Harris Fawell
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Illinois's 13th district
In office
January 3, 1985 – January 3, 1999
Preceded byJohn N. Erlenborn
Succeeded byJudy Biggert
Member of the Illinois Senate
In office
January 1963 – January 1977
Preceded byLottie Holman O'Neill
Succeeded byJack E. Bowers
Constituency41st district (1963-67, 1973-77)
40th district (1967-73)
Personal details
Born(1929-03-25)March 25, 1929
West Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
DiedNovember 11, 2021(2021-11-11) (aged 92)
Naperville, Illinois, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
SpouseRuth Fawell
EducationNorth Central College
Illinois Institute of Technology (LL.B.)

Harris Walter Fawell (March 25, 1929 – November 11, 2021) was an American lawyer and politician from Illinois who served seven terms as a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1985 to 1999.

Early life and career

Fawell was a graduate of West Chicago High School. He attended North Central College of Naperville from 1947 to 1949, during which time he also played baseball for the minor league affiliate of the Detroit Tigers in Greenville, South Carolina.[1]

He received his LL.B from Chicago-Kent College of Law. Admitted to the bar in 1952, Fawell practiced law from 1954 to 1984. He served as an Assistant State Attorney for DuPage County, Illinois.[2][3]

He was the brother-in-law of Beverly Fawell, who was a member of both Houses of the Illinois General Assembly.[4]

Illinois Senate

In 1958, Fawell challenged incumbent Lottie Holman O'Neill in the Republican primary to represent the 41st district in the Illinois Senate, but was unsuccessful.[5] Four years later, he was elected to succeed her when she retired. He was a Republican member of the Illinois Senate from 1963 to 1977, and was a delegate to the Republican National Conventions in 1968 and 1988.

He prioritized preservation and expansion of local parks, resulting in some success but also provoking opposition from developers and other special interests. He was one of only two Republicans in the state senate at the time who voted in support of fair housing legislation.[6]

Fawell did not run for re-election to the state senate in 1976, choosing instead to make a run for a judicial seat. In the 1976 Republican primary for the Illinois Supreme Court, Appellate Judge Thomas J. Moran defeated Fawell.[7]

Afterwards, he returned to his private law practice, where he represented clients including municipalities and part districts.[8]

Congress

In 1984 he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, representing Illinois' 13th district where he served until he retired in 1999.

In Congress, he became well-known for identifying and trying to eliminate what he believed was unnecessary government spending, particularly directed spending projects that he classified as “pork barrel” spending. In all, he is credited with successfully sponsoring 23 bill eliminating such congressional pet projects, which he claimed saved $2 billion in wasteful government spending.[9] He chose not to seek re-election to an eighth term, retiring from Congress in 1999.

The Harris W. Fawell Congressional Papers are held at North Central College.

Post-political life

He served on the North Central College Board of Trustees and on the Executive Council of the Chicago Metropolis 2020 of Chicago.[10][11] In 2008, Fawell endorsed his home state's junior United States Senator Barack Obama for President of the United States, against his party's nominee, Arizona senator John McCain.[12]

Illness and death

Fawell died of complications from Alzheimer's disease on November 11, 2021.[13]

References

  1. ↑ Goldsborough, Bob. "Longtime U.S. Congressman from Naperville, Harris W. Fawell, dead at 92". Chicago Tribune.
  2. ↑ Illinois blue book, 1997-1998 - Page 41
  3. ↑ Illinois Blue Book 1963-1964. p. 192. Retrieved July 14, 2021.
  4. ↑ Profile, Votersmart.org; accessed February 7, 2017.
  5. ↑ "Lottie O'Neill Raps Moves To Drop Primary". Chicago Tribune. Chicago, Illinois. March 26, 1958. p. 45. Retrieved August 21, 2017.
  6. ↑ Goldsborough, Bob. "Longtime U.S. Congressman from Naperville, Harris W. Fawell, dead at 92". Chicago Tribune.
  7. ↑ "Voters win a judicial race". Chicago Tribune. March 19, 1976. p. a2 – via ProQuest at Chicago Public Library.
  8. ↑ Goldsborough, Bob. "Longtime U.S. Congressman from Naperville, Harris W. Fawell, dead at 92". Chicago Tribune.
  9. ↑ Goldsborough, Bob. "Longtime U.S. Congressman from Naperville, Harris W. Fawell, dead at 92". Chicago Tribune.
  10. ↑ Harris W. Fawell, Class of 1952
  11. ↑ Life and Honorary Trustees
  12. ↑ "Former GOP Congressman Endorses Obama". Huffington Post.
  13. ↑ Goldsborough, Bob. "Longtime U.S. Congressman from Naperville, Harris W. Fawell, dead at 92". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2021-11-14.
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