Michael Joseph Howlett Sr. (August 30, 1914 – May 4, 1992) was an American politician who served as the 24th Illinois Auditor of Public Accounts and 33rd

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 Secretary of State (U.S. state government), secretaries of state in the United States. The Illinois secretary of ...

. Howlett was the Democratic nominee for

Governor of Illinois The governor of Illinois is the head of government of Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its we ...

in the 1976 Illinois gubernatorial election, following his victory over incumbent Daniel Walker in the Democratic primary. He lost to Republican Jim Thompson in the general election.

Early life

Howlett was born in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, a son of Irish immigrants. Howlett was

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player, participating on ten championship teams of the Illinois Athletic Club.1973-1974 Illinois Blue Book p22
/ref> He graduated from St. Mel High School and briefly attended

DePaul University DePaul University is a private university, private Catholic higher education, Catholic research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded by the Congregation of the Mission, Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from ...

, leaving in 1934 to become a state bank examiner.

Career

Early career

In the 1930s, Howlett established an independent

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business. He later served as Chicago-area director of the

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, worked as an executive for the

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, and was appointed regional director of the

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. He later worked as a steel company executive. He served in the

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during

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Illinois Auditor

In 1956, Howlett ran for Illinois State Auditor and is credited with exposing incumbent Auditor Orville Hodge as having embezzled $6.15 million in state funds. While Hodge was removed from office and eventually sent to prison, Howlett lost the general election to Elbert Sidney Smith as part of a national Republican

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. However, in the next general election, in 1960, Howlett ''was'' elected Auditor of Public Accounts (the Auditor's Office was the predecessor to the current office of

Comptroller A comptroller (pronounced either the same as ''controller'' or as ) is a management-level position responsible for supervising the quality of accountancy, accounting and financial reporting of an organization. A financial comptroller is a senior- ...

), and was re-elected twice. During Howlett's first term as Auditor, he cut the budget of the office by 20%, and returned over $600,000 of the funds stolen by Hodge to the state treasury. In 1972, Howlett was elected

, becoming the first Democratic state officer to win four consecutive statewide elections.

1976 Illinois Gubernatorial campaign

Howlett was prepared to run for re-election in 1976, but was encouraged by Cook County Democrats to challenge

incumbent The incumbent is the current holder of an office or position. In an election, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the position that is up for election, regardless of whether they are seeking re-election. There may or may not be ...

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Dan Walker for the Democratic nomination in 1976. Howlett defeated Walker in the March primary, and stood as the Democratic nominee for governor of Illinois in the general election, whereupon he was defeated by Republican nominee James R. Thompson. Throughout the campaign, Howlett was dogged by conflict of interest charges, first raised by Walker, over payments Howlett received as an executive at Sun Steel Company. A report issued by former Illinois Supreme Court Justice Marvin Burt at the behest of Republican state Attorney General William J. Scott was highly critical of Howlett. However, a Cook County judge ruled no conflict of interest had arisen, and cleared Howlett. Thompson, who successfully prosecuted former Illinois governor Otto Kerner Jr., continued to hammer the issue during the general election campaign, and attacked Howlett as corrupt, and Attorney General Scott vowed to appeal the judge's ruling. Ironically, it was Scott who later was forced to resign after a felony conviction."Scott's Justice," ''Illinois Issues'', December 1980
/ref> Early polls of the contest had Howlett in the lead, although Thompson had nearly closed the gap by the time of the primary. His lead expanded during the campaign, and Howlett ended up losing by 30 percentage points (nearly 1.4 million votes), the widest margin of defeat for any Democratic Nominee for Governor of Illinois in history. Thompson was the first candidate for Governor to receive over 3 million votes, and his tally of 3,000,395 remains the highest number of votes ever cast for a candidate in an election for Governor of Illinois.

Retirement

After his loss in the 1976 governor's race, Howlett opened a private consulting business. Howlett would later see his son run for statewide office through bizarre circumstances. In the 1986 Democratic primary for

lieutenant governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

, former U.S. Senator Adlai Stevenson III and the Democratic Party selected State senator George E. Sangmeister as the party-preferred candidate, however he narrowly lost the

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to Mark Fairchild (a

Lyndon LaRouche Lyndon Hermyle LaRouche Jr. (September 8, 1922 – February 12, 2019) was an American political activist who founded the LaRouche movement and its main organization, the National Caucus of Labor Committees (NCLC). He was a prominent conspiracy ...

activist). After LaRouche followers had won the Democratic nominations for both Lieutenant Governor and Secretary of State, Stevenson refused to run as the Democratic standard-bearer, and formed the Solidarity Party. When Sangmeister was unwilling to run with Stevenson in the fall, Howlett's son Michael J. Howlett Jr., then a Cook County judge,AROUND THE NATION; Stevenson Announces Illinois Running Mate
May 6, 1986, The New York Times was nominated by the Solidarity Party. Stevenson-Howlett went down to defeat in the fall, with only 40% of the vote. Another son, Edward G. Howlett, was the unsuccessful Republican nominee for Chicago City Clerk in 1995.

