Donald Lee Totten was a longtime political figure in Republican circles in the northwest suburbs, serving as a committeeman, state legislator, chairman of the Cook County GOP and director of the Regional Transportation Authority.
Totten ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor in 1982 and was the director of Illinois and Midwestern Affairs for Ronald Reagan's 1976 and 1980 presidential campaigns.
“He had a complete understanding of the mechanics of electing people,” said Chris Roebling, a longtime friend. “And I think his view of the role of government always came from a respect for individuals and individual liberty and individual self-determination, and that came from the way he listened to people.”
Totten, 86, died of heart failure April 2 at the home of his daughter Kathy Weber in Cornelius, NC, he said. He was a resident of Elgin and prior to that lived in Schauburg and Hoffman Estates.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Totten graduated from Ridgewood High School in Bergen County, NJ and earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Notre Dame in 1955.
Totten came to the Chicago area in 1955 for a job as a mechanical engineer. In his early years, he was an industrial plant manager.
In 1966, Totten was elected as a Republican Schaumburg Township Commissioner. At that point, he went all-in on the political arena, leaving engineering and founding a political consulting firm called Twin-T.
“He was an unusual political leader in that he was both highly principled and ethical and also very pragmatic and intelligent,” said Chicago lawyer Joseph Morris, a friend and colleague. “I have never seen anyone build a grassroots organization more successfully than he did, nor have I ever seen anyone who was driven to his political goals by as much attention to philosophy and principle as Don.”
Totten ran for state representative in 1972 in the 3rd District. While in office, he founded the American Legislative Exchange Council, a group of conservative lawmakers across the country, and eventually served as the organization's president for a year. Totten was a state representative for eight years before winning a seat as a senator in 1980.
Totten did not always play well with GOP regulars, particularly after the election of James R. Thompson as governor in 1976. He often criticized Thompson from the Senate floor.
Totten took a keen interest in national politics. He was the state chairman of a group that supported Reagan for president in 1976, when the Republican Party establishment stuck with then-President Gerald Ford, and remained with Reagan during his successful presidential campaign in 1980. This gave Totten a position on the Reagan transition team and made him a finalist for US Secretary of Education. Reagan eventually appointed him to serve on the binational International Joint Commission.
In 1980, he attempted to wrest the Illinois Republican National Committee seat from party veteran Harold Byron Smith before backing down. In the 1982 GOP primary for lieutenant governor, he finished third behind then-Gov. James R. Thompson's chosen one, future governor George Ryan.
“He was a principled conservative, and for him there was a right way and a wrong way to do things, and when it came to government, government was there to serve the people, but not to be Santa Claus,” Ed said. Murnane, who managed Totten's 1982 campaign for lieutenant governor. “The government was there to make sure everyone got a fair deal, but he didn't think the government owed anyone a living.”
In September 1985, Totten was unanimously elected chairman of the Cook County Republican Central Committee, which consisted of the 50 Chicago ward commissioners and 30 Cook County committees. Despite his oft-publicized clashes with Thompson, the governor's promise to raise $300,000 for party organizing sealed the deal for Totten to take the freelance job.
Totten saw his role as figuring out how to bolster a perennially weak local GOP.
He decided to “do something about a political realignment similar to what is happening throughout the South today,” Totten told the Tribune after the vote. “We must vigorously pursue and attract these people to our party.”
Totten raised $1.3 million for the party in his 21/2-year tenure, more than triple what he had raised in the previous two years. Totten's term as head of the Cook County GOP ended in March 1988, when he chose at the last minute not to seek another term. He made the decision after several key supporters, including Thompson, moved to the camp of his opponent, James Dvorak, a top aide to then-Cook County Sheriff James O'Grady.
Totten went on to serve as head of the Schaumburg Township GOP and in 1990 was appointed to the RTA board. He also managed DuPage State's Attorney Jim Ryan's successful 1994 campaign for Illinois Attorney General and Lt. Gov. Bob Kustra's unsuccessful 1996 U.S. Senate primary bid.
Another campaign managed by Totten was the 1994 campaign for Cook County Council chairman by Morris, who had previously worked for Totten on the 1976 and 1980 Reagan campaigns.
“I was his boss and (earlier) he was my boss and he was brilliant at both,” Morris said. “And he was both a man of ideas and a man who had a very common human touch. He cared deeply about his people, his neighbours, his constituents, his friends and family and this was strongly reflected in the way he engaged in politics.”
Totten stepped down from the RTA board in 2005. He was reappointed to it in 2010.
Totten's wife of 63 years, Joyce, died in June 2018. In addition to his daughter, Totten has another daughter, Diane Faldstein. a son, Robert; seven grandchildren; and a great-grandson.
services were held.
Bob Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.
