April 30--Don't too quickly let go of Dan Walker, one of the most admired and vilified governors of Illinois. His war with Richard J. Daley's Democratic machine took this state on a rollicking ride. Walker died early Wednesday at age 92. He is survived by the remarkable legacy of his rise and fall -- and then another fall.
If you were here for the 1972 Democratic primary, you remember: A Montgomery Ward exec whose blue-ribbon commission had blamed a "police riot" for violence at Chicago's 1968 Democratic National Convention, wanted to differentiate himself from presumed shoo-in Paul Simon, the lieutenant governor. The nobody steals a Florida pol's stunt, dons a bandana and hiking boots, and meanders 1,197 miles from Brookport in southern Illinois to South Beloit in the north.
Marching across the prairie, Walker grabbed the imagination of Illinoisans resentful of Daley's dynasty and Simon's careerism. There were enough rebels to give Walker the Democratic nomination and then help him defeat Gov. Richard Ogilvie, an incumbent Republican.
The Kennedy analogies didn't hurt Walker. After a run of pasty-faces in suits -- Adlai Stevenson II, William Stratton, Otto Kerner Jr. and Samuel Shapiro (briefly) before Ogilvie -- Illinois was ready for Gov. Bandana. He was combative, iconoclastic and, in a way, gifted at governing: "Mostly Good and Competent Men," an anthology of Illinois governors, says "Walker's executive ability was such that he could clear his desk in an hour, which left the rest of the day for politicking."
Or for scorning the Springfield-Chicago establishment -- Lt. Gov. (and Daley ally) Neil Hartigan included. The bad blood boiled. Walker's deputy, Vic de Grazia, later recalled, "... I knew from the beginning that every time Daley looked at Walker, he saw the Church of England and the British suppression of the Irish, and when Dan would look at Daley, he would see the quintessential politician who was only interested in political gain."
Come 1976, Daley made sure Secretary of State Michael J. Howlett beat Walker in the Democratic primary. Walker subsequently toyed with runs for U.S. senator and, again, governor, but seemed destined to prove the British maxim that all political lives end in failure.
Walker even had one more failure -- or rather, personal failing -- left in him. In 1983 he acquired an Oak Brook savings and loan association. Federal regulators seized it three years later, saying his unsafe and unsound financial practices had bankrupted it. Walker pleaded guilty to bank fraud, misappropriation of bank funds and perjury. So, even though his crimes occurred after a relatively squeaky-clean run as governor, he did earn his place in this paragraph:
In the last half-century we've had 10 governors, including Bruce Rauner and, from the late 1960s, an eight-month placeholder whom almost no one recalls. Of the eight governors who served full terms, a felonious foursome -- Kerner, Walker, George Ryan, Rod Blagojevich -- have spent quality time with the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.
But Walker's candor always will distinguish him from the others. He declined to stand trial, pleaded guilty, and offered the people of Illinois a crisp confession: "I have deep regrets and no excuses."
For showing the beleaguered citizens of Illinois that yes, you can fight the machine, and for his uncommon refusal to hide from his culpability in crimes, we bid Dan Walker a respectful farewell.
