Republican Is Longest-Sitting Current Governor : Illinois’ Thompson: No 5th Term

Illinois Republican Gov. James R. Thompson, a one-time corruption-busting federal prosecutor who is the longest serving among the nation’s current state executives, said Thursday he would not seek reelection when his record fourth term expires next year.

Though not entirely unexpected, the decision is sure to trigger a succession scramble in a state where the 53-year-old Thompson’s dominance of politics has prevented any Republican or Democrat from achieving front-runner status in a succession battle.

His voice cracking and fighting back tears, Thompson, usually glib and wise-cracking, said he owed it to his wife and daughter to spend more time with them and earn more money after decades on public payrolls.

“It’s not a natural life, it’s very much an unnatural life,” Thompson said of his experience as governor. “At some point you say ‘maybe all our psyches would like to retreat for awhile into a normal life.’ . . . It’s real hard to let go, but it was important to let go and to know when to let go.”

Still, Thompson, once considered by President Bush as a possible running mate, made it clear he was not dropping out of politics and did not preclude a future run for a different office or even a federal post such as attorney general.

The announcement signals the end of a flamboyant era in Illinois politics, as Thompson will always be remembered as the governor who liked to wear gaudy suspenders, collect antiques and campaign with a beer in one hand and his dog at the end of a leash in the other.

A gawky 6 1/2-feet tall, Thompson earned the nickname “Big Jim.” But detractors, with a nod to his ever fluctuating girth, also called him “Jumbo.” And, clearly wondering if he’d ever quit, ambitious politicians snidely referred to him in recent years as “Governor-for-life.”

Thompson’s formula for survival owed more to luck and political savvy than overwhelming popularity. He won his first election in 1976 over Democrat Michael Howlett by 1.39 million votes, the widest margin in state history. But in 1982 he beat Democratic challenger Adlai E. Stevenson III by only 5,000 votes, the narrowest such gap ever. And he took a 1986 rematch in part because Stevenson’s campaign was embarrassed and in disarray after followers of political extremist Lyndon H. LaRouche Jr. won slots on the Democratic ticket in the statewide primary.

Considered a moderate on social and fiscal issues and a pragmatic compromiser, Thompson often seemed to have a cozier relationship with Chicago’s Democratic mayors than with some members of his own party. Conservative Republicans bitterly opposed his stand in favor of a state income tax hike, which recently passed the Legislature. Though the tax controversy could have proved a liability in a new campaign, Thompson insisted it had nothing to do with his decision to retire.

The decision came at a time when expectations were rising that Thompson would finally have to take a firm and politically difficult stand on abortion in the wake of the recent Supreme Court decision. Thompson again declined to take a stand Thursday, adding that he did not think the issue would be pivotal in next year’s gubernatorial campaign.

A one-time law professor and assistant county prosecutor, Thompson became a household name in Chicago when he was appointed U.S. attorney here and used the office to mount a crusade against rampant political corruption. Among those he sent to jail were Otto Kerner, a federal appeals court judge who once served as Illinois governor, and numerous cronies of the late Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley.

A bachelor whose social life was a hot topic for the gossip columns and local rumormongers during those years, Thompson did not marry until he was 40 when he was in the middle of his first campaign for governor. About that same time, he also acquired his campaign trademark--an Irish setter puppy called “Guv” which he carried to virtually every parade, rally and political event. Ironically, Guv died last week, about the same time Thompson said he had privately made up his mind not to run.

Shortly after his first election, Thompson attended a seminar for new governors and, drawing on his prosecutorial experience, lectured his colleagues in the fine art of how not to get indicted. That is a fate he did not face during 13 years in office, but his tenure has not been free of scandal.

Thompson once got in hot water for accepting a $500 cash gift from a Chicago Teamsters Union leader. He has also been accused in newspaper reports of steering millions of dollars in state contracts to campaign contributors and of accepting special discounts, gifts and campaign funds from a Chicago art gallery whose owner had pleaded guilty to theft charges brought by the federal prosecutor’s office when Thompson ran it.

The years as governor were clearly hard on Thompson’s loved ones. In an unusual and expensive action for an Illinois governor, Thompson moved his family out of the taxpayer-financed governor’s mansion in Springfield and into their own home in Chicago so daughter Samantha could go to school there. He commuted to the state capitol by plane.

His wife, Jayne, once a top assistant in the Illinois attorney general’s office, voluntarily committed herself to an alcohol rehabilitation treatment program earlier this year.

Staff writer Larry Green contributed to this article.