Carl R. Hansen
Carl R. Hansen | |
|---|---|
| Member of the Cook County Board of Commissioners | |
| In office December 1974 – December 2006 | |
| Succeeded by | Tim Schneider |
| Constituency | 15th (1994–2006) suburbs at-large (1974–1994) |
| In office January 1970 – December 1970 | |
| Preceded by | Joseph S. Kral |
| Constituency | suburbs at-large |
| Personal details | |
| Died | February 2, 2010 Skokie, Illinois |
| Political party | Republican |
| Education | University of Wisconsin University of Chicago (MBA) |
Carl R. Hansen was a politician who served as a Republican member of the Cook County Board of Commissioners in 1970 and again from 1974 through 2006. He originally held a seat representing suburban Cook County (1974–1994). When the board shifted to single-member districts, he was elected in 1994 to represent the 15th district. He held this seat until losing re-election 2006, when he lost re-nomination in the Republican primary.
At the time he left office, he was the second-longest serving member in the history of the Cook County Board of Commissioners.[lower-alpha 1] He remains the third-longest in its history.[lower-alpha 2]
Early life
Hansen graduated from Lane Tech High School in Chicago.[1] He received an undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin,[citation needed] and received a master's in business from the University of Chicago.[1]
Early career
Hansen served in the United States Army from 1944–1948. While in service he served as a Summary Court Judge for U.S. Military Government in Germany[citation needed] and as a resident officer for the U.S. High Commission for Germany from 1949 to 1952.[2]
Hansen worked in market research for various companies in his early career.[1] He was Service Vice President of the Market Research Corporation of America, Director of Market Research at Earle Ludgin and Co,[citation needed] and also worked at Sara Lee.[1]
Hansen became involved in Republican Party politics in the late 1950s[2] From 1958 to 1959, Hansen was the chairman of the Cook County Young Republican organization. In 1958, he joined the board of the United Republican Fund of Illinois, a position he held for many years thereafter. During the 1960 presidential election, he was the Nixon-Lodge campaign's campaign chairman for the northwestern Chicago suburbs. In 1962 became the committeeman for Elk Grove Township,[2] and also became a member of the executive committee of the Suburban Republican Committeemen's organization.[3] In 1967, Hansen founded Chicago Associates,[1] a Chicago-based management consulting and marketing firm which he served as president of.[4] By the mid-1970s, he had become the vice chairman of the Central Committee of the Cook County Republican Party.[2] From 1964 to 1966, he served as vice chairman of the Cook County Republican Party, reassuming the role several years later. He was a delegate to the 1968 Republican National Convention.[3]
Hansen served on the Executive Committee for the Governor's Advisory Council. He continued his public service as Chairman of the Chicago Area Advisory Council for the Small Business Administration and served on the External Advisory Committee for the Regional Transportation Authority.
Cook County Commissioner
First tenure (1970)
In January 1970, Hansen was appointed to a suburban seat on the Cook County Board of Commissioners, filling a vacancy created by the death in office of Joseph S. Kral.[4][5] He was sworn in on January 30,[3] and thereafter served for ten months;[1] not being a nominee for a full term in the November election of that year,[2][6] and his term expiring in December.[5]
At the 1970 Illinois Constitutional Convention (which produced the current constitution of the state, ultimately ratified in December 1970), Hansen and fellow board member Floyd Fulle presented a proposal for the new constitution expand the board initially from fifteen to twenty-one members (13 city seats, 8 suburban seats) with reapportionment of those twenty-one seats after every decennial United States census. The 1870 constitution had kept the number of suburban and city members stagnant, respectively at five and ten, resulting in malapportionment by 1970. Hansen's rationale for an increase to the size of the body was that, he believed, it would create a "more workable legislative body" able to have commissioners carry-out the workload of five or six major committees.[8] Ultimately, the constitutional convention instead approved a different proposal, which permitted the board to (by passing an ordinance) abolish its two multi-member districts (one city, one suburban), and instead divide itself into single-member districts which could straddle across the city's municipal boundaries (allowing some seats to include both suburban and city constituents).[9] A switch to single-member constituencies ultimately did not occur until the 1990s.[10]
Second tenure (1974–2006)
In 1974, Hansen was nominated and elected to the board as a member representing suburban Cook County.[1] He was also the Republican nominee in that same election for board president, but lost to incumbent Democrat George Dunne.[2]_____ He was re-elected in 1978, 1982, 1986, and 1990. Ahead of its 1994 election, Cook County adopted single-member districts. Hansen ran and was elected to represent the northwestern suburban[11] 15th district seat. He was re-elected to the seat in 1998 and 2002. However, in 2006, he lost re-nomination in the Republican primary to Timothy Schneider, and ended his long tenure on the board when his term expired that December. ___ By the time he left office, he was the second-longest serving member in the board's history, with only John Stroger having served longer.[1][12] John P. Daley has since also surpassed Hansen's tenure.
