Rep. Tim Butler to Resign
Rep. Tim Butler (R-Springfield) plans to resign by the end of the year.
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Rep. Tim Butler (R-Springfield), a widely respected downstate lawmaker with a track record as one of the party’s best messengers and bipartisan workers, is resigning at the end of the year to become President of the Illinois Railroad Association.
Butler confirmed his plans to resign to The Illinoize yesterday and planned to publicly announce his plans later this morning.
“I knew I was never going to stay in this job forever,” Butler said. “I’m 55, I knew I would have some career after the General Assembly, and this was an opportunity that came up that really wasn’t on my radar screen.”
(Disclosure: Butler and I worked together on Congressman Rodney Davis’ first race in 2012.)
The Railroad Association works on behalf of freight lines like BNSF, CSX, Norfolk Southern, and Union Pacific. Its longtime President, Joe Ciaccio, resigned at the end of 2020. The most recent President, Michelle Kelm, left the job in October.
Butler says he plans to resign by the end of December and will assume his position with IRA and the beginning of next year. Because of the newly enacted revolving door law for legislators, if he resigns during the current General Assembly (even a week before), he will be able to register as a lobbyist immediately.
"Tim's decades of experience in public service, especially his work on transportation issues, combined with his communications skills and bipartisan attitude make him a tremendous fit with our association, Lindsey Douglas, chair of the Illinois Railroad Association, will say in a statement released later this morning. “His skills working with community leaders and elected officials across the state will make him an excellent advocate for rail issues and we look forward to him leading the Illinois Railroad Association."
Butler’s exit is the latest of an exodus of House Republican leadership in the next General Assembly. Leader Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs) won’t seek another term in Leadership. Reps. Dan Brady (R-Bloomington), Tom Demmer (R-Dixon), Avery Bourne (R-Morrisonville), Keith Wheeler (R-Oswego), David Welter (R-Morris), and Mark Batinick (R-Plainfield) are all leaving at the end of the current General Assembly. They either sought higher office or lost in their bids for re-election. Another member of leadership, Rep. Deanne Mazzochi (R-Elmhurst), currently trails in her bid for re-election by six votes. That means as many as 9 of 12 members of House GOP leadership could be out when the new General Assembly is sworn in.
He was appointed to the seat in 2015 and remapped into the new 95th District beginning in January. He defeated a primary challenger in June and was unopposed in November.
Former Rep. Mike Murphy, who resigned last year to become President & CEO of the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce, called Butler “an asset to the entire state.”
“Representative Butler’s presence will be missed in the General Assembly,” Murphy said. “Tim brought a wealth of institutional knowledge with him from his many years working in Congress. But, more importantly, his ability to work with every member of the General Assembly was his greatest strength.”
Butler praised a number of bipartisan bills passed in 2019, including a major infrastructure bill that doubled the state’s gas tax. Since then, though, Butler says Pritzker has pursued a “lot more progressive of an agenda” and neither side wanted to work together in that environment.
“That really frustrated a lot of Republicans,” Butler said. “I don’t enjoy being in the minority. I enjoy my job very much, but I much rather would have preferred to be in the majority and to have the gavel in your hands and advance some of these policy decisions, but, unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case for us.”
Butler says he won’t endorse anyone to replace him in the General Assembly. Numerous names are already being floated, including longtime Republican operative Matt Butcher, current Rep. Sandy Hamilton (R-Springfield), who just lost a Senate race, and Chamber of Commerce staffer Kelly Thompson, who was planning to run for Senate until Hamilton jumped into the race. One GOP insider said there could be “20 or 30” Republicans that attempt to throw their hat in the ring.