Former Illinois Gov. James R. Thompson dies at age 84

[alp227]

Source: Chicago Tribune

As Illinois’ longest-serving governor, “Big Jim” Thompson was a larger-than-life figure in state history, his 6-foot-6 frame dominating the political landscape for 14 years as he guided the state through recession, became a builder and left a legacy that includes restoring Navy Pier, keeping the White Sox with a new stadium and opening a controversial downtown office building that bears his name.

James Robert Thompson, who rode his success as a federal prosecutor to the Illinois statehouse and was governor from 1977 to 1991, died Friday night after suffering from heart problems. He was 84.

“It was very sudden,” said wife Jayne Thompson, her voice breaking. “I was told that his heart simply stopped.”

Thompson was a Republican moderate from Chicago, his interest in the city helping him to be able to work with the Democrats, though he had prosecuted many of them, including former Gov. Otto Kerner over a scandal involving horse racetrack stock.

Read more: https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-gov-thompson-dead-20200815-itcmcnimlvgenbde255np5zfvi-story.html

[Progressive Jones]

1. A good example of a Moderate Republican RIP. nt

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

2. He oversaw the building of a new ballpark for the Chicago White Sox

Because the team owners said that if the government didn't build them one, they were moving the team to Florida. Thompson not only caved to this, but gave them a sweetheart deal on the rent.

The same year, the Illinois schools asked for money, and was told there wasn't any to give them.

[former9thward]

3. The Sox deal was not just Thompson.

Pretty much the entire Illinois political class backed it. Especially #1 White Sox fan Mayor Richard M Daley.

[RhodeIslandOne]

4. ......

https://deadspin.com/why-your-stadium-sucks-u-s-cellular-field-5327239

Hard Cell: U.S. Cellular Field is the hideous ransom paid to the White Sox after they spent the late 1980s threatening to hie themselves to St. Petersburg. This was deemed a fate too awful to imagine — the franchise had been in Chicago since 1901, after all — even though it's in the natural order of things for cranky 80-year-old nuisances to slink off to some godforsaken spot in South Florida where they can be safely ignored. In any event, the taxpayers gave the White Sox their lame Royals Stadium ripoff, the last ballpark built before the retro craze and certainly the last time anyone thought the Royals a franchise worth imitating. In fairness, the stadium did feature several design innovations, chief among them the decision to place the farthest reaches of the upper decks somewhere near Aurora. No one much liked the place, which is why it has been in a constant state of self-mutilation from the moment the Sox snipped the ribbon. A vast five-stage overhaul began in 2001, when the stadium was 10 — 10 — years old. The White Sox: baseball's cutters.