The Heroic and the Notorious: U.S. Senators from Illinois

21. An Extended Period of Unrest

229 21 ★ An Extended Period of Unrest Over forty-two years, from 1950 to 1992, only seven individuals served Illinois as United States senators. During the following eighteen years seven people held the office. Since 1993 turnover in the seat once held by Everett M. Dirksen, Adlai E. Stevenson III, and Alan J. Dixon resulted from an unlikely series of events, including ethical lapses, waning interest, an upset loss of an incumbent, a controversial lame-duck appointment that went sour, a special election for a short term, and the rise of only the third president of the United States with an Illinois background. Turmoil is hardly an adequate word. During the same period, the other Senate seat was held by Paul Simon, who retired in 1997 after two terms, and then by Richard Durbin. In 2012 Durbin was continuing in office, making the jumble for the other seat more striking. Carol Moseley-Braun defeated two-term senator Dixon in 1992 and served one full term. Peter Fitzgerald, a Republican, defeated Moseley-Braun in 1998 and served a single six-year term. Barack Obama won the seat in 2004 but served just four years. Roland Burris, appointed to fill Obama’s seat in 2008, was in the Senate less than two years. Obama’s time-consuming campaign for the presidency in 2007 and 2008 effectively reduced his term to two years. None of the four was in the Senate long enough to establish a measurable record. 230 ★ AN EXTENDED PERIOD OF UNREST The only comparable period of electoral unrest since 1914— when senators were first elected by popular vote—occurred in the dozen years that included the 1920s, when five men were elected to the two Senate seats. None of them served more than one sixyear term. The U.S. Senate refused to seat one of the five on ethical grounds. That period hardly matched the craziness since 2008. Some governors during the earlier time were accused of corrupt behavior; however, nothing matched the drama created by Governor Rod Blagojevich and the seat held by Obama until late 2008. While some might wave aside those short-term anomalies as “just politics,” there were consequences for the state. During much of the eighteen years beginning in 1992, Illinois figuratively had only one senator with influence—Simon followed by Durbin. None of the others stayed in Washington long enough to gain the confidence of colleagues, key committee assignments, or leadership positions. Of the short-timers in question, three were black: Moseley-Braun, Obama, and Burris. During their time in office, no other state in the union elected or appointed an African American to the Senate. Technically speaking, the seventh person to serve as senator from 1992 through 2010 was chosen in a special election on November 2, 2010. Mark S. Kirk won the full six-year term beginning in 2011, and also won the special election to fill the position held temporarily by Roland Burris. The arrangement occurred when federal courts ruled that the appointment of Burris ended with the 2010 election. The two candidates for that position also were the two competing for the six-year term. Kirk won both elections and was sworn in on November 28. With one senator from each of the two major parties, Illinois will have certain benefits no matter which party controls the Senate. Peter Gosselin Fitzgerald (1999–2005) Peter Fitzgerald was a young man in a hurry. He had entertained political ambitions since his college days. Two years out of law school he ran for a seat in the Illinois House of Representatives in 1988. He lost that battle to the incumbent in the Republican primary . Four years later there was no incumbent running for the state Senate seat from his district. He pursued it and prevailed. In 1994, Fitzgerald challenged longtime Eighth District congressman Phil Crane in the Republican primary but failed. He was 231 PETER GOSSELIN FITzGERALD ★ reelected to the state Senate in 1996, although acquaintances knew his sights were set on the national level. He saw the chance in 1998, with a faltering Senator Carol Moseley-Braun as the Democratic incumbent, and the insider’s candidate on the Republican side, state comptroller Loleta Didrickson. He defeated Didrickson in the primary and unseated Moseley-Braun in November. Peter G. Fitzgerald was born in Elgin on October 20, 1960, the youngest of five children, and grew up in suburban Inverness. Peter attended...