"Eight years ago, on another August day, I took the first official step toward realizing the dream of a young boy being raised, along with his two older brothers, by a single mother in a very modest home in Charleston, Illinois," he said in his farewell speech.

"I said, 'If you, my fellow Illinoisans, elect me, I will be deeply honored. But I seek more than an honor, more than a title, more than power merely for the sake of exercising it. I seek the opportunity to continue serving you, the opportunity to help shape our state's future.'"

Below is the full speech and articles about Edgar's retirement decision. Scroll down or use the links on the right to read each piece. As an extra bonus, one of the articles was written by an EIU alum!

The text of Edgar's retirement speech

Eight years ago, on another August day, I took the first official step toward realizing the dream of a young boy being raised, along with his two older brothers, by a single mother in a very modest home in Charleston, Illinois.

With my family by my side and with the encouragement of friends and supporters from throughout this state, I announced my candidacy for Governor.

I said, "If you, my fellow Illinoisans, elect me, I will be deeply honored. But I seek more than an honor, more than a title, more than power merely for the sake of exercising it. I seek the opportunity to continue serving you, the opportunity to help shape our state's future."

The people of Illinois have done me the high honor of electing me as their Governor -- twice. Even more importantly, by placing their trust in me, they have given me the opportunity to help shape our state's future.

And, working together with good people from every corner of this great state during the last seven years, I believe we have taken major strides toward assuring bright tomorrows -- not only for today's generations but for generations to come.

In August of 1989, I pledged an Edgar administration would do much more than manage the crises of the moment. We would invest resources in prevention initiatives, particularly those dealing with very young children.

And we have invested those resources in children. I pledged an Edgar administration would not be afraid to discard or overhaul ineffective programs. And we have kept that pledge. We have set priorities. We have made millions and millions of dollars in budget cuts. We have made the tough decisions to put this state's fiscal house back in order. We have streamlined state government.

There are now a half dozen fewer state agencies than when I took office. In higher education, in the natural resources area, in financial regulation, in the social services area, we reorganized state government to make it leaner and more effective. It took thoughtful, steady, innovative leadership, and we provided it.

In 1989, I also said I would listen as well as lead. I said we would reach out to community groups, to business, to labor, to the needy and to people throughout Illinois. I knew -- and I'm even more convinced now -- that not all wisdom resides in Washington, Springfield and Chicago, where most of the government agencies impacting Illinoisans are housed. So we have reached out. We have listened. We have responded -- more than any administration in the history of this state. And, because of that, Illinois is a better state and we're better prepared for the future.

We have not accomplished everything I want to accomplish. But I believe we have kept faith with our commitments. And, by doing so, we have accomplished much on many, many fronts. We have imposed fiscal discipline on state government. The state of Illinois now lives within its means. It pay its bills on time. We are -- at long last -- fully funding our pension systems. We have added workers in priority areas -- such as prison guards and case workers to respond to the outrage of child abuse and neglect. But, overall, there are thousands fewer employees under my control than when I became Governor. Not bigger government but better government. Not partisan paralysis but bipartisan progress. Because we have reached out and because we have both listened and led, we are revolutionizing state government's approach to assisting the needy.

We haven't added costly new services. Through innovative initiatives that have become models for the nation, we're doing a better job of coordinating, targeting and redirecting existing services. We're working with community groups, parents and others to tailor those services to local needs. And we're merging programs that had been handled by a half dozen state agencies under a single agency ... in the most sweeping state government reorganization since the early 1900s. We are doing a much better job of making people who can benefit from services more aware of them. Brenda's "Help Me Grow" and women's health initiatives have made -- and will continue to make -- a tremendous difference in preventing and treating illnesses and problems for women, babies and young children throughout Illinois. Moreover, long before federal welfare reform, we dramatically changed the emphasis in Illinois ... from one that fostered dependence to one that furthers independence.

