From the SJ-R:
Bernard Schoenberg:
Lockhart honored
Who says legislative leaders can’t agree on anything?
Chicago-based lobbyist DICK LOCKHART, president of and the lobbyist for his own Social Engineering Associates, put on a reception last week at the Sangamo Club in Springfield, and the four legislative leaders were among the honorary chairmen. The three leaders who could make it all spoke — Senate President EMIL JONES JR., House Speaker MICHAEL MADIGAN and Senate GOP Leader FRANK WATSON.
“It was all very convivial,” Lockhart said later. “They all said nice things.”
About 200 people stopped by.
The event marked 50 years since Lockhart established his firm. It also came on the anniversary of his April 2, 1945, release as a prisoner of war in Germany. He was captured during the Battle of the Bulge the previous December.
Groups Lockhart represents include locksmiths, school psychologists, retired teachers, independent accountants, detective and security organizations and farm credit providers.
He won a lifetime achievement award from the Illinois Third House lobbyist organization and spent a couple years in the 1960s hosting a 15-minute weekly public affairs program on public TV in Chicago (including a show with then-House Speaker Paul Powell, before Powell’s posthumous money-filled shoe-box fame.
Lockhart also was once named one of the state’s top 10 lobbyists by the Chicago Sun-Times.
The House also passed a resolution in his honor last week, saying that at age 84, Lockhart “continues to serve his clients and provide members of the Illinois General Assembly with accurate information on legislative issues.”
Good things do happen to nice people.