Chicago’s mayor still matters in Springfield — but not like it used to – Bloomington Pantagraph*

"Looking at it historically, the mayor of Chicago has about maybe 10% of the influence now, the impact in Springfield now, than when I started as a reporter 50 some years ago," said Charlie Wheeler, retired director of the public affairs reporting program at the University of Illinois Springfield. "It's a combination of the old patronage system kind of going out of fashion because of court rulings, and the evolution of the Democratic Party as becoming more rooted in the suburbs than it was historically. Those folks don't really have to worry about the mayor of Chicago."