We stopped penalizing welfare families when the father stayed at home. We stopped penalizing recipients who took part-time or temporary jobs. We require teen-age mothers to finish their education and to live at home. We replaced nonsense with common sense. By the time federal welfare reform became law, we already had moved 72,000 people from welfare to work here in Illinois. We also have emphasized problem-solving at the community level in our sweeping mental health reforms. We are doing a much better job of addressing the needs of people who have mental illness or disabilities at the community level -- near their loved ones, where they can be as productive and independent as possible. And, by reaching out and listening to those who create jobs, we have retooled and re-energized our economic development efforts.

Illinois has outpaced the nation in rebounding from the recession of the early '90s because we have created a good climate for job growth. More Illinoisans than ever are working today. Our unemployment rate is the lowest it has been in decades.

We stopped trying to outbid other states for jobs with giveaway programs. And we started focusing on helping existing businesses to thrive and expand.

For too many years, Illinois was viewed by business as unfriendly. It is now viewed as a state where businesses should expand, where businesses should locate, where businesses should create jobs. And more than 600,000 jobs have been added since I became Governor. On this and many other fronts, my lieutenant governor, Bob Kustra, has played a leadership role. And I thank him for the outstanding, productive partnership that has so well served the people of our state.

There is much to be upbeat about.

We have taken advantage of new technology in many areas, including public safety. Our Instant Check program, launched and implemented by this administration long before the Brady Bill became law, has kept guns out of the hands of nearly 9,000 potentially dangerous people.

Looking to the future, we are making major, major investments in our natural resources through the Conservation 2000 initiative, the purchase and preservation of more than 15,000 acres of prairie habitat and woodland in Cass County, the Illinois River initiative and our efforts to develop recreational areas on land where the Joliet and Savanna arsenals were located.

But, above all, education remains crucial to shaping the future of our state. And we have made substantial progress in education in the last several years. The state is providing one and a half billion dollars more for education this year than it was when I became Governor. But equally important, and arguably more important, we have enacted very substantial reforms --reforms establishing standards for student performance, reforms allowing innovative, alternative schools, reforms empowering local school boards, administrators and parents to meet the special needs of their communities free of dictates from Springfield. The crowned jewel of those efforts is Chicago school reform. It was fashioned and approved in the State Capitol despite strong opposition -- after years and years of inaction.

But there is important unfinished business. We capped property taxes to stop the huge, staggering increases occurring year after year especially in Cook County and the collar counties. And the caps are working. But, as I have said literally thousands of times, we still rely far too heavily on local property taxes to fund our schools. And our system of funding schools remains fundamentally unfair. So, in the coming months, I will continue to push for fairness in school funding and for additional reforms to help stimulate and encourage better performance from students and teachers.

I will work with our partners in the private sector and local governments to sustain the economic momentum that bodes so well for the future of this great state. I will focus on making sure that we stay on course in the most daunting initiative ever undertaken by this administration -- or perhaps any administration in the history of our state -- ending welfare as we know it and moving thousands and thousands of people still on the rolls from dependence on government to self-sufficiency.

But I will not be a candidate in the upcoming election.

It has been a very, very difficult decision. However, after 30 years in state government, I have concluded it is time for Brenda and me to begin a new chapter in our life. It is time to afford someone else this rare, precious opportunity to govern and lead the greatest state in the union. Brenda and I want to continue trying to make a positive difference. But, as we move on, I will always be grateful to the people who have helped Brenda and me serve our state.

Our staff. The Cabinet. Appointees to important boards and commissions. Many of whom are gathered here today. You have helped us to meet the extraordinary challenge of making state government more effective and efficient. Together we have demanded more from ourselves instead of demanding more from taxpayers. And I thank you for your dedication, all your hard work and your loyalty.

I also want to thank my family -- Elizabeth, Brad, Stacey, Dakota and especially Brenda -- for their love, understanding and support. Without it, I could not have become Governor. Without it, I could not have served as Governor.

And I will be forever grateful to the people of this state for giving me this rare, precious opportunity and helping me to achieve what we have achieved during the '90s.

