Paul Taylor Powell (January 21, 1902 – October 10, 1970) was an American Democratic politician from

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

, and

Illinois Secretary of State The Secretary of State of Illinois is one of the six elected executive state offices of the government of Illinois, and one of the 47 secretaries of states in the United States. The Illinois Secretary of State keeps the state records, laws, libr ...

from 1965 until his death in 1970, after which he was discovered to have been corrupt and became known for his saying "There's only one thing worse than a defeated politician, and that's a broke one."

Political career

Involved in Illinois politics since the late 1930s, Powell was the Speaker of the

Illinois House of Representatives The Illinois House of Representatives is the lower house of the Illinois General Assembly. The body was created by the first Illinois Constitution adopted in 1818. The House under the current constitution as amended in 1980 consists of 118 re ...

from 1949 to 1950, and again from 1959 to 1963. In 1959, Powell, a Democrat, was elected Speaker by a bipartisan coalition of Republicans and downstate Democrats against Joseph De La Cour, the candidate of

Richard J. Daley Richard Joseph Daley (May 15, 1902 – December 20, 1976) was an American politician who served as the Mayor of Chicago from 1955 and the chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party Central Committee from 1953 until his death. He has been cal ...

who had majority backing within the Chicago-dominated Democratic caucus. Powell was elected

in 1964. The following year, he was investigated by

grand jury A grand jury is a jury—a group of citizens—empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a pe ...

for pushing legislation favorable to a

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic p ...

company that he obtained stock in, but nothing came of it. payments made to the Secretary of State's office were made out to simply "Paul Powell". Unsuspecting Illinois residents thought they were writing personal checks for license plate registration.

Death, scandal and shoeboxes

Powell died on October 10, 1970, in

Rochester, Minnesota Rochester is a city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Olmsted County. Located on rolling bluffs on the Zumbro River's south fork in Southeast Minnesota, the city is the home and birthplace of the renowned Mayo Clinic. Acco ...

, as an outpatient of the

Mayo Clinic The Mayo Clinic () is a nonprofit American academic medical center focused on integrated health care, education, and research. It employs over 4,500 physicians and scientists, along with another 58,400 administrative and allied health staff, ...

. Powell's chief assistant Nicholas Ciaccio claimed to have found Powell's body, but it turned out later that Ciaccio had not been in Minnesota at the time; to the contrary, shortly afterwards, after hearing of Powell's death, Ciaccio was in Powell's Springfield office clearing out papers and other material. Although Powell's government salary was never more than $30,000 a year, shoeboxes, briefcases and strongboxes with over $750,000 in cash were found in his hotel suite residence at the St. Nicholas Hotel in

Springfield, Illinois Springfield is the capital of the U.S. state of Illinois and the county seat and largest city of Sangamon County. The city's population was 114,394 at the 2020 census, which makes it the state's seventh most-populous city, the second largest o ...

within days of his death. Another $50,000 was found in his office. In his hotel room he also had 49 cases of

whiskey Whisky or whiskey is a type of distilled alcoholic beverage made from fermented grain mash. Various grains (which may be malted) are used for different varieties, including barley, corn, rye, and wheat. Whisky is typically aged in wooden cask ...

, 14

transistor radio A transistor radio is a small portable radio receiver that uses transistor-based circuitry. Following the invention of the transistor in 1947—which revolutionized the field of consumer electronics by introducing small but powerful, convenien ...

s, and two cases of

creamed corn Creamed corn (which is also known by other names, such as cream style sweet corn) is a type of creamed vegetable dish made by combining pieces of whole sweetcorn with a soupy liquid of milky residue from pulped corn kernels scraped from the cob ...

. When settled in 1978 his estate was worth $4.6 million, of which $1 million was racetrack stock in seven Illinois racetracks. A federal investigation determined that Powell had acquired much of his wealth through illegal cash bribes, which he received for giving noncompetitive state contracts to political associates. The State of Illinois received a $222,999 settlement from his estate; in addition, several state contractors were imprisoned for their roles in the affair.

References

External links

Illinois State Library Heritage Project: Paul Powell
– Office of the Illinois Secretary of State {{DEFAULTSORT:Powell, Paul 1902 births 1970 deaths 20th-century American politicians American people of Welsh descent People from Vienna, Illinois Political corruption in the United States Secretaries of State of Illinois Speakers of the Illinois House of Representatives Democratic Party members of the Illinois House of Representatives

Political career

Death, scandal and shoeboxes

References

Further reading

External links