William Lorimer

William Lorimer (April 27, 1861September 13, 1934) was an American Republican politician who represented Illinois in the United States House of Representatives and United States Senate. In 1912, however, the Senate expelled Lorimer, holding that his election was invalid due to his use of corrupt methods and practices including bribery of state legislators. Lorimer was known as the "Blond Boss" of Chicago. Biography Lorimer was born in Manchester, England. His family immigrated to the United States in 1866, first settling in Michigan and then moving to Chicago in 1870. Lorimer was self-educated. He had been apprenticed to a sign painter when he was ten. He worked in the Chicago meat-packing houses and for a street railroad company. In 1894, Lorimer was elected to the first of two non-consecutive tenures (1895-1901, 1903–1909) in the US House of Representatives. In 1909, he helped to engineer the blocking of the re-election of US Senator Albert J. Hopkins, a Republican who had been Lorimer's ally, but was now a political foe. With Hopkins' re-election bid finished, Lorimer seemed surprised when a coalition of 55 Illinois State House Republicans and 53 State House Democrats pushed his name to fill the now-vacant seat in the US Senate. At the time, US Senators were elected by state legislatures. Lorimer's name went before the State Senate, and after a contentious campaign, he was elected to the US Senate. He took his seat in March 1909. In 1910, The Chicago Tribune published an admission by Charles A. White, a Democratic member of the Illinois House of Representatives, that Lorimer had paid $1,000 for White's vote in the election.