy's lived a pretty clean life.'"

Ryan tried to rally through such public appearances and the release of a set of "talking points" for his supporters to use in his defense, but was soon facing criticism from his own party as well. Judy Baar Topinka, chair of the state's Republican Party, and former Governor Jim Edgar said Ryan hadn't been forthcoming when asked if the divorce records contained any potentially embarrassing material. Ryan denied this account, saying Topinka had actually asked him if there was anything in the file that precluded his becoming a U.S. Senator; he also said he had already disclosed the information in the files to party officials. Topinka and Edgar, in turn, disputed Ryan's version of events, with Edgar saying Ryan had only described the "avant-garde" club.

Ryan ended his campaign on June 24, saying the focus on the divorce would take focus away from the issues. He criticized the Tribune, saying the records had been unsealed over the objections of both parents and that he had wished to have them closed in the interest of his son. Obama chose to laud Ryan's community work upon his departure, saying, "What happened to him over the last three days was unfortunate...It's not something I certainly would wish on anybody. And having said that, from this point forward, I think we will be continuing to talk about the issues." Ryan officially dropped out of the race in July.

Ryan's resignation left the GOP scrambling for a replacement. In August, after unsuccessfully courting former Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka and Orion Samuelson, an agricultural broadcaster, they finally settled on conservative commentator Alan Keyes...at that time residing in Maryland. Thomas Mann, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, compared the selection process to The Gong Show.

In an October interview, Ryan said he had resigned because he couldn't fight a "two-front war" against the Democrats and Republicans. He advised that divorce issues not be used against politicians in either party, saying he did not support the release of divorce records then Democratic candidate for President, John Kerry. He joked that the uproar was a "sexless sex scandal" and returned to Hales Franciscan as a substitute teacher, considering returning to teaching full-time when it became possible. In 2005, he launched 22nd Century Media, which publishes a chain of weekly newspapers focusing on local news in the Chicago suburbs.

Obama won the 2004 Senate general election in a landslide, taking 70 percent of the vote to Keyes' 27 percent.

Sources: ilsenate.com, "In Illinois, a Contest of Contrasts" in the Washington Post on March 17 2004, "Some Ryan Divorce Files Should be Unsealed" in the Chicago Tribune on March 30 2004, "Court Sets Release of Ryan's Divorce Records" in the Chicago Tribune on June 18 2004, "GOP Leaders Say They Felt Misled on Ryan File" in the Chicago Tribune on June 23 2004, "Illinois Senate Campaign Thrown into Prurient Turmoil" in the New York Times on June 23 2004, "Ryan Quits Race" in the Chicago Tribune on June 26 2004, "Candidate Officially Drops Out" in the New York Times on July 30 2004, "Illinois GOP Finally Picks a Candidate" in the New York Times on August 5 2004, "Jack Ryan '81: The Conservative Idealist" in the Dartmouth Independent on Oct. 1 2004, CNN results of 2004 election, chicagobusiness.com