In August of 1989, I concluded my announcement of candidacy by saying "I will need your help to win, and I will need your help to govern. And, with your help, we together will accomplish great things for Illinois." I conclude my remarks today by saying: You did help me to win. You did help me to govern. And with your help, I believe we have accomplished -- and we will continue to accomplish -- great things for Illinois.

Thank you so much.

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Governor says he wanted to leave while still on top

By Rick Pearson and Bob Kemper
TRIBUNE STAFF WRITERS
Web-posted: Thursday, August 21, 1997

SPRINGFIELD -- Two hours before he faced a room packed with nearly 200 friends, supporters and relatives, Gov. Jim Edgar finally decided that in the end, he simply wanted to go out on top.

By uttering the words "I will not be a candidate in the upcoming election," Edgar on Wednesday set off a political chain reaction of massive proportions among Republicans who now hold all major statewide elected offices and caused spillover effects on the 1998 Democratic ticket.

Though the decision will have an immediate impact on the futures of many other politicians, Edgar made it, finally, for his own reasons.

A bout with heart problems and bypass surgery a few years ago "made me realize that there were lots of things in life I'd like to do," the governor said.

He never had been eager to seek a third term as governor and since July had cooled to the idea of running for the U.S. Senate.

But Edgar maintained Wednesday that he did not rule out any option as he and his wife, Brenda, continued to discuss what to do with their lives.

Edgar said he wanted to make clear that his wife "did not encourage me to get out," despite her concern that public life was taking a toll on his health.

Brenda Edgar has been the governor's closest political confidant. But she said she had thought since January that her husband would run for the Senate. She said she would have supported him had he made the race.

"I was very surprised of the choice," she said.

Now, after weeks filled with questions, the only one remaining for Edgar in closing out a 30-year public career -- ranging from legislative staffer, lawmaker, gubernatorial lobbyist, secretary of state and governor -- is what he will do when he retires in January 1999.

He leaves behind the only life he has known without concrete prospects for the future.

"I don't have a job," he said. "I have no real wealth."

But the 51-year-old Republican, among the most popular of Illinois' politicians, said he wouldn't go quietly in the remaining 16 months of his term. He implored GOP legislative leaders to pass school-funding reform as his legacy, a wish they have previously denied.

Immediately after his speech, Edgar embraced the prospect of a Ryan-Ryan team atop the Republican ticket next year, saying he supported Atty. Gen. Jim Ryan for the party's nomination for the U.S. Senate and Secretary of State George Ryan to replace him as governor.

Just as quickly, Jim Ryan announced the formation of an exploratory committee to examine a bid for the Senate seat held by Democrat Carol Moseley-Braun. And George Ryan, who has long wanted to be governor, said he would announce his decision next Wednesday. The two Ryans are not related.

Sounding nervous and strained at times, Edgar borrowed heavily from other speeches made throughout his gubernatorial career to recount the goals he had set -- and met -- in his administration.

"I knew, and I'm even more convinced now, that not all wisdom resides in Washington, Springfield and Chicago," Edgar said. "So we have reached out. We have listened. We have responded -- more than any administration in the history of this state. And because of that, Illinois is a better state and we're better prepared for the future."

Edgar, who brought a reserved style of leadership to Illinois after 14 years of the colorful Gov. James R. Thompson, reeled off a businesslike litany of accomplishments: imposing fiscal discipline and job cuts; expanding welfare-to-work programs; encouraging economic development; investing in natural resources; and money and management reforms for the Chicago Public Schools.

"I will be forever grateful to the people of this state for giving me this rare, precious opportunity and helping me to achieve what we have achieved during the '90s," Edgar said.

"You did help me win. You did help me to govern. And with your help, I believe we have accomplished -- and will continue to accomplish -- great things for Illinois."

But he maintained that there was still "important unfinished business." Topping that list is the school-funding reform that Republican leaders in the General Assembly rejected during the spring session.

"Our system of funding schools remains fundamentally unfair," Edgar said, vowing to continue pushing for a dramatic overhaul in the way Illinois' property-tax-dependent schools are funded.

