HR0073 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0073 LRB102 15921 ECR 21291 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, Anthony "Tony" J. Leone Jr. was born on September 1, 1950 and raised in Springfield; after schooling at St. Aloysius Grade School and Griffin High School, he attended Springfield College, Illinois State University, and Sangamon State University, earning degrees in Commerce and in Economics; and

WHEREAS, Developing an early interest in Illinois politics, Tony Leone became an officer with the Sangamon County Young Republicans and with the Sangamon State University College Republicans; he served as an organizer for a list of elected Illinois leaders, including key Springfield-area organizational roles for former Representative Josephine K. Oblinger and former State Representative Irv Smith; and

WHEREAS, With his credentials in recordkeeping and political organization work, Tony Leone was chosen as Assistant Clerk of the Illinois House for the 81st General Assembly, in which capacity he served ex officio on the board of the Legislative Information System (LIS), which was then a newly-created General Assembly support agency that was beginning to move toward pioneer computerization of the operations of the Illinois legislature; and

WHEREAS, As a result of the November 1980 election, the Republicans took majority control of the House in the 82nd General Assembly; Speaker George Ryan then named Tony Leone to be Clerk of the House; as the Clerk of the House during the final two years of the 177-member Illinois House of Representatives, and with only rudimentary electronic machinery to help out, he faced organizational and record-keeping challenges that the current 118-member Illinois House of Representatives can only imagine; and

WHEREAS, With the partisan changeover in the November 1982 election, Tony Leone once again became Assistant Clerk of the House, serving in this role from 1983 through 1992; during the 1980s, he also filled many other posts of citizen leadership in Springfield, Sangamon County, and statewide Illinois, including the chairmanships of the Property Tax Appeals Board (PTAB) and the Sangamon County Board of Review; and

WHEREAS, Long fascinated with the process of campaigning and electing women and men to office, Tony Leone served as an officer on countless electoral boards and commissions, including service as the Supervisor of Public Disclosure for the Illinois State Board of Elections, the Chief Clerk of the Sangamon County Election Office, and the Assistant Chief Clerk of the Springfield Board of Elections; he served as an election official on the city, county, and state levels and believed that he was the only person in Illinois to have done so; and

WHEREAS, Moving to the private sector, Tony Leone founded Leone & Associates in 1995; retaining and intensifying his interest in and support of the atmosphere of Springfield's Illinois Capitol Complex, he redeveloped the Complex-adjacent Pasfield House, a historic (1896) Victorian mansion, into a bed and breakfast and Springfield showplace; the Pasfield House also served as a place for him to house his legendary collection of Illinois and U.S. political memorabilia; and

WHEREAS, As a champion of Springfield, Illinois heritage preservation, Tony Leone was named the 2011 Historic Preservationist of the Year by the Illinois Historic Sites Commission; in 2019, he co-authored "Springfield's Celebrated Horseshoe Sandwich" that is the definitive published history of the Illinois delicacy; this book was published as part of the American Palate series offered by the History Press; and

WHEREAS, In 2010, in line with Tony Leone's longtime championship of the history of Illinois, former Governor Pat Quinn appointed him to the board of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency; and

WHEREAS, On Wednesday, February 3, 2021, Tony Leone's friends were saddened to hear that the longtime political organizer, Illinois General Assembly staff member, election official, state official, showplace host, and author had passed away at age 70 in his home town of Springfield after fighting against a cascading series of health challenges; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the death of former Clerk of the Illinois House of Representatives Anthony "Tony" J. Leone Jr. and remember the tireless work that he performed for the election process and for the people of Springfield, the people of Sangamon County, and the people of central Illinois; and be it further

RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be presented to Tony Leone's longtime special friend, Cathy Cragoe, and to his goddaughter, Karle Giganti Valentino.