William A. Redmond Memoir - Illinois Digital Archives

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did that and some of the - gun control is one I can think of and the other one was one of the racial things. Q: But basically these few people would be the folks that really understood the whole thing? A: Oh yes. Q: And were on top of it. You could pretty well tell from what they were saying what the facts were? A: Oh yes. Q: And how things were going to be? You mentioned Ebersbacher identified the problem to you, at least to make sure you weren't cheated on the multiplier? A: Oh yes. Q: Did he give you more guidance on that issue? A: No. No, I was a freshman so he'd say good morning and goodbye and he'd been there for a while. He was pretty prominent. He'd been state's attorney in Shelby County and I don't know how many terms he'd served but he'd served some and he was one of the more important members of the house. And then he went over to the senate and he ultimately was in the appellate court. Last time I saw him he retired from the court. I think his son is a ~tate's attorney down there now. Another big thing we had down there was the elimination of capital punishment. That was in the early days. That really - that was Bob McCarthy that I mentioned that walked out of that meeting - he was the sponsor of that. That drew a lot of fire. I ean't tell you how it turned out. Q: Was that so much a political issue? A: I don't think so. I don't know why Bob took it on because he came, at that time, he came from LincoIn which is in - well anyway, it's jugt - what is it? Q: Ch@ian County? A: No, it's $ I just north of Springfdd. Logan. Q: bgm County, that's it. A: Yes. And my guess would be that capital puniehment probably would be popular there. The only place the abolition is popular I think is around the University of Chicago and some of those places that may be - you know, some religious areas. But for the most part I #&kk most everybody thinlcs capital punishment is a good thing. And how into it&kt$t know. He did a superlative job on it. But that was a big thing, bmv E mnid more over that vote I think than my vote that I. . . . I didn't wal rQ,ht sad what was wrong. And then like EK) many things throughout the every My first term that was one of the red biggies. Q: Do you -member how you decided that the first time? A: No. I checked with the Chicago Crime Commission and the Encyclopedia Brittanica had a new wries and they made - they had - they'd make studies of various topic8 for you and I &ed them to research that for me. And I don't remember what else I did but I know I did a lot of independent research on the thing. Because I felt that, you know, if I threw the switch that that might be the one to turn on the juice and - you know, I dm 't realize all these delays and everything. P William A. Redmond Memoir - Archives/ Special Collections - Norris L Brookens Library - University of Illinois at Springfield - UIS J
Somewhere along the line John Bowan who is now the judge of the circuit court was the state's attorney in Du Page County and he lobbied me to retain it, not that it was used so much but that it was a tool for plea-bargaining, the state's attorneys, that if the accused didn't have anything to lose, why, he might be inclined to take a gamble on a trial. So we thought that - not that they felt that they would abuse but it would be a way of getting a guilty plea from a guilty man if you had that specter of the chair in front of them. That was one of the times, now whether it was my first term or whether it was later on I don't know. And the irony of that was that he ultimately was a circuit judge and he was sent to Will County to hear a murder trial. A guard had been murdered by an inmate in the Joliet penitentiary and the jury recommended that sentence and John, he couldn't give it to him, which I thought was funny in the light of his lobbying me to retain the death penalty. But when the time came, he couldn't do it. (laughter) Q: It is a tough issue. Were you approached by a lot of different constituents about the issue? A: I would think so, not so much physical personal approach but a lot of mail. That was a hot issue. And it's a hard thing to do. You know some of the crimes people commit are just absolutely awful. My memory is that Ben Adamowski was the state's attorney in Cook County at the time and he was opposed to the abolition and he sent a resume - I believe it was the Chessman file. Chessman was a fellow out in California that I think had committed quite a few murders and they were all just absolutely terrible, brutal, just awful stuff. And he included transcripts of some of the proceedings of the Chessman trial to con- vince us that we shouldn't vote to abolish it. Nobody can really prove anything. You don't know, you talk about whether it's a deterrent, I'm not too sure that's the test that you ought to have. But if it deterred, murder would never have been committed so you really wouldn't know. There'd be really no way of know- ing whether it did deter. But there's a kind of a tendency now that - you know, it used to be that murder was death, the ultimate punishment. But now I saw in the paper today, I don't remember where it was but in some murders that the suggested punishment was that they shouldn't be able to go for parole for ten years. So you run from one where you surrender your life and now ten years seems to be long enough. (chuckles) You know, what is the right sentence? Should you say ten years, should you make it fifty, twenty, keep them till they're sixty and then put them out and put them on social security? I don't know what the answer is. It certainly would be difficult to be gainfully emplayed if they keep them till they're, you know, in their sixties or seventies. Q: Have you changed? Have your feelings changed at all on the basis of your present experience? A: No. I - of late years I have not voted for the death penalty. I vote against it and I think I would persist in that. Some of these people it's pretty hard to find any redeeming features, but on the other hand - again it's dangerous to generalize - but from what I see it's either alcohol, dope or some kind of mental problem, deficiency. It's very rare when a perfectly normal person would commit murder. They might in a, you know, a triangular kind of fashion or something of that nature, but I mean there's always something else involved in the thing. And that being the case - not that you absolve a person if they voluntarily make themselves - you know, submit themselves to the addiction or dope or liquor. You can't forgive them completely but it's a little different category I think than the person who actually in coldblood will go up and put a pistol to someone's head and shoot him. But there are those infirmities in most of these crimes that I see. I'm not excusing it but that's the fact of the matter. Q: We talked quite a bit about taxes earlier and we talked about, you know, what the diffi- culty anyone would have in attempting to, you know, promote increases in the real estate William A. Redmond Memoir - Archives/ Special Collections - Norris L Brookens Library - University of Illinois at Springfield - UIS
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University of Illinois at Springfie
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JOINT COMMITTEE ON LEGISLATIVE SUPP
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Preface This oral history of Willia
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Table of Contents Preface .........
