Bill Text: IL HR0350 | 2019-2020 | 101st General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Mourns the passing of former Illinois State Representative and State Senator Don Totten.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2019-05-07 - Resolution Adopted [HR0350 Detail]
Download: Illinois-2019-HR0350-Introduced.html
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1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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2 | WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of | ||||||
3 | Representatives are saddened to
learn of the death of former | ||||||
4 | Illinois State Representative and State Senator Don Totten,
who | ||||||
5 | passed away on April 2, 2019 at the age of 86; and
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6 | WHEREAS, Sen. Totten was born in Brooklyn, New York on | ||||||
7 | April 30, 1945 and grew up
in New Jersey; he earned a | ||||||
8 | bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the
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9 | University of Notre Dame; and
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10 | WHEREAS, Sen. Totten married his high school sweetheart | ||||||
11 | Joyce Anderson, his wife of
63 years who preceded him in death | ||||||
12 | last June; they began a life together that produced
four | ||||||
13 | children and grew to include seven grandchildren and one | ||||||
14 | great-grandchild; and
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15 | WHEREAS, Their first daughter, Donna, died of leukemia at | ||||||
16 | the age of 7; a longtime
friend said this defining moment | ||||||
17 | created Sen. Totten's remarkable affinity for people
and his | ||||||
18 | understanding of human suffering; and
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19 | WHEREAS, After he graduated from Notre Dame, Sen. Totten | ||||||
20 | spent several years
working as an engineer, but politics, | ||||||
21 | informed by a love of the world's greatest thinkers
stretching |
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1 | back to Ancient Greece, soon became central in his life; and
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2 | WHEREAS, Sen. Totten began his political career as a | ||||||
3 | Schaumburg Township
Republican Committeeman; in 1972, he was | ||||||
4 | elected to the Illinois House of
Representatives, where he | ||||||
5 | served eight years; he then served two
years in the Illinois | ||||||
6 | Senate; and
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7 | WHEREAS, During his tenure, Sen. Totten served on the | ||||||
8 | Appropriations,
Transportation, and Revenue Committees, and | ||||||
9 | was the chief sponsor of the Taxpayers
Rights Amendment, a | ||||||
10 | constitutional amendment to limit state taxes; and
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11 | WHEREAS, In 1976, Sen. Totten was the Illinois and Midwest | ||||||
12 | campaign director for
then-presidential candidate Ronald | ||||||
13 | Reagan, trying to unseat incumbent Republican
President Gerald | ||||||
14 | Ford as part of the grassroots army that thought the Nixon-Ford
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15 | Administration had strayed too far into big government and too | ||||||
16 | close to the Soviet
Union; and
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17 | WHEREAS, Sen. Totten remained loyal to Ronald Reagan, and, | ||||||
18 | in 1980, after serving again as
presidential candidate Reagan's | ||||||
19 | Illinois and Midwest campaign director,
Reagan won the | ||||||
20 | Republican nomination and eventually the White
House; Sen. | ||||||
21 | Totten's dedication led him all the way to President-elect | ||||||
22 | Ronald Reagan's
transition team; he was later appointed by |
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1 | President Reagan to the International Joint
Commission, a body | ||||||
2 | that handles United States and Canadian affairs; and
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3 | WHEREAS, Sen. Totten was also chairman of the Cook County | ||||||
4 | Republican Party; in
1982, he ran unsuccessfully, on the | ||||||
5 | Republican side, for lieutenant governor, losing to
the | ||||||
6 | eventual governor, George Ryan; and
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7 | WHEREAS, Sen. Totten later founded and served as the | ||||||
8 | national chairman for the
American Legislative Exchange | ||||||
9 | Council, a Washington-based organization of state
lawmakers | ||||||
10 | dedicated to the principles of limited government, free | ||||||
11 | markets, and
federalism; and
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12 | WHEREAS, Sen. Totten was also a member of the board of | ||||||
13 | directors of the Illinois
Conservative Union, former | ||||||
14 | vice-chairman of the National Council of State Legislators,
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15 | vice-president of the National Tax Limitation Committee, and | ||||||
16 | chairman of the Illinois Tax
Limitation Committee; and
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17 | WHEREAS, Sen. Totten also served as assistant to the | ||||||
18 | director of the Department of
Transportation for the State of | ||||||
19 | Illinois and as president of a firm specializing in
government | ||||||
20 | relations, management, and political consulting; and
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21 | WHEREAS, Sen. Totten suffered for much of his life from |
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1 | Bell's palsy, a condition that
made the left side of his face | ||||||
2 | droop, and while he was not known as a natural public
speaker, | ||||||
3 | he was one of the greatest listeners in politics, always eager | ||||||
4 | to hear other's
stories; and
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5 | WHEREAS, Sen. Totten was a strong believer in America and | ||||||
6 | welcoming newcomers to
this country, helping to inculcate them | ||||||
7 | in the principles of the American Declaration of
Independence | ||||||
8 | and the United States Constitution; he took great pleasure in | ||||||
9 | helping
people navigate the immigration and citizenship | ||||||
10 | process; therefore, be it
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11 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | ||||||
12 | HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | ||||||
13 | we
mourn the passing of former Illinois State Representative | ||||||
14 | and State Senator Don Totten
and extend our sincere condolences | ||||||
15 | to his family, friends, and all who knew and loved
him; and be | ||||||
16 | it further
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17 | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | ||||||
18 | presented to his sister,
Barbara Hellenack, and his children, | ||||||
19 | Kathy Weber, Diane Faldstein, and Robert
Totten.
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