Was Reggie Holzer dishonest?

On election day in 1974, the Democratic precinct captain approached me outside the polling place and said, “I know you always split your ticket. So, please vote for Reggie Holzer for Appellate Court Judge.”

Holzer was one of two Republicans running for that office and I had already decided to vote for him and for Democrat Seymour Simon. I thought it odd that the Democratic precinct captain was plugging for a GOP candidate but I had a lot of other things on my mind and I didn’t have time to think about it. Holzer lost.

Two years later, Holzer was the Republican candidate for a seat on the Illinois Supreme Court. He lost that race, too, but a number of 50th ward Democratic precinct captains garnered a bunch of votes for him. I found out later, those captains were Holzer’s buddies at Temple. They were just helping a friend. They knew he would lose, so helping him wouldn’t affect the outcome.

Many years later, after becoming a Circuit Court Judge, Holzer was convicted and jailed for accepting loans from attorneys. The court considered those to be bribes.

Maybe his political relationships weren’t as innocent as they had seemed.