James Philip

James "Pate" Philip (born May 26, 1930), is an American Republican politician from Wood Dale, Illinois. Philip was a member of the Illinois House of Representatives from 1966 to 1975, and the Illinois Senate from 1975 until his retirement in 2003.^[1] He was known as a highly influential politician in the Illinois state legislature, both for the projects that he passed and blocked in state government and for his often-blunt comments on some issues. Richard S. Williamson, President Ronald Reagan's chief of intergovernmental affairs, and former Chairman of the Illinois Republican Party, deemed Pate "one of the most important Republicans in the Midwest".^[2]

Background

Philip was born on May 26, 1930 in Elmhurst, Illinois. Philip is a United States Marine Corps veteran and served from 1950 to 1953. He was a district sales manager for Pepperidge Farm for 38 years and retired in 1992. He is married to Nancy and they have four children.^[3][4] James "Pate" Philip State Park, located in DuPage County, is named after Philip.^[5] Philip received a heart bypass at Elmhurst Memorial Hospital in June 2004.^[6] Philip's stepson Randy Ramey was appointed to the Illinois House in 2005.

Legislative career

Philip was chosen as the Illinois Senate Minority Leader in 1981 after the death of Dr. David C. Shapiro. Philip had been the assistant minority leader since 1979.^[7] In January 1993, after the Republicans gained a majority in the Illinois Senate, he was elected the Illinois Senate Majority Leader and remained in that role until 2003 when Democrats became the majority. He retired shortly after his unopposed reelection and was replaced by Ray Soden.^[8]

Chicago school reform

Philip's oft-repeated pronunciations that giving more money to the Chicago public school systems would be like "pouring money down a rat-hole" helped provide the impetus for what Philip has said is one of his most important accomplishments—instituting a series of reforms that removed power from school boards rife with corruption. The major beneficiary of these reforms was Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley, who with Chief Executive Officer of Schools Paul Vallas removed previous money-wasting reformers from their posts and closed a $1.4 billion deficit over four years without the need to request more state funding.^[9] The legislative reforms also challenged the long-standing assertion from Philip's opponents (notably, the Chicago Teachers Union) that Philip harbored a strong dislike for Chicago and its school system.^[10]

Other achievements

James Philip is credited for blocking Chicago mayor Richard M. Daley's proposal for an airport near Lake Calumet in the early 1990s. On May 21, 1992, the Illinois Senate defeated a bill to endorse an agreement between Daley and Illinois governor Jim Edgar, 24-23. Philip led a group of Republicans in arguing that the Lake Calumet airport would be far more expensive and take more time to build than one in Peotone, then regarded as an alternate site for the airport. The new airport would have replaced Midway Airport, which was falling into disrepair.^[11] As a result of the vote, in 1996 Mayor Daley announced the Midway Airport Terminal Development Program.^[12]

Philip's legislative stances on crime have been mixed. With backing from the gun lobby representing downstate hunters, Philip fought to reduce the penalty for illegal possession of firearms to a misdemeanor.^[13] However, he also fought to expand the death penalty to apply to all convicted murderers. The proposed legislation he endorsed also proposed mandatory 10–year prison sentences with no chance of parole for using firearms in a "safe retail zone", defined as shopping malls, strip malls and commercial districts with more than three stores. Philip expressed a preference for expanding this portion of the law to all gun-related crimes, not just safe retail zones. State's attorneys in the six-county Chicago metropolitan area agreed with Philip's stance on gun crimes, but were mixed with regards to changes in the death penalty.^[14]

In June 1984, Philip, then the Republican minority leader of the Illinois House of Representatives, helped push through legislation authorizing the construction of a tollway, Interstate 355, then referred to as simply the DuPage Tollway.^[15]

Controversy

Philip has also been known for making numerous controversial comments on various topics throughout his career. Many, including former Illinois gubernatorial candidate Dawn Clark Netsch, labeled him as both holding and vocally expressing racial prejudice. However, Philip himself has said that he is not racist, saying "When you criticize minorities, whether you're right or wrong, their reaction is it's a racist remark."^[16]

During the corruption trial of former Gov. George Ryan's top aide Scott Fawell, "Pate" Philip was called as a witness. Prosecutors asked about Philip's 50 year high school reunion—a 1999 $15,000 bash at Navy Pier set up by Scott Fawell. Philip said he never asked for any special treatment, but was happily surprised by it. It was only after the Chicago Sun-Times revealed the party that Philip paid for it out of his campaign fund.

"You had a freebie didn't you?", asked prosecutor Pat Collins.

"It would appear that way," said Philip.^[17]

Also during the trial, prosecuters released a document including ten pages of favors granted to former Senate President Pate Philip.^[18]

Philip spoke with Larry Hall, who wore a hidden recorder and taped the conversations as a part of an undercover government investigation. Philip agreed to try to get Hall's sister a job with the secretary of state's office in exchange for Hall's fundraising activities. Prosecutors allege Hall gave $1,400 to Philip's campaign shortly after the conversation.^[19]

Philip has been criticized for looking into the voter histories of students applying for legislative scholarships, which are funded by the taxpayers of Illinois. In 2001, all five of Philip's scholarships went to Republican primary voters or to students whose parents voted Republican, and the same trend was observed over the prior five years.^[20]

Philip, with backing from the gun lobby, fought to reduce the penalty for illegal possession of firearms to a misdemeanor.^[21]

Electoral history

• 2002 Race for Illinois Senate — 23rd district
  • Unopposed
• 1998 Race for Illinois Senate — 23rd district
  • James "Pate" Philip (R), 31,347
  • Rita Gonzalez (D), 13,961^[22]
• 1994 Race for Illinois Senate — 23rd district
  • Defeated Keith Petropoulos (D)
• 1990 Race for Illinois Senate — 23rd district
  • Defeated William C. Kaiser (D)

References