Dan Walker obit

Illinois Gov. Dan Walker dies at 92

 

He was not on the list.

Former Gov. Dan Walker dies at 92

 Daniel J. Walker was an American lawyer, businessman and Democratic politician from Illinois who was also a Daniel Walker, a flamboyant populist whose political and financial ambitions led him from a corporate boardroom to the Illinois governor’s mansion to the federal penitentiary.  He died Wednesday night at the age of 92 He was the 36th Governor of Illinois from 1973 to 1977.

Walker was born in Washington, D.C., the son of Virginia May (Lynch) and Lewis Wesley Walker, who were both from Texas. He was raised near San Diego, California. He was the second Governor of Illinois to graduate from the United States Naval Academy. He served as a naval officer in World War II and the Korean War. A graduate of the Northwestern University School of Law, Walker served as a law clerk for Chief Justice of the United States Fred M. Vinson, and as an aide to Illinois Governor Adlai Stevenson II.

Walker later became an executive for Montgomery Ward while supporting reform politics in Chicago. In 1970, Walker was campaign chairman for the successful U.S. Senate campaign of Adlai Stevenson III (son of Adlai II).

The National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence appointed Walker to head the Chicago Study Team that investigated the violent clashes between police and protesters at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. In December, the team issued its report, Rights in Conflict, better known as the “Walker Report.” The Report became highly controversial, and its author well-known. The report stated that while protesters had deliberately harassed and provoked police, the police had responded with indiscriminate violence against protesters and bystanders, which he described as a “police riot”. The Report charged that many police had committed criminal acts, and condemned the failure to prosecute or even discipline those police. Given the state of affairs today involving police and Black Male civilians Walker’s study was ahead of its time and rather progressive for its time. He stepped out on the limb pointing the finger at  police’ criminal behavior.

Walker announced his candidacy for Governor of Illinois in 1971 and attracted wide attention by walking 1,197 miles  across Illinois in 1971. He  won the 1972 Democratic primary against then-Lieutenant Governor Paul Simon by a narrow margin. Though Simon had a “good government” reputation, Walker attacked Simon for soliciting and accepting the endorsement of the Cook County Democratic Party chaired by Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley, which Walker charged reflected servility to the “Daley Machine.”

In the 1972 general election, he defeated incumbent Republican Richard B. Ogilvie by a 51% to 49% margin. At one point in the early 1970s, Walker had presidential aspirations.

The enmity between Walker and Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley’s political organization was deep. In 1974, Walker supported state legislative candidates against Daley allies.

“We never established anything even approaching a personal rapport. To some degree, this was an obvious and natural result of my independent political activity. But it went deeper – much deeper,” said Walker.

During his tenure, Walker was often at odds with both Republicans and Democrats in the state legislature. He did obtain passage of the first law requiring disclosure of campaign contributions and issued a series of executive orders prohibiting corrupt practices by state employees.

In 1976 lost the democratic primary   by a 54% to 46% margin to Secretary of State Michael Howlett, the candidate supported by Mayor Daley. In the general election, Howlett was overwhelmingly defeated by James R. Thompson. A Democrat would not preside over the governorship of the state for the next 26 years, when Rod Blagojevich was elected in 2003.

Born in Washington, D.C., Walker was raised in San Diego, before serving in the Navy as an enlisted man and officer during World War II and the Korean War. He moved to Illinois between the wars to attend Northwestern University School of Law, entering politics in the state during the 1960s.

Walker was perhaps best known for walking the state of Illinois in 1971 during his candidacy for governor and for being an outsider to Illinois' machine politics. Running against the machine's candidate for the Democratic nomination for governor, Paul Simon, Walker scored a rare upset in the March 1972 primary election. He went on that year to defeat the Republican incumbent, Richard B. Ogilvie, but lost his own bid for re-election in the 1976 primary against Michael Howlett.

His post political career was marked by high living, but marred by a guilty plea to bank fraud and perjury at the peak of the late 1980s savings and loan crisis.

In the 1980s, Walker entered the private sector by forming Butler-Walker, Inc, a chain of self-named quick oil change franchises later bought by Jiffy Lube, and acquiring two savings and loan associations, one of which was First American Savings and Loan Association of Oak Brook which would later be declared insolvent. In 1987, Walker was charged with Federal bank fraud based on two loans. A private contractor borrowed $279,000 from First American to build schools. Walker later personally borrowed $45,000 from that individual on a "handshake" basis. Those two loans ("borrowing from a borrower" while serving as a director) constituted bank fraud. Walker agreed to a plea bargain with Federal prosecutors; he pleaded guilty to bank fraud in the loan, perjury (based on dealings by the Association with his son), and filing false financial statements. He was sentenced to four years imprisonment for bank fraud, three years for perjury, and probation for false financial statements; the sentences to be served consecutively. At his sentencing, U.S. District Judge Ann Williams stated, "It's clear to this court that a pattern was established and that you, Mr. Walker, thought this bank was your own personal piggy bank to bail you out whenever you got into trouble."