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My mother was a beautiful woman, ag
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She was very kindly and - you know
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Q: Grand Avenue. A: The church wher
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to their farm. It was at Central an
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un pretty good, I tied the city rec
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A: Yes, a lot of them. Every block
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A: Oh yes. Oh yes. Most of my team
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of school the newspapers were out t
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Q: On your letter delivery were you
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I guess it was - 'cause I didn't a
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Hollywood and before New York got t
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elected Speaker. She said that they
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when you are a little kid. Whatever
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Q: What was his condition? A: I rea
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Q: Are we talking about the 1950's
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Q: (pause) We haven't talked much a
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34 McCormick, and she was running a
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Democratic convention came to Chica
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Q: Did you participate in any campa
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A: Paul Douglas and Adlai Stevenson
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had an area that was about two bloc
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was a captain and I think he came o
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Democrats. So they've had some poli
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And I'm not saying everything Democ
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A: Injury cases. Sometimes injured
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So there was some exciting times. I
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Russians might give it to the Germa
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I would like to say that every step
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A: He wasn't really that well known
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Q: Why is that? A: Well you can do
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John Erlenborn who is a congressman
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would be what is comparable to cons
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Q: (pause) Would you regard him at
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municipality. And of course Mayor B
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Q: Have you heard other party leade
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Q: Yes. A: No, I - it wasn't my bur
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every Republican candidate for ever
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a Democrat. Lyle at one time was a
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you're going to send it out by firs
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it may very well be that there's mo
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I - Q: (pause) Did that experience
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season. They don't do that anymore.
Page 93 and 94: Q: Now this caucus of Cook County D
Page 95 and 96: Q: That very night? A: Oh no, no, n
Page 97 and 98: Q: Was there a lot of fear among De
Page 99 and 100: A: I couldn't tell you, I don't kno
Page 101 and 102: the exchange was wasn't satisfactor
Page 103 and 104: Q: (pause) Were there any things th
Page 105 and 106: A: That wouldn't be, that, not so m
Page 107 and 108: A: That was something though for a
Page 109 and 110: a legal entity that was in a positi
Page 111 and 112: time. But I don't remember exactly
Page 113 and 114: jobs and taking them away from the
Page 115 and 116: Q: Superintendent of public instruc
Page 117 and 118: it out. I thought that was one adva
Page 119 and 120: Q: (pause) One of the bills that yo
Page 121 and 122: A: Well I think we talked about Sal
Page 123 and 124: particularly before I got into the
Page 125 and 126: A: Why of course during the campaig
Page 127 and 128: if you have a lot of money that som
Page 129 and 130: Now you have the Chicago system. Do
Page 131 and 132: was a business manager for our loca
Page 133 and 134: furnish a market or give somebody a
Page 135 and 136: It all depends on where you come fr
Page 137 and 138: A: And they don't ever pay any atte
Page 139 and 140: course what they did is they went i
Page 141 and 142: A: What do you mean? For flood cont
Page 143: A: Clabaugh? Q: It could be Clabaug
Page 147 and 148: I frankly think it's unnecessary. I
Page 149 and 150: The 5 percent limitation on indebte
Page 151 and 152: I would be a little bit more accura
Page 153 and 154: of income tax. This was before the
Page 155 and 156: get away from home. And I think the
Page 157 and 158: A: Pray that Mikva wouldn't show up
Page 159 and 160: it might have hurt him politically.
Page 161 and 162: A: Not until - not in this county,
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