As Illinois Issues continues its 25th anniversary celebration, we take our hats off to one of our own.

For most of this magazine's existence, our readers have had the benefit of learning how Illinois government really works from one of the state's most insightful political analysts: Charles N. Wheeler III.

Those familiar with Wheeler's work know it's not a stretch to say he's to Illinois Issues what national columnist David Broder is to the Washington Post: thoughtful, respectful, compassionate - and passionate about dissecting the difficult topics of the day.

Whenever we need to explain the intricacies of one of the state's toughest issues - a $40 billion-plus state budget, the overhaul of welfare, the politics of reapportionment - we know what to do: Call Charlie.

No other political journalist has a better firsthand grasp of what's going on. And few can explain why. But Wheeler can make sense of it all because he's seen it all.

"These issues didn't develop overnight," he'll say. "They have their roots in events and situations going back many years. Knowing that gives you perspective. You can understand why we are where we are. And that gives you some insight into the best way to get where we want to go."

Wheeler's perspective is a long one. He started covering state government and politics for the Chicago Sun-Times in 1969. As a young reporter, he followed the candidates who were running for delegate to the Illinois Constitutional Convention. Then he followed them to Springfield as they debated the landmark charter that was ratified in 1970. Along the way, he watched young politicians named Richard M. Daley, Michael Madigan, Dawn Clark Netsch and Jeff Ladd learn the skills that helped them move up the governmental ranks.

Wheeler has covered five Illinois governors: Richard Ogilvie, Dan Walker, Jim Thompson, Jim Edgar and George Ryan. There isn't a working reporter in the Statehouse Press Room who can say that. So when he assesses an administration, as he does on page 46, we don't take his judgment lightly.

Wheeler came to Springfield full-time beginning in 1974 and spent two decades recording the daily doings of a byzantine and sometimes bizarre world. He's seen the good side of state government and the bad, the glorious and the greedy, the politicians who want to help constituents and the pols who just want to help themselves.

Now Wheeler directs the Public Affairs Reporting program at the University of Illinois at Springfield. Every year he passes on to print and broadcast students the lessons he learned in the trenches, using one of the country's most complex states as a laboratory.

But teaching future journalists is the culmination of a remarkable run. For three generations spanning the last century, journalists named Charles Wheeler worked in Illinois. The first Charles Wheeler covered the Statehouse, too. Pictures of him, including one shot taken on the Capitol steps in 1907, still hang in the Press Room. The second Charles Wheeler was a Chicago-based editor.

The third Charles Wheeler first wrote for Illinois Issues in 1978 - a 7,000-word piece on reapportionment, a record length for the magazine at the time and nothing to sneeze at today. He began writing his monthly column, "Politics," in 1984, noting authoritatively then what could be said now: The state's Republicans were suffering from "ideological schizophrenia."

More than two decades later, Wheeler's prose remains elegant, accurate and to the point. And knowing what happened "way back when," as Wheeler would say, is why his columns are so pertinent to our readers today.

Illinois Issues March 2000 / 4