Springfield politics & government

While I never covered city hall as such, I wrote about Springfield politics often; in fact one of my very first published pieces was on that topic. Springfield became widely known as a political town when it was named Illinois capital in 1835, but in fact it was a political town before then. In fact, Springfield won the capital because its civic stalwarts—men ambitious for themselves and thus for their town—were adept at the political arts as then practiced.

In other Downstate cities, politics is the means by which good governments are achieved; in Springfield, government is the means by which good political organizations are achieved. The capture of city hall by successive professional pols occasionally offended local opinion, but never enough that a majority demanded a change.

The articles listed below are only a selection. The rest are about issues that no longer are of consequence and people whose names are not longer familiar.

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The Best Show in Town

Nelson Howarth, Springfield citizen and mayor

Focus March 27, 1971

Nelson Howarth

A Springfield mayor, upon his death

"Prejudices" Illinois Times October 24, 1991

Class Act

Social class and public office in Springfield

"Prejudices" Illinois Times October 1, 1987

Municipal government reform

In the middle 1970s, Springfieldians unhappy with the city’s commission form of government undertook twice to change it. The dissidents acted through different organizations and they had different gripes about the status quo, but all under-estimated how attached their townspeople were to the status quo simply because it was the status quo. The dispute was familiar in its essence, pitting as it did cosmopolitan good-government types against the courthouse culture of Springfield.

Springfield did get a new form of local government, by the way, in 1987, but that was a result of a settlement of a civil rights lawsuit that found the at-large voting system used under the commission form to be inherently discriminatory. While the new council was more representative, it would achieve none of the other improvements the reformers hoped for in the 1970s, mainly because the reformers were not running it.

Running the City Machine

The failed hopes of commission reform

“Prejudices” Illinois Times September 16, 1977

Wait a Minute

Springfieldians propose being herded by cats

“Prejudices” Illinois Times January 6, 1978

Change of Government in Perspective

Government without politics in Springfield?

Illinois Times March 17, 1978

Boodlers

When "justice" means a fairer distribution of spoils

“Prejudices” Illinois Times January 29, 1987