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 The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

from 1985 to 1999.

Early life and career

Fawell was a graduate of West Chicago High School. He attended

North Central College North Central College is a private college in Naperville, Illinois. It is affiliated with the United Methodist Church and has 73 undergraduate majors of study, 17 minors, 25 graduate programs, and 4 certificate programs offered by four undergradu ...

of Naperville from 1947 to 1949, during which time he also played baseball for the minor league affiliate of the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. One of the AL's eight chart ...

Greenville, South Carolina Greenville ( ; ) is a city in Greenville County, South Carolina, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 70,720 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, sixth-most pop ...

. He received his LL.B from

Chicago-Kent College of Law The Chicago-Kent College of Law is the law school of the Illinois Institute of Technology, a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. It is the second oldest law school in the state of Illinois (after Northwestern Law). Chicago-Kent wa ...

. Admitted to the bar in 1952, Fawell practiced law from 1954 to 1984. He served as an Assistant State Attorney for

DuPage County, Illinois DuPage County ( ) is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Illinois, and one of the collar counties of the Chicago metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 932,877, making it List of ...

. He was the brother-in-law of Beverly Fawell, who was a member of both Houses of the

Illinois General Assembly The Illinois General Assembly is the legislature of the U.S. state of Illinois. It has two chambers, the Illinois House of Representatives and the Illinois Senate. The General Assembly was created by the first state constitution adopted in ...

Illinois Senate

In 1958, Fawell challenged incumbent

Lottie Holman O'Neill Lottie (Holman) O'Neill (November 7, 1878 – February 17, 1967) was an American politician from Illinois who was the first woman elected to the Illinois General Assembly. First elected in 1922, O'Neill served 40 years in the Assembly, the longest ...

in the Republican primary to represent the 41st district in the

Illinois Senate The Illinois Senate is the upper chamber of the Illinois General Assembly, the legislative branch of the government of the State of Illinois in the United States. The body was created by the first state constitution adopted in 1818. Under the ...

, but was unsuccessful. Four years later, he was elected to succeed her when she retired. He was a Republican member of the

from 1963 to 1977, and was a delegate to the

Republican National Convention The Republican National Convention (RNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1856 by the Republican Party in the United States. They are administered by the Republican National Committee. The goal o ...

s 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.

Private legal practice

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 The Supreme Court of Illinois is the state supreme court, the highest court of the judiciary of Illinois. The court's authority is granted in Article VI of the current Illinois Constitution, which provides for seven justices elected from the fiv ...

, Appellate Judge Thomas J. Moran defeated Fawell. Afterwards, he returned to his private law practice, where he represented clients including municipalities and part districts.

Congress

In 1984 he was elected to the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

, 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. 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

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. In

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

, Fawell endorsed his home state's junior

United States Senator The United States Senate consists of 100 members, two from each of the 50 U.S. state, states. This list includes all senators serving in the 119th United States Congress. Party affiliation Independent Senators Angus King of Maine and Berni ...

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

for President of the United States, against his party's nominee,

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

senator

John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American statesman and United States Navy, naval officer who represented the Arizona, state of Arizona in United States Congress, Congress for over 35 years, first as ...

Illness and death

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

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fawell, Harris 1929 births 2021 deaths People from West Chicago, Illinois Republican Party Illinois state senators Illinois lawyers North Central College alumni Chicago-Kent College of Law alumni Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Illinois Deaths from Alzheimer's disease in Illinois Members of Congress who became lobbyists 20th-century members of the Illinois General Assembly 20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives