Jim O'Donnell: Jim Thompson got to write the sad legacy of Otto Kerner
WHEN JIM THOMPSON DIED last weekend, he left behind loving family, friends and at least one asterisk.
That asterisk would belong to the legacy of Otto Kerner, like Thompson, a former governor of Illinois.
Unlike Thompson, Kerner passed with no grand state building in the Loop named for him, no long run as chairman of a major Chicago law firm, no wave of editorials praising his untarnished public service.
He died a felon in May 1976.
That was three years after President Richard M. Nixon's Justice Department - with Thompson as U.S. Attorney for the northern district of Illinois - won a guilty verdict against Kerner and trusted associate Ted Isaacs.
The convictions came over stock transactions primarily involving Arlington Park.
The seeds of the case were generated by a tip to the IRS and only grew much more complex after that.
Before it was all over, Arlington queen Marje Everett would "flip," sell her racetrack to Gulf & Western and set up a starting gate in southern California. Kerner would go to jail on a core charge ruled unconstitutional involving a different case in 1987.
And Mr. Thompson was on his way to four terms and 14 years in the governor's mansion.
The question of Kerner's actual guilt or acute naivete is now layered beneath a sordid history of Illinois governors and federal prosecutions.
Those things happen when an honorable man is followed as Illinois's head of state by the likes of Dan Walker, George Ryan and Rod Blagojevich.
The entire tale and its consequences were brilliantly recounted in "Kerner: The Conflict of Intangible Rights" (University of Illinois Press, 1999) by Gene Schlickman and Bill Barnhart.
The late Schlickman was a five-term Republican state representative from Arlington Heights (1965 to 1975). Barnhart was an astute financial columnist for The Chicago Tribune who honed his journalistic instincts covering the political mazes of Springfield.
Kerner - a sitting federal judge at the time of his conviction - was certainly guilty of elements of hubris and far too much blind trust in the honor and financial acumen of the hustling Isaacs.
After being indicted, he had a guarantee that the formidable Edward Bennett Williams - then also president of the Washington NFL team - would be his lead attorney at trial.
Instead, Williams threw him a late curve and handed the case to a windy partner.
On the trail, Thompson and lead assistant Sam Skinner were sharp, legally artistic and ferociously determined.
They won. Kerner lost.
History is written by victors and few in the last five decades of Illinois law and politics have won as big as "Big Jim" Thompson.
As for horse racing - as the great Phil Georgeff so frequently reminded:
It's not a game for little boys in short pants.
MARK GRACE RECEIVED an unexpected addendum to his glory days around the Cubs:
First Marquee Sports Network announcer to receive a five-game suspension for on-air remarks.
"Gracie" went two syllables over the line during a recent Cubs-Brewers telecast while telling a mildly amusing anecdote about an ex-wife once parking in Bud Selig's spot at the old County Stadium.
Clearly prefacing it as a try at irony involving "Archie Bunker" speak, Grace called his ex "a dingbat."
In times past, little harm, no foul - humorous attempt understood.
But, this is 2020, when sneezing into a mask toward the prunes in the produce department at Mariano's can lead to a shoulder punch from an outraged 80-something.
In truth, the more serious transgression during the same broadcast occurred when Grace, Jim Deshaies and Len Kasper went on far too long praising career sourpuss Milo Hamilton.
If Hamilton had succeeded Jack Brickhouse as Wrigley Field's No. 1 voice back in 1982, compromised prunes would have been vastly preferred.
STREET-BEATIN': Those renewed rumors about Eddie Olczyk taking over as president of hockey operations for the Blackhawks seem no, neigh, never. "Edzo" has a dream broadcast balance between hockey and horse racing. ...
Speaking of the Blackhawks, Pat Foley went out of his way during the team's season finale vs. Las Vegas to acknowledge the extraordinary efforts of NBCSCH tech manager Mark Harper. ("Harpo" has only been at its since the Jimmy Carter presidency.) ...
Brian Griese is already getting beach-slapped in some national media quarters despite having yet to call a down in ESPN's new cut-rate "Monday Night Football" booth. (Maybe they should have Kyle Orton ready, just in case.) ...
Tiger Woods didn't have his first endorsement deal until age 21. Son Charlie Woods may beat him by a decade. (And they should also love the prodigious little linkster in Sweden.) ...
And highway savvy Wally Ruston - after hearing that Enterprise's National Car brand provided the 41 vehicles to get the Cardinals from St. Louis to Guaranteed Rate Field - deadpanned: "Who got the rental points?"
• Jim O'Donnell's Sports & Media column appears Thursday and Sunday. Reach him at jimodonnelldh@yahoo.com.