What if some moment in history had gone differently, for example the 1944 D-Day invasion of Normandy failing? What would have been the consequences for World War II? That kind of speculation makes for interesting late-night talk and even books, a few with the very title of “What If.”
OPINION
I engaged in a bit of that kind of thinking a couple of weeks ago in a column asserting that America would be better off today had Mitt Romney been elected president in 2012. That got me to thinking about a couple of other elections gone wrong.
In my more than four decades in Chicago, I saw more than a few politicians come and go. But only a handful left me with a lasting impression that had their electoral ambitions not failed, Illinois might not suffer with today’s reputation as the worst-run state in America.
Chicago attorney John Schmidt brought a splendid resume to his 1998 campaign for the Democratic nomination for governor. He was a former U.S. associate attorney general, a former chief U.S. negotiator on trade, chief of staff (without pay) for the opening months of then newly elected Mayor Richard M. Daley, and holder of a host of other appointed positions.
Equally impressive was that he, more than any other candidate for public office in Illinois that I can remember, laid out detailed plans on what he would do if elected. He had position papers on education funding, financial aid for college students, crime and domestic violence, gun control, reform of prisons and nursing homes, Chicago’s gang problem and more. Yet Democrats nominated another candidate, who lost to George Ryan, who ended up in prison.
Paul Vallas is deservedly hailed as an education reformer from his time as superintendent of Chicago schools and similar posts elsewhere. But he also was a numbers guy, bringing under control the financial mess that was then crippling Chicago education. He was a man of boundless drive and enthusiasm — just spending an hour with him could leave you exhausted. In 2002 Illinois Democrats had the opportunity to bring his financial acumen and energy to the state’s growing spending/pension problems. The fiscal condition of Illinois today likely would have been much better had Vallas been elected governor. But he lost a close primary contest to Rod Blagovich, who today sits in a federal prison.
Blagovich already faced federal investigation when he ran for re-election in 2006. His GOP opponent was the late Judy Baar Topinka, an exuberant, honest, authentic, irrepressible, principled veteran of state government who knew the value of a balanced checkbook. Topinka — actually Judy, that’s what everyone called her because she made you feel better just being around her — suffered from an underfunded campaign and dirty Blagovich ads that sought to tie her to George Ryan. She would have brought honesty and common sense to the high office of governor when it most needed those values.
A sage Washington observation is that many members of the U.S. Senate see a president when they look in the mirror. What’s wrong with just being a good senator and serving the interests of the people who sent you to the Capitol?
Someone who could have filled that role was Dan Hynes. Son of a Cook County political heavyweight, Hynes had served as state comptroller when he ran for the Democratic nomination for the Senate in 2004. Hynes was thoughtful, hard working, deliberative — the picture of what you’d want a senator to be. Had he been elected, he likely by now would be well on his way to compiling a distinguished record of service to Illinois. But Hynes had the misfortune to be seeking the Senate seat at the time another Illinois politician was beginning his trail-blazing run in national politics and who would use the Senate as a stepping block to the White House, Barack Obama.
Would my “what if” candidates have lived up to the potential I saw? Would the Democrats have enacted positions offensive to my conservative sensibilities. Maybe, maybe not. Tough to know for sure. But we do know what we got instead: a senator who used his office to satisfy his presidential ambitions and two governors who ended up behind bars.
