THE ILLINOIZE: Friends remember Sen. Scott Bennett as humble, charismatic, self-deprecating, "a big heart"...
December 12, 2022
Good morning, Illinois.
We’ll get back to our typical Free for All Monday e-mail next week, but I spoke this weekend to some friends of Sen. Scott Bennett, who died unexpectedly Friday at the age of 45.
We know politicians in their official roles. How they act in meetings and on the campaign trail and by the quality of speeches they give on the House or Senate floor.
People talk about Scott differently than most people talk about a politician. I don’t claim to be best friends with him, and we were on the opposite side of the trenches for a few years. But there was never a minute in those days when he wouldn’t be friendly with me (even when I was running a campaign against one of his best friends in the Senate) and, after I started the newsletter in 2020, he would always be completely honest with me. If anyone had the right not to trust me, it would have been Scott.
Shortly before I became a dad last year, we were talking about how I had no idea what to expect and he just stopped me in the middle of my sentence and said with a smile “it will be the best thing that ever happens to you.”
He was right.
My heart hurts for Stacy and those beautiful twins that Scott loved with his whole heart.
FRIENDS REMEMBER BENNETT
“You think you could just send him a text or pick up the phone and he’s gonna answer,” said Julia Rietz, the Champaign County State’s Attorney and a longtime Bennett friend. “He was just right here.”
Bennett collapsed in his home early Thursday morning. According to a Facebook post from his wife, Stacy, doctors found a previously undiagnosed brain tumor that led to a seizure and cardiac arrest. She said the loss of oxygen left his brain “damaged beyond recovery.” He died Friday at an Urbana hospital.
“Scott had tremendous compassion and empathy for other people, including those whose faces he never saw but who he knew relied on him to be their advocate,” said former Sen. Rachelle Crowe, one of Bennett’s closet friends and confidantes in the Senate. She called Bennett “humble and charismatic.”
Bennett and Crowe, both former prosecutors when they joined the Senate, became quick friends after she was elected to the Senate in 2018.
She said Bennett’s hard work in the legislative process showed the kind of person he was.
“[I] was privileged to witness his deep and selfless commitment to the public he swore to serve. And they benefitted from his strong, ethical conviction and dedication,” Crowe said. “These characteristics shone through most brightly away from the spotlight in rooms where he toiled for the right result, not for the recognition.”
Rietz first met after Bennett unsuccessfully ran for Champaign County Board in 2010, and she hired him to her office two years later.
“I was kind of nervous about him, because he was a new young Democrat lawyer who wanted to get into politics,” she said. “As a politician you’re always looking around for who might challenge you in the future. And the safest way to stop someone from running against you is to hire them.”
Hiring him was a decision Rietz says was one of her best, one she knew “immediately” was the right move.
As a prosecutor in crimes against children, Rietz said Bennett would go out of his way to make those child victims feel safe and comfortable, building relationships using coloring books and board games before they ever talked about the legal case.
She said it was an incredible way for Bennett to build trust.
“Scott was seen as somebody who was always there to do the work,” Rietz said. “I think his loss will show what a tremendous person he was for the community and what he did for everyone.”
Even with his legislative work, a law practice, and helping on his family farm in Ford County during harvest season, Rietz said his priority was always at home with his wife and two children.
“Fatherhood meant everything to him,” Rietz said. “He scheduled his days around their needs, but he never used them as an excuse to get out of something. He just made it work. I don’t that he ever slept.”
Rietz says she wishes Bennett could see the outpouring of affection and support around the state and around Champaign-Urbana and Danville for him.
“I don’t think people realized how much Scott accomplished for us,” Rietz said. “Scott was in the middle, a moderate voice, who was perfect for his district. His goal was to figure out how to solve a problem instead of trying to please a certain constituency.”
Rietz said there were many things about Bennett that made him relatable more than most politicians are.
He hated vegetables and loved to read and often had an audiobook on in his car.
“And his car was always a freakin’ mess,” she said, chuckling.
But his humor will always stick out most to her.
“He was the most self-deprecating, ego-less politician you could ever meet,” Rietz said. “And he would always make you laugh.”
Crowe also spoke of his self-deprecating humor, but said it was also a sign of humility, something she says many of us could attempt to imitate.
“I think a fitting tribute would be for us all to just try to model his selflessness, so Stacy and their two children can always be reminded of the gift Scott’s friendship was to all who knew him,” Crowe said. “Now we can treasure his memory.”
A public memorial service will be announced later today for next Monday, December 19, at 10am at Krannert Center in Urbana. We’ll have more details for you in tomorrow’s newsletter.
A couple of other notes…
I haven’t seen a specific fund set up to help the family, but there is a way to donate via a “meal train” that was set up for the Bennetts. Click here to support them.
Deaths in office are not a common occurrence in Illinois. The last sitting member of the legislature to die in office was Rep. Esther Golar (D-Chicago), who passed away in 2015. The last Senator to die in office was Sen. Vince Demuzio (D-Carlinville), who died in 2004. Of course, Judy Baar Topinka passed away shortly after being re-elected Comptroller in 2014.
Gov. JB Pritzker has ordered flags at state buildings lowered to half staff in Bennett’s honor.
Yes, there will be a horse race to replace Bennett in the Senate and more than a few people have called and texted me to talk about it, but I don’t think it’s right to discuss it until after the memorial service next week. The legislature isn’t back until next year, anyway.
We’re told the family is asking for you not to send flowers. If there are any other ways to show support to the family, we’ll pass it along.
SOME TOP STORIES FROM THE WEEKEND
(note: we’re not responsible for paywalls and restrictions from other news outlets)
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Editorial: SAFE-T Act handled poorly (Bloomington Pantagraph)
Opinion: SAFE-T Act misinformation caused harm across Rockford and Illinois (Rockford Register Star)
Editorial: Fits and starts in Illinois’ long march to financial solvency (Shaw Media)
Opinion: How the Dems could still screw themselves in Springfield (Crain’s Chicago Business)
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