Hansen was known for was known for having a deep knowledge about the county budget, and regularly criticizing spending that he viewed as excessive.[1] For much of his tenure, he introduced bills each year unsuccessfully proposing reducing the number of doctors employed by the county hospital system and closing Provident Hospital.[1][11] He would get into occasionally-heated debate with George Dunne and and John Stroger during their tenures as board president,[1] and would often hold disagreement with the board's Democratic Party majority.[1][12] Hansen often was a lone voice of dissent on the board, casting the most "no" votes of any member. He often voted "no" on votes that the other Republican members supported.[11]
Hansen was part of a successful effort to defeat a proposal to create a landfill within the Poplar Creek Forest Preserve.[1] In late 1991, Hansen was critical of the proposed map for single-member districts in the board's next election, arguing that districts were not drawn compactly enough.[13]
Hansen served the Chairperson for the Administration, Roads and Bridges, and Veterans Committees. He was Vice-Chairperson for the Department of Correction and Rules Committees. Hansen is also a member of ten committees: Audit, Building, Business and Economic Development, Construction, Finance, Health and Hospitals, Information, Technology and Automation, Labor, Roads and Bridges, and Zoning and Building.
Later life and death
Hansen died at the age of 83 of complications from dementia on February 2, 2010 at the Midwest Pallative & Hospice CareCenter in Skokie, Illinois.[1]
Personal life
Hansen was a longtime resident of Mount Prospect, Illinois. He was widowed in 2007, when his wife Christl died.[1]
Notes
- ↑ behind only John Stroger
- ↑ John P. Daley has surpassed Hansen
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 "Carl Hansen, Longtime Cook County Commissioner, Dead At 83". Chicago Tribune. February 3, 2010. Retrieved July 21, 2025.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 "Carl Hansen: He's Ready To Battle For Top Spot". The Herald. Mar 13, 1974. Retrieved July 22, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Name Kraal's Successor On Board". Berwyn Life. January 28, 1970. p. 1. Retrieved March 2, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Hansen's Challenging Ten Months To Prove His Worth". Chicago Tribune. March 26, 1970. p. 22. Retrieved 21 July 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Sneed, Michael (February 26, 1970). "Hansen Challenge –10 Months on Board". p. 100. Retrieved 22 July 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ "National, State, and County Election Returns". Chicago Tribune. November 4, 1970. p. 6. Retrieved July 21, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ https://www.newspapers.com/image/308293930/?match=1&terms=cook%20county%20board%20of%20commissioners%20election%20suburban%20new
- ↑ "Reapportionment of Board?". The Daily Herald. May 7, 1970. p. 2. Retrieved March 2, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ Herman, Edith (August 14, 1970). "Con–Con OKs County Board Election Plan". Chicago Tribune. p. 22 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ "Choices for Cook County Board". Chicago Tribune. 22 October 1998. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Shenoy, Rupa (July 1, 2003). "Debate as rare as 'No' votes on Cook County Board". The Chicago Reporter. Retrieved July 22, 2025.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Pohl, Kimberly (3 February 2010). "Longtime Cook Co. Board member Carl Hansen dies". Daily Herald. Retrieved 21 July 2025.
- ↑ "Remap". Chicago Tribune. October 2, 1991. p. 37. Retrieved July 22, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
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