Since winning election three years ago as DuPage County Board chairman, Gayle Franzen has been stockpiling lumber in anticipation of a possible campaign for statewide office.
On Wednesday, the 52-year-old former state corrections chief unveiled a platform of sorts as he announced formally that he will seek the GOP nomination for Illinois secretary of state in next year’s primary.
In making his announcement, Franzen emphasized his record as DuPage board chairman in reducing property taxes for residents of one of the Chicago area’s more affluent suburban counties.
“I want to bring to the secretary of state’s office the philosophy that believes in the fact that when you give government more money, it cannot be more efficient,” said Franzen, who described himself as a strong fiscal conservative during a news conference at Chicago’s Meigs Field.
The news conference was the start of a fly-around the state with stops in Rockford, Moline, Quincy, Cahokia, Lawrenceville, Peoria, Springfield, Carbondale and Champaign before Franzen returned to DuPage for an evening rally in Oakbrook Terrace.
A wealthy former investment banker from Wheaton, Franzen starts the campaign with nearly $1 million in his political fund–including $490,000 of his own money as of Tuesday night, he said. He said he intends to raise at least $1.5 million for the primary.
But Franzen’s campaign cash may not buy him an advantage in an anticipated race against state Comptroller Loleta Didrickson, a political moderate. Didrickson has said she will announce formally next week that she too will seek the GOP nomination for secretary of state rather than run for the U.S. Senate as Republican leaders had urged.
As comptroller, Didrickson has some statewide name recognition. And, if state Rep. Robert Churchill (R-Lake Villa) also decides to run, Didrickson could benefit as the only woman in the primary contest. Churchill said Wednesday that he is seriously considering running for secretary of state, but has not decided.
The other announced candidate for the GOP nomination is Kenton Manning, mayor of Downstate Pawnee.
Franzen contended that his career as a public official–he also is a former executive director of the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority and a former chairman of the Regional Transportation Authority–proves he can deliver on his promises of a more effective government.
“Politics for the most part is about promises,” he said. “But this is not going to be a campaign of promises. This is going to be a campaign of proof.”
There were more promises than proof, though, during the sometimes curious news conference.
Franzen pointedly declined to answer questions about his controversial investment in the Empress riverboat casino in Joliet, but he promised to make public his federal income-tax returns in the next few weeks. He also said he would not discuss specifics of his plans for the secretary of state’s office, but promised to release a series of position papers during the campaign.
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Franzen owns a 2.2 percent share of the Joliet boat, which was paying him more than $100,000 a month in the early 1990s, according to a report that was circulated in Springfield at the time. He since has filed a lawsuit against his partners, which is pending in DuPage County Circuit Court, alleging they reneged on a deal to buy out his investment for $7 million.
Franzen has admitted an interest in running for secretary of state at least since early this year. He said two weeks ago that he would not seek re-election in 1998 after one term as County Board chairman.
A protege of former Gov. James R. Thompson, Franzen had never run for elected office before his successful campaign for board chairman.
He has reduced county government’s share of the local property-tax levy by $12.5 million, partly by forcing administrative efficiencies, but also partly because he benefited by a court decision that upheld the validity of a county gasoline tax approved before he took office.
Republican Gov. Jim Edgar, a former secretary of state, said Franzen and Didrickson would make good officeholders.
On the Democratic side, Orland Park Mayor Daniel J. McLaughlin announced Wednesday that he is a candidate for state treasurer.
McLaughlin cited his accomplishments as mayor for the past five years of one of the fastest growing cities in the state but he acknowledged that, “It’s quite a leap going from a mayor of a town of 50,000 people to the state treasurer’s office.”
McLaughlin, 43, will be opposed in the Democratic primary by another mayor, Calumet City’s Jerry Genova, who announced in January and has been gathering party support since then.
McLaughlin’s full-time job is executive director of the Plumbing Contractors Association of Chicago and Cook County.
Also on Wednesday, Springfield Ald. Frank McNeil announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for state comptroller. McNeil was the first African-American to serve as parliamentarian to the Illinois Senate. He joins Dan Hynes and Fred Lebed in what will be a three-way contest.