Edgar's school-funding remarks were directed to the front row of the Executive Mansion ballroom, where Senate President James "Pate" Philip (R-Wood Dale) and House GOP leader Lee Daniels of Elmhurst were seated.

Philip, who led the fight against Edgar's $1.6 billion plan to boost income taxes, increase money for schools and cut property taxes, was conciliatory after Edgar spoke.

"I think we're going to miss Jim Edgar. I think that when you reflect on his two terms that he's done a very good job. The state has never been in better financial condition than we are today," he said.

And while Philip has told his constituents that he will not support a major income-tax increase such as the one Edgar proposed for schools, he said the governor's plan was "not dead."

But Daniels, who lined up GOP opposition to Edgar's proposal in the House, made it clear that he continues to view a statewide tax increase as a threat to his efforts to retake control of the House next year.

"The vast majority of Republicans do not favor an income-tax increase," Daniels said. "And they point very strongly to the successes of the Edgar administration and the state's economy as the very reason why we do not need an income-tax increase."

Edgar said he would be open to a more modest plan. But he said he doubted if major changes in school funding could be done without a tax increase.

"I'm still governor for 16 months. Now, I'll probably have to repeat that several times to people to remind them," he said.

It will be about four years before Edgar can start drawing his state pension of more than $80,000 a year. He has shrugged off or laughed at some of the jobs others have proposed for him, including a university presidency or a job in the horse-racing industry.

"I figure I have 16 months to mull that over," he said. "I don't intend to just retire to Florida and build a condo or something like that. Brenda's worried that I'm going to hang out at racetracks."

Edgar said he would not convert to personal use his $3.5 million campaign fund, but instead was planning to use the money to support GOP candidates and to assist social causes supported by his wife, especially children's issues.

He left little room for a return to politics.

"It's probably not going to be any better than this as far as our ability to be successful in government and politics," he said. "So, if you stick around here, probably you're going to go downhill.

"I always thought, `I'm going out on top.' Some people in politics stay too long, and sometimes if you don't go out on top, they throw you out."

With all of the state's top offices and control of the General Assembly up for grabs in the 1998 elections, Edgar's decision has for months been the most closely watched matter in Illinois politics.

Among those most affected were Democratic gubernatorial hopefuls John Schmidt, a Chicago attorney; Glenn Poshard, a Downstate congressman; and former state Atty. Gen. Roland Burris.

But watching Edgar closest of all was outgoing U.S. Atty. Jim Burns, whose decision whether to run for governor hinges in part on whether Edgar would run for re-election.

Despite widespread speculation about what he might do, Edgar never let on. His decision remained a secret until he revealed it Wednesday.

"This has been extremely difficult, just getting the words out of my mouth," he said.

Edgar acknowledged as he took office in January 1991, following Thompson's record 14-year reign, that he believed he should serve only eight years. But he admitted that he was at times intrigued by a challenge to Moseley-Braun.

And, he conceded, repeated publicity about the recent convictions of a major campaign contributor in a Public Aid scandal made him think about a third term as governor.

"All I can say is that it did give me pause to run again. Just because of how you guys played it," Edgar said of the fraud and bribery convictions involving Management Services of Illinois Inc. "But I decided I'm not going to let how the media play an issue determine what I'm going to do the next five years."

On Tuesday night, leaning toward leaving public life but still having bouts of indecision, Edgar convened a small group of five aides. He rehearsed three speeches prepared for any scenario by his former press secretary and close friend Michael Lawrence. By the end, the aides and Edgar were in tears.

At a noon family luncheon Wednesday, his wife asked the governor which speech he was going to deliver. He still did not know.

But an hour later, he and his wife agreed on the retirement speech.

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Edgar's retirement stirs sentiments in hometown

By Wes Smith
TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
Web-posted: Thursday, August 21, 1997

CHARLESTON, Ill. -- In this small Downstate town where Gov. Jim Edgar grew up and attended college, his retirement announcement Wednesday was greeted with a common sentiment: "It's about time."

His hometown supporters believe that Edgar, after more than 20 years of mostly living and working in Springfield as a state representative, political aide, secretary of state and governor, deserves a break -- and perhaps even a cushy local job.

