Full Text of HR0350 101st General Assembly
HR0350 101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 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
| 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
| 9 | | University of Notre Dame; and
| 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
| 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 | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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
| 15 | | Administration had strayed too far into big government and too | 16 | | close to the Soviet
Union; and | 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 | 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 | 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 | 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,
| 15 | | vice-president of the National Tax Limitation Committee, and | 16 | | chairman of the Illinois Tax
Limitation Committee; and | 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
| 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
| 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
| 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
| 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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