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32 3. Battling Walker and Fighting for Children We came to the unmistakable conclusion that child abuse was vastly underreported in Illinois. We had to do something about it. When I prepared for my second term in 1973, I wanted to get more involved. I wanted to be named an assistant leader under Senator Cecil Partee, the leader of the Senate Democrats. So I asked my mentor, former senator Art McGloon, “How does one go about getting into leadership?” “The same way you got into the Senate,” he said. “Go to see the mayor.” So I made the appointment, went to see Mayor Daley, and indicated that I was interested in becoming an assistant leader when the Senate organized itself in January 1973. He did not make a commitment one way or the other. After all, the Democrats had not done well in the 1972 elections. Dan Walker had campaigned as a big anti-Daley reformer and defeated the then lieutenant governor Paul Simon in the Democratic primary, and that changed everything. Under Walker, if you were a “Daley Democrat”— a member of the Cook County Democratic organization—you need not apply for anything. Walker was going to confront the mayor and showcase his independence with the hope, I suppose, of becoming a candidate for president of the United States. He miscalculated badly. Had he been a little conciliatory and a little cooperative, I think the mayor gladly would have sponsored him for president, if only to get him out of Illinois. It could have happened. Another little-known governor, Jimmy Carter of Georgia, did arise out of nowhere in 1976. Being governor of Illinois, not Georgia, could have put Walker in a much stronger position than the one Carter was in. As things turned out, Walker fought the legislature too much, and we were all glad to get rid of him after only one term. A little later he went to prison for crimes unrelated to his term as governor, but he’s still known as another Illinois governor who went to jail. battling walker and fighting for children 33 At any rate, when we went to Springfield to organize the Senate in January 1973, the Republicans had thirty senators and we Democrats had twenty-nine, and so they got to pick the Senate president. They chose William Harris of Pontiac. We kept Partee as our leader. In my freshman term, Partee appointed Senators Jim Donnewald of downstate Breese and Bob Cherry of Chicago as his assistants. Then Cherry withdrew as a Senate candidate in 1972 because he said he couldn’t handle the longer sessions that the new constitution would require. The legendary Bernard Neistein, a state senator as well as a ward boss back home, also stepped down from the Senate that year, which was significant because he might have risen to the leadership slot. Things were changing with the departures of Cherry and Neistein. In addition to me, there were some other possibilities from Chicago for leadership positions, some of whom had more seniority and thought they deserved consideration. Everyone assumed the popular Donnewald would stay in leadership and represent the downstaters. Partee, I suppose, had conferred with Mayor Daley and decided that I would be the other assistant leader. I approached some other members and told them I would appreciate their support, asking them to put in a word for me with Partee if the opportunity arose. Partee, the mayor, and the other members must have felt that some new, young, aggressive blood would be good, and I was the logical candidate. So Partee added me to his team, along with Donnewald. It’s ironic that on that day of great satisfaction for me, Elmer Conti filed yet another challenge to my election, contesting my right to be seated in the Illinois Senate. Conti’s challenge went to the Senate Elections Committee , which heard witnesses and ordered an independent discovery recount. Those on the committee looked over the ballots and totals to make sure there was no obvious discrepancy. About a year later, the committee , under the aegis of the Republican chairman, issued its report denying Conti’s challenge. I think the Republicans dragged it out to keep a threat hanging over my head: “Stay in line, kid, or we’re going to have a report that bumps you out of here.” I was confident all along that justice would prevail. Our case was solid. There was no chicanery, as Conti had claimed. I just...

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