Louanner Peters is a former deputy governor of Illinois. [1] She was appointed by then-Governor Rod Blagojevich in December 2006, [2] becoming the first African-American woman to hold the position. [3]
Peters grew up on a farm in Angie, Louisiana, and was the ninth of twelve children. She earned a Bachelor's degree in political science at Louisiana State University in 1971, and a Master's degree at the Jane Addams College of Social Work of the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1973. [4] She served as chief of staff for U.S. Representative Gus Savage for 10 years [5] starting in 1981. In 1992, she unsuccessfully ran as an independent candidate for Illinois's 2nd congressional district. [6] She then did campaign work for Washington D.C. mayors Marion Barry and Anthony Williams, and for Blagojevich on a contractual basis. [7] She was hired as Blagojevich's deputy chief of staff for social services in 2003, and was promoted to deputy governor in 2006.
According to an anonymous source, Peters is said to be the person referred to as "Senate Candidate 4" in the Blagojevich criminal complaint. [8] In a private conversation, Blagojevich considered appointing Senate Candidate 4 to Barack Obama's U.S. Senate seat because he believed he could "count on [Senate Candidate 4], if things got hot, to give [the Senate seat] up and let me parachute over there." [9]
Rod Blagojevich, often referred to by his nicknames "Blago" or "B-Rod", is an American former politician, political commentator, and convicted felon who served as the 40th Governor of Illinois from 2003 to 2009, when he was impeached following charges of public corruption for which he was later sentenced to federal prison. A member of the Democratic Party, Blagojevich previously worked in both the state and federal legislatures. He served as an Illinois State Representative from 1993 to 1997, and the U.S. Representative from Illinois's 5th District from 1997 to 2003.
Patrick J. Fitzgerald is an American lawyer and partner at the law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom since October 2012.
Judy Baar Topinka was an American politician and member of the Republican Party from the U.S. State of Illinois.
Lisa Murray Madigan is an American lawyer and politician. A member of the Democratic Party, she served as Attorney General of the U.S. state of Illinois from 2003 to 2019, being the first woman to hold that position. She is the adopted daughter of Michael Madigan, who served as Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives from 1983-1995 and 1997-2021.
The 2006 Illinois gubernatorial election took place on November 7, 2006. Incumbent Democratic Governor Rod Blagojevich won re-election to a second four-year term scheduled to have ended on January 10, 2011. However, Blagojevich did not complete his term, as he was impeached and removed from office in 2009. Many observers expected the race to be close, especially considering the polling, which had shown Governor Blagojevich to have a high disapproval rating. However, the Republicans had fared poorly in elections since 2002 due to scandals involving prior Governor George Ryan, and the increasingly unpopular presidency of George W. Bush.
Michael Joseph Madigan is an American politician who is the former speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives. He was the longest-serving leader of any state or federal legislative body in the history of the United States, having held the position for all but two years from 1983 to 2021. He served in the Illinois House from 1971 to 2021. He represented the 27th District from 1971 to 1983, the 30th district from 1983 to 1993, and the 22nd district from 1993 to 2021. This made him the body's longest-serving member and the last legislator elected before the Cutback Amendment.
Glendal William Poshard is a former Illinois State Senator, U.S. Congressman, gubernatorial candidate, and president of the Southern Illinois University system.
William E. Brady is an American politician who was a Republican member of the Illinois Senate from May 2002 until his resignation in December 2020.
Roland Wallace Burris is an American politician and attorney who is a former United States Senator from the state of Illinois and a member of the Democratic Party.
Kwame Raoul is an American lawyer and politician who has been the 42nd Attorney General of Illinois since 2019. He is a member of the Democratic Party.
Deborah L. Halvorson served as the U.S. Representative for Illinois's 11th congressional district, serving from 2009 until 2011. Previously, she served in the Illinois Senate from 1997 through 2009. She is a member of the Democratic Party. In September 2011, she filed to run in the newly redistricted 2nd congressional district but was defeated in the Democratic primary by the incumbent, Jesse Jackson, Jr.
Deborah L. "Deb" Mell is an American politician from Chicago. She is a Democrat and was formerly a member of the Chicago City Council, representing the 33rd ward. She previously served in the Illinois House of Representatives from 2009 to 2013.
After the resignation of Republican Party United States Congressman Dennis Hastert from his Illinois's 14th congressional district seat in the United States House of Representatives on November 26, 2007, a special election was held to fill the vacancy for the remainder of the 110th United States Congress.
Daniel "Dan" Joseph Seals is an American business consultant and a Democratic politician from Illinois. Seals was the Democratic nominee in three campaigns to become U.S. Representative for Illinois's 10th congressional district. In 2006 and 2008, he was defeated by the incumbent Mark Kirk. In his third run, he was defeated by Republican candidate Robert Dold, on November 2, 2010, after Kirk vacated the seat to successfully run for the U.S. Senate.
Operation Board Games is a federal fraud investigation initiated by United States Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald in December 2003, in order to investigate suspected fraud and extortion activity by Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. The investigation's name is a reference to two governing bodies in Illinois: one board controlling the Teacher's Pension System, and the second being the Health Facilities Planning Board.
In December 2008, then-Governor of Illinois Rod Blagojevich and his Chief of Staff John Harris were charged with corruption by federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald. As a result, Blagojevich was impeached by the Illinois General Assembly and removed from office by the Illinois Senate in January 2009. The federal investigation continued after his removal from office, and he was indicted on corruption charges in April of that year. The jury found Blagojevich guilty of one charge of making false statements with a mistrial being declared on the other 23 counts due to a hung jury after 14 days of jury deliberation. On June 27, 2011, after a retrial, Blagojevich was found guilty of 17 charges, not guilty on one charge and the jury deadlocked after 10 days of deliberation on the two remaining charges. On December 7, 2011, Blagojevich was sentenced to 14 years in prison.
A number of controversies related to Rod Blagojevich, formerly the Governor of Illinois, were covered in the press during and after his administration. In addition to a reputation for secrecy that was noted by the Associated Press, Blagojevich was the subject of political, legal, and personal controversies similar to those of his predecessor, Republican Governor George Ryan. To the surprise of many, Blagojevich said in 2008 that he agreed with the idea of commuting Ryan's federal prison sentence.
Elections were held in Illinois on Tuesday, November 2, 2010. Primary elections were held on February 2, 2010.
Edward Robert Martin Jr. is an American politician and attorney from the state of Missouri. He is president of Phyllis Schlafly Eagles. Martin was terminated from his role as CNN contributor in January 2018.
Sheila Nix is an American attorney and political strategist who served as Chief of Staff to Jill Biden, the Second Lady of the United States from April 2013 to January 2017.
