Richard J. "Rick" Winkel (born September 25, 1956) is an American politician and lawyer.

Early life and education

Born in

Kankakee, Illinois Kankakee is a city in and the county seat of Kankakee County, Illinois, United States. As of 2020, the city's population was 24,052. Kankakee is a principal city of the Kankakee-Bourbonnais-Bradley Metropolitan Statistical Area. It serves a ...

, Winkel received his bachelor's degree in economics at

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Universit ...

and his

J.D. JD or jd may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''JD'' (film), a 2016 Bollywood film * J.D. (''Scrubs''), nickname of Dr. John Dorian, fictional protagonist of the comedy-drama ''Scrubs'' * JD Fenix, a character from the ''Gears of War'' vi ...

degree at

DePaul University College of Law The DePaul University College of Law is the professional graduate law school of DePaul University in Chicago. The College of Law’s facilities encompass nine floors across two buildings, with features such as the Vincent G. Rinn Law Library and ...

. He practiced law first in

Bourbonnais, Illinois Bourbonnais ( ) is a village in Kankakee County, Illinois, United States. The population was 18,164 at the 2020 census. History The village is named for François Bourbonnais Sr., a fur trapper, hunter and agent of the American Fur Company, who ...

and later in

Champaign, Illinois Champaign ( ) is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, United States. The population was 88,302 at the 2020 census. It is the tenth-most populous municipality in Illinois and the fourth most populous city in Illinois outside the Chicago metrop ...

.'Illinois Blue Book 2005-2006,' Biographical Sketch of Rick Winkel, pg. 118

Career in politics

In 1992, he was elected to the Champaign County Board. In 1994, he was elected to 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 ...

, defeating one term incumbent

Laurel Lunt Prussing Laurel Lunt Prussing (born February 21, 1941) is a Democratic politician who has served as a member of the Illinois House of Representatives, the Mayor of Urbana, Illinois, and County Treasurer of Champaign County, Illinois. Early career Afte ...

. From 1995 to 2003, Winkel served in the

as a Republican. In 2002, he defeated Democrat and former Champaign mayor Dan McCollum to succeed longtime Senator Stanley B. Weaver 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 I ...

. He served in the Illinois Senate for one term from 2003 to 2007. Winkel is the director of the Office of Public Leadership at the University of Illinois' Institute of Government and Public Affairs. In 2012, Winkel ran for the Republican nomination for Champaign County Circuit Clerk, but withdrew before the primary to take a job with the

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Uni ...

. On April 26, 2010, Senate Minority Leader

Christine Radogno Christine Radogno (born December 21, 1952) is an American politician and former Republican member of the Illinois Senate, representing the 41st Legislative District in Cook, DuPage, and Will Counties from 1997 to 2017. Radogno served as the M ...

appointed Winkel to the Illinois Plain Language Task Force. The task force was assembled to conduct a study and propose legislative measures designed to realize: (1) the potential benefits of incorporating plain language in State government documents, statutes, and contracts; and (2) how plain language principles might be incorporated into the statutes governing contracts among private parties so as to provide additional protections to Illinois consumers, to reduce litigation between private parties over the meaning of contractual terms, and to foster

judicial economy Judicial economy or procedural economy is the principle that the limited resources of the legal system or a given court should be conserved by the refusal to decide one or more claims raised in a case. For example, the plaintiff may claim that the ...

Notes

1956 births Living people People from Kankakee, Illinois University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty DePaul University College of Law alumni Illinois lawyers Republican Party members of the Illinois House of Representatives Republican Party Illinois state senators People from Champaign, Illinois People from Bourbonnais, Illinois County board members in Illinois {{Illinois-Ilrepresentative-stub