When I heard Judy Baar Topinka had died, it brought back an old memory about the one fight we had.
It happened in her campaign van years ago, parked around the corner from the Tribune Tower when she was running for governor in 2006 against future jailbird, then-incumbent Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
I was not enthused with either candidate and would occasionally refer to her in columns as "Tugboat Annie."
The windows were closed in the van. We'd bumped into each other on the street, walked and talked, and she had things to say. Of course, we were smoking, and there were several TV news crews outside, one reporter whining, "What are you doing in there?"
We were fighting in there, or better yet, arguing. Discussing, pointedly.
"John, John, John," she'd just insisted in front of the Tribune Editorial Board, "I know you like to write stories about the alleged Combine. But things of this sort don't exist."
Of course the Combine existed. And she was part of that liberal Republican/Corporate Establishment GOP wing represented then by Big Jim Thompson.
And Springfield Republican boss Big Bill Cellini proved there was a Combine by feeding well under Democrat Blagojevich and later getting indicted and going to prison.
She wasn't slick. She liked going to garage and estate sales. She liked to polka. You'd see her walk and wave to voters and you could almost hear the accordion music. I happen to like accordion music, at least in limited doses. And she didn't care. Why? Because there was life in her. She wasn't concerned about what people thought. She knew who she was. She lived. She had fun.
Topinka would be as much at home at a bingo game in a church basement as in the Illinois legislature, watching the dance of the lobbyists.
But she cared about the state, and the people in it, and she could talk to anyone, and she never talked down to a soul.
ref by
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-illinois-comptroller-judy-baar-topinka-dies-at-age-70-20141210-story.html#page=1
It happened in her campaign van years ago, parked around the corner from the Tribune Tower when she was running for governor in 2006 against future jailbird, then-incumbent Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
I was not enthused with either candidate and would occasionally refer to her in columns as "Tugboat Annie."
The windows were closed in the van. We'd bumped into each other on the street, walked and talked, and she had things to say. Of course, we were smoking, and there were several TV news crews outside, one reporter whining, "What are you doing in there?"
We were fighting in there, or better yet, arguing. Discussing, pointedly.
"John, John, John," she'd just insisted in front of the Tribune Editorial Board, "I know you like to write stories about the alleged Combine. But things of this sort don't exist."
Of course the Combine existed. And she was part of that liberal Republican/Corporate Establishment GOP wing represented then by Big Jim Thompson.
Judy Baar Topinka remembered for political style
| Illinois Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka takes the oath of office on Jan. 10, 2011, at the Prairie Capital Convention Center in Springfield |
And Springfield Republican boss Big Bill Cellini proved there was a Combine by feeding well under Democrat Blagojevich and later getting indicted and going to prison.
She wasn't slick. She liked going to garage and estate sales. She liked to polka. You'd see her walk and wave to voters and you could almost hear the accordion music. I happen to like accordion music, at least in limited doses. And she didn't care. Why? Because there was life in her. She wasn't concerned about what people thought. She knew who she was. She lived. She had fun.
Topinka would be as much at home at a bingo game in a church basement as in the Illinois legislature, watching the dance of the lobbyists.
But she cared about the state, and the people in it, and she could talk to anyone, and she never talked down to a soul.
ref by
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-illinois-comptroller-judy-baar-topinka-dies-at-age-70-20141210-story.html#page=1
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