Death and legacy

Howlett died in Chicago's Mercy Hospital of chronic

kidney failure Kidney failure, also known as renal failure or end-stage renal disease (ESRD), is a medical condition in which the kidneys can no longer adequately filter waste products from the blood, functioning at less than 15% of normal levels. Kidney fa ...

. He had suffered a stroke three months earlier and remained hospitalized from then until his death. The building housing the offices of the Illinois Secretary of State in

Springfield, Illinois Springfield is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Illinois. Its population was 114,394 at the 2020 United States census, which makes it the state's List of cities in Illinois, seventh-most populous cit ...

, formerly known as the Centennial Building, is named after Howlett.

Election history

!bgcolor=#CCCCCC , Year !bgcolor=#CCCCCC , Office !bgcolor=#CCCCCC , Election ! !bgcolor=#CCCCCC , Subject !bgcolor=#CCCCCC , Party !bgcolor=#CCCCCC , Votes !bgcolor=#CCCCCC , % ! !bgcolor=#CCCCCC , Opponent !bgcolor=#CCCCCC , Party !bgcolor=#CCCCCC , Votes !bgcolor=#CCCCCC , % , - , 1976 ,

, Primary , , , bgcolor=#DDEEFF , Michael Howlett , bgcolor=#DDEEFF , Democratic , bgcolor=#DDEEFF align = "right", 811,721 , bgcolor=#DDEEFF , 53.82 , , bgcolor=#DDEEFF , Dan Walker (Inc.) , bgcolor=#DDEEFF , Democratic , bgcolor=#DDEEFF align = "right", 696,380 , bgcolor=#DDEEFF , 46.18 , - , 1972 ,

, General , , bgcolor=#DDEEFF , Michael Howlett , bgcolor=#DDEEFF , Democratic , bgcolor=#DDEEFF , 2,360,327 , bgcolor=#DDEEFF , 51.69 , , bgcolor=#FFE8E8 , Edmund J. Kucharski , bgcolor=#FFE8E8 , Republican , bgcolor=#FFE8E8 , 2,187,544 , bgcolor=#FFE8E8 , 47.91 , - , 1968 , Illinois Auditor of Public Accounts , General , , bgcolor=#DDEEFF , Michael Howlett (Inc.) , bgcolor=#DDEEFF , Democratic , bgcolor=#DDEEFF , 2,215,401 , bgcolor=#DDEEFF , 50.99 , , bgcolor=#FFE8E8 , William C. Harris , bgcolor=#FFE8E8 , Republican , bgcolor=#FFE8E8 , 2,106,676 , bgcolor=#FFE8E8 , 48.49 , - , 1964 , Illinois Auditor of Public Accounts , General , , bgcolor=#DDEEFF , Michael Howlett (Inc.) , bgcolor=#DDEEFF , Democratic , bgcolor=#DDEEFF , 2,513,831 , bgcolor=#DDEEFF , 55.47 , , bgcolor=#FFE8E8 , John Kirby , bgcolor=#FFE8E8 , Republican , bgcolor=#FFE8E8 , 2,017,951 , bgcolor=#FFE8E8 , 44.53 , - , 1960 , Illinois Auditor of Public Accounts , General , , bgcolor=#DDEEFF , Michael Howlett , bgcolor=#DDEEFF , Democratic , bgcolor=#DDEEFF , 2,296,220 , bgcolor=#DDEEFF , 50.44 , , bgcolor=#FFE8E8 , Elbert S. Smith (Inc.) , bgcolor=#FFE8E8 , Republican , bgcolor=#FFE8E8 , 2,246,833 , bgcolor=#FFE8E8 , 49.35 , - , 1956 , Illinois Auditor of Public Accounts , General , , bgcolor=#DDEEFF , Michael Howlett , bgcolor=#DDEEFF , Democratic , bgcolor=#DDEEFF , 1,992,707 , bgcolor=#DDEEFF , 47.23 , , bgcolor=#FFE8E8 , Elbert S. Smith , bgcolor=#FFE8E8 , Republican , bgcolor=#FFE8E8 , 2,217,229 , bgcolor=#FFE8E8 , 52.55 , - , 1950 , Illinois Treasurer , General , , bgcolor=#DDEEFF , Michael Howlett , bgcolor=#DDEEFF , Democratic , bgcolor=#DDEEFF , 1,568,763 , bgcolor=#DDEEFF , 44.32 , , bgcolor=#FFE8E8 , William G. Stratton , bgcolor=#FFE8E8 , Republican , bgcolor=#FFE8E8 , 1,959,734 , bgcolor=#FFE8E8 , 55.36 , -

References

Sources

*''Chicago Tribune'' Historical Archive online (May 5, 1992), retrieved April 28, 2007.
Illinois Comptroller web site - History of the Office - Howlett1975-1976 Illinois Blue Book p40
{{DEFAULTSORT:Howlett, Michael J. 1914 births 1992 deaths DePaul University alumni Deaths from kidney failure in the United States Politicians from Chicago Military personnel from Chicago American people of Irish descent Secretaries of state of Illinois Auditors of Public Accounts of Illinois Illinois Democrats 20th-century Illinois politicians