Bill Text: IL HR0073 | 2021-2022 | 102nd General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Mourns the death of Anthony "Tony" J. Leone Jr.
Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Republican 3-1)
Status: (Passed) 2021-05-25 - Resolution Adopted [HR0073 Detail]
Download: Illinois-2021-HR0073-Introduced.html
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1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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2 | WHEREAS, Anthony "Tony" J. Leone Jr. was born on September | ||||||
3 | 1, 1950 and raised in Springfield; after schooling at St. | ||||||
4 | Aloysius Grade School and Griffin High School, he attended | ||||||
5 | Springfield College, Illinois State University, and Sangamon | ||||||
6 | State University, earning degrees in Commerce and in | ||||||
7 | Economics; and
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8 | WHEREAS, Developing an early interest in Illinois | ||||||
9 | politics, Tony Leone became an officer with the Sangamon | ||||||
10 | County Young Republicans and with the Sangamon State | ||||||
11 | University College Republicans; he served as an organizer for | ||||||
12 | a list of elected Illinois leaders, including key | ||||||
13 | Springfield-area organizational roles for former | ||||||
14 | Representative Josephine K. Oblinger and former State | ||||||
15 | Representative Irv Smith; and
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16 | WHEREAS, With his credentials in recordkeeping and | ||||||
17 | political organization work, Tony Leone was chosen as | ||||||
18 | Assistant Clerk of the Illinois House for the 81st General | ||||||
19 | Assembly, in which capacity he served ex officio on the board | ||||||
20 | of the Legislative Information System (LIS), which was then a | ||||||
21 | newly-created General Assembly support agency that was | ||||||
22 | beginning to move toward pioneer computerization of the | ||||||
23 | operations of the Illinois legislature; and
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1 | WHEREAS, As a result of the November 1980 election, the | ||||||
2 | Republicans took majority control of the House in the 82nd | ||||||
3 | General Assembly; Speaker George Ryan then named Tony Leone to | ||||||
4 | be Clerk of the House; as the Clerk of the House during the | ||||||
5 | final two years of the 177-member Illinois House of | ||||||
6 | Representatives, and with only rudimentary electronic | ||||||
7 | machinery to help out, he faced organizational and | ||||||
8 | record-keeping challenges that the current 118-member Illinois | ||||||
9 | House of Representatives can only imagine; and
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10 | WHEREAS, With the partisan changeover in the November 1982 | ||||||
11 | election, Tony Leone once again became Assistant Clerk of the | ||||||
12 | House, serving in this role from 1983 through 1992; during the | ||||||
13 | 1980s, he also filled many other posts of citizen leadership | ||||||
14 | in Springfield, Sangamon County, and statewide Illinois, | ||||||
15 | including the chairmanships of the Property Tax Appeals Board | ||||||
16 | (PTAB) and the Sangamon County Board of Review; and
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17 | WHEREAS, Long fascinated with the process of campaigning | ||||||
18 | and electing women and men to office, Tony Leone served as an | ||||||
19 | officer on countless electoral boards and commissions, | ||||||
20 | including service as the Supervisor of Public Disclosure for | ||||||
21 | the Illinois State Board of Elections, the Chief Clerk of the | ||||||
22 | Sangamon County Election Office, and the Assistant Chief Clerk | ||||||
23 | of the Springfield Board of Elections; he served as an |
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1 | election official on the city, county, and state levels and | ||||||
2 | believed that he was the only person in Illinois to have done | ||||||
3 | so; and
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4 | WHEREAS, Moving to the private sector, Tony Leone founded | ||||||
5 | Leone & Associates in 1995; retaining and intensifying his | ||||||
6 | interest in and support of the atmosphere of Springfield's | ||||||
7 | Illinois Capitol Complex, he redeveloped the Complex-adjacent | ||||||
8 | Pasfield House, a historic (1896) Victorian mansion, into a | ||||||
9 | bed and breakfast and Springfield showplace; the Pasfield | ||||||
10 | House also served as a place for him to house his legendary | ||||||
11 | collection of Illinois and U.S. political memorabilia; and
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12 | WHEREAS, As a champion of Springfield, Illinois heritage | ||||||
13 | preservation, Tony Leone was named the 2011 Historic | ||||||
14 | Preservationist of the Year by the Illinois Historic Sites | ||||||
15 | Commission; in 2019, he co-authored "Springfield's Celebrated | ||||||
16 | Horseshoe Sandwich" that is the definitive published history | ||||||
17 | of the Illinois delicacy; this book was published as part of | ||||||
18 | the American Palate series offered by the History Press; and
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19 | WHEREAS, In 2010, in line with Tony Leone's longtime | ||||||
20 | championship of the history of Illinois, former Governor Pat | ||||||
21 | Quinn appointed him to the board of the Illinois Historic | ||||||
22 | Preservation Agency; and
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1 | WHEREAS, On Wednesday, February 3, 2021, Tony Leone's | ||||||
2 | friends were saddened to hear that the longtime political | ||||||
3 | organizer, Illinois General Assembly staff member, election | ||||||
4 | official, state official, showplace host, and author had | ||||||
5 | passed away at age 70 in his home town of Springfield after | ||||||
6 | fighting against a cascading series of health challenges; | ||||||
7 | therefore, be it
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8 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | ||||||
9 | HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | ||||||
10 | we mourn the death of former Clerk of the Illinois House of | ||||||
11 | Representatives Anthony "Tony" J. Leone Jr. and remember the | ||||||
12 | tireless work that he performed for the election process and | ||||||
13 | for the people of Springfield, the people of Sangamon County, | ||||||
14 | and the people of central Illinois; and be it further
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15 | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | ||||||
16 | presented to Tony Leone's longtime special friend, Cathy | ||||||
17 | Cragoe, and to his goddaughter, Karle Giganti Valentino.
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