A Biography of Cal Skinner
Graduated high school in Crystal Lake, has been serving state and local communities ever since
Cal Skinner is the
Libertarian Party candidate for Governor. He earned a master's degree in Public Administration from the University
of Michigan and economics degree from Ohio's Oberlin College. He served eight years in the Illinois General Assembly
in the 1970's and another eight in the 1990's.
Skinner moved with his family to Crystal Lake when he was 15, having previously lived in Easton, Maryland, where
he was born in 1942, and in Salt Lake City, Utah, and Middletown, New York. While in high school, he earned the
Eagle Scout Award. He graduated from Crystal Lake Community High School in 1960. In 1964, he graduated with an
economics major from Oberlin College where he was active in the Young Republicans and chairman of the Republican
Mock Convention, and did graduate work in public administration at the University of Michigan for the next year.
Prior to completing his degree, Skinner passed the highest entry civil service commission examination and went
to work for the U.S. Bureau of the Budget (now the Office of Management & Budget) in Washington, D. C. (He
turned down a job offer from IRS).
When his father, who ran a very close but unsuccessful campaign for McHenry County Auditor in 1964, encouraged
him to run for County Treasurer in 1966, the 23-year-old took up the challenge and won by 72 out of about 13,000
votes in a three-way race. Skinner began his service in elective public office as the youngest Treasurer in McHenry
County history. It was there that Skinner earned his reputation as a "tax fighter". For the first time,
county funds were fully invested by competitive bid. Property taxes were distributed much faster to local schools
than had been the case previously. Skinner also initiated computerization of the Treasurer's Office, led the fight
for fair real estate assessments, representing over-assessed homeowners in appeals to the State Property Tax Appeal
Board where he proved the new homeowner's assessments were about 40% too high. $500 refunds were common. He earned
the designation Certified Illinois Assessing Officer. In coordination with other County Treasurers, Skinner led
the fight to abolish the hated Personal Property Tax, thus fulfilling a 1996 campaign pledge for which he was ridiculed
at the time. Skinner also conducted a cost/benefit study of Governor Richard Ogilvie's 1969 income tax and discovered
that individuals in McHenry County would be forced to pay $12.5-$14 million in new taxes, while only $3.5-$4 million
would be returned in State Aid to Education and additional sales tax revenue sharing for municipalities and county
government.
In 1972, Skinner was elected to the first of four terms as State Representative for McHenry County. He beat two
incumbents in the process. His five-county district comprised McHenry County, went as far west as Rockford, farther
south than Elgin in Kane County, and northern DeKalb County. He specialized in real estate tax reform, improving
the assessment appeal process, and authorized increases in "circuit breaker" tax relief for senior citizens
and the disabled. In 1974, Skinner led the fight against the CTA's extraction of money from the suburbs and subsequently
the fight against the 5% RTA gas tax. Skinner passed the first non-game wildlife income tax check-off bill and
was in the forefront of saving the Middle Fork River.
After serving in Springfield for eight years, Skinner made a run for Congress in 1980 and for State Comptroller
in 1982. He jokes that he received his inoculation against Potomac Fever when he ran against incumbent Republican
Robert McClory and lost, carrying McHenry County, but losing the Lake and Kane County portions of the district.
He taught state and local government at Harper and Rockford Colleges and advised the Speaker of the House on transportation
matters. Two years later, he passed up a chance to run for an open seat in the Illinois House for the distinction
of being the Republican candidate who lost to State Comptroller Roland Burris. The message he took across the state
was that Adlai Stevenson III was more likely to raise Illinois' income tax than was Jim Thompson. Boy, was he wrong.
Utilizing his educational background in public administration, Skinner then headed up employee benefits for state
government. In this job, he became a nationally recognized and published expert in hospital utilization review,
demonstrating that unnecessary hospital care could be cut from over 10% to well under 5%. He also initiated tax
sheltering for state employee' medical and child care expenses. He also was an in-house management consultant for
the Department of Central Management Services, making suggestions to improve efficiency in state government that
were not accepted. He also assisted State Rep. Penny Pullen (R-Park Ridge) in her work on President Ronald Reagan's
AIDS Commission in 1987-88 and in her "public protection" AIDS legislation in the late 1980's and early
1990's, as well as assisting conservative Republican state representatives and senators.
In "remission," as he puts it, for twelve years, Skinner returned to public office on a "Tax Fighter
for State Rep" theme in 1992, besting two Republican primary opponents and an aggressive general election
opponent.
During the 1990's, he chafed under the growing concentration of power in the hands of party leaders but fulfilled
his pledge to fight taxes by voting against Governor Jim Edgar's re-institution and making permanent of Jim Thompson's
"temporary" income tax hike, correctly pronouncing Jim Edgar's income tax hike proposal, "Dead on
arrival," and continually revealing the folly of allowing taxing districts to issue bonds without first gaining
voter approval. His last study showed over $1 billion in new real estate taxes were levied in the Chicago metropolitan
area by the tax cap gutting Senate Bill 368 of 1995, sponsored by then House Speaker Lee Daniels. Skinner also
wrote the Visitation Interference Act, which allows non-custodial parents access to criminal court if the ex-spouse
does not make the children available for visitation according to the divorce court order. Previously, the non-custodial
parent had to come up with $500-$1000 to hire a private attorney. Now he or she can just call the local police
department and the offending parent will have to show up in court to explain why visitation was denied.
Skinner is proud that he didn't support Illinois FIRST and its $8 billion of additional debt and the liquor/beer/wine
tax increases and the tremendous vehicle license fees that finance the bonds. He points out how ridiculous it is
to borrow money for 25 years to pay for asphalt overlays that will only last 5. Skinner blew the whistle on the
Federal government's efforts to require trains to blow their horns at virtually every grade crossing and, so far,
the people he contacted have managed to keep the Federal Railroad Administration at bay. During the 1990's Skinner
received national recognition for leading the legislative fight against rape in prison.
The Republican Party bosses decided in 1996 that they didn't like Skinner's independent attitudes and began a sustained
campaign to oust him from office. Skinner won the first two primaries, but lost the 2000 primary election to Rosemary
Kurtz. Skinner predicted that Kurtz would be a "tax hiker." In April, she proposed a $536 million tax
hike by increasing cigarette taxes by 75 cents a pack. Fortunately, a Libertarian candidate named Jim Young is
planning to run for state representative against her.
Since leaving office, he has worked against the Crystal Lake Park District's deceptive plan to increase property
taxes permanently while using advertising that made the issue sound like a bond issue that eventually would be
paid off. He also pointed out how the McHenry County Conservation District figured out a way to finance a $68.5
million bond referendum campaign with money that ought to still be in the MCCD treasury. Skinner, who was the highest
ranked legislator on environmental issues one session in the 1990's, narrowly lost that referendum campaign. He
has devoted considerable attention to developing an initiative to shake up the power concentrated in Springfield,
resulting in a draft constitutional amendment proposal to limit the leadership terms of the four top legislative
leaders, who, with the state governor, in Skinner's words, "make all the decisions on everything that counts
in the state capitol."
Skinner married the former Michele Giangrasso in 1990. Since his retirement from the General Assembly in 2001,
he has been running after Michele's and his 4-year-old adopted son Steven. Skinner has a daughter, Alexandra, born
Feb. 6, 1982 to a former marriage. The family is active in the Crystal Lake United Methodist Church and the Northern
Illinois Emmaus Community. Unlike most involved in politics, Skinner is not much of a "joiner." He was
a charter member of both the Woodstock Rotary Club and the Crystal Lake Breakfast Kiwanis Club and remains a multi-decade
member of the McHenry County Defenders. |
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