"I've heard the rumor that he might be coming back here to be president of EIU -- but I haven't heard it from him," said Dana Bryant, a clerk in the Coles County treasurer's office in downtown Charleston's grand old limestone courthouse.

Bryant, 57, grew up with Edgar and his two brothers, and even played a minor role in the governor's rise from student body president at Eastern Illinois University here to state politician in the Capitol.

"I gave him his first tea to help raise funds for his first campaign for state representative, which I think he lost, by the way," said Bryant.

"I'd like him to come back," she added. "He is still a young man with a lot to offer."

Many Charleston residents said they had guessed that Edgar might retire rather than continue his political career because in the past whenever he was going to announce a new political campaign he usually came home to do it -- often as part of a statewide flyaround.

When Edgar stayed in Springfield to make his announcement Wednesday, people here figured it was because he no longer needed their cheers to launch another campaign.

"My husband said he thought Jim was going to retire but I kept saying he'd do it one more term so he could get the education funding straightened out," said Leslee McGinness, a high school classmate of Edgar's who now teaches high school English here.

"I have mixed emotions because I wanted to see him fix the school funding problem, but I am happy for him and Brenda. If anybody deserves a rest, it is him," McGinness said.

Charleston, population of 20,000, and Eastern Illinois University have benefited greatly from Edgar's high political profile. And many here take pride in the fact that not only did the local boy make good, he stayed good.

"I think he proved that you don't have to be from metropolitan Chicago to occupy the governor's office and his legacy is also that he served both as secretary of state and as governor without any claims of dishonesty being made against him. For any politician, that is pretty good," said Charleston attorney J. Leeds Bower, 65, who served as legal counsel for Edgar's late mother, Betty, when she was a young widow.

Bower is a partner in a law firm with Edgar's lifelong friend W.A. "Tony" Sunderman and served as a Republican committeeman for 34 years. His office looking out upon the Charleston courthouse square is decorated with more than 500 elephant figures symbolizing his partisan politics, but Bower said Edgar represented a new breed of politician.

"Even when I started in politics, the old patronage system was beginning to dissolve and Jim came to represent the new era. He was never big on patronage and I think he has been good for the state of Illinois," Bower said.

Another local resident, who preferred to identify himself only as "a downtown Democrat," begged to differ.

"Thank God he is retiring," he said. "He tries to come off as Mr. Goody Two Shoes but he is not as squeaky clean as he likes people to think."

Students and faculty at the EIU campus just down the street from downtown Charleston have quite a bit of evidence for making the case that, if nothing else, Jim Edgar brought home the bacon.

Just this summer the governor returned to campus to present a state-issued check of $1 million to pay for renovations to the EIU student library.

Prior to that, the highest-ranking EIU Panther in state politics handed over $17 million for renovations at the Robert G. Buzzard Education Building on campus, which in an earlier life served as the grade school for one young Jim Edgar.

"Governor Edgar has been a strong supporter of higher education across the state as well as at Eastern Illinois University," said Jill Nilsen, special assistant in the EIU president's office, which will be vacated by its current occupant next July -- just in time for a hometown boy's return, according to the Charleston grapevine.

"We've heard the rumors of what his future might hold, and whatever that may be, we wish him the best," Nilsen said coyly.

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Edgar retirement a political shocker

August 21, 1997
BY DAVE MCKINNEY
SUN-TIMES SPRINGFIELD BUREAU

SPRINGFIELD--Gov. Edgar shocked the state's political establishment Wednesday by scratching his name off next year's ballot and launching a free-for-all in upcoming races for governor and U.S. Senate.

``It's time. I've done it. I've had the great opportunity of being governor, and I had the opportunity to do what I wanted to do,'' Edgar said after his 13-minute retirement speech in the Executive Mansion ballroom.

His announcement ended a week of frenzied speculation in the capital about his political plans and defied the pollsters, who had pegged the two-term governor as the state's most popular politician.

``I want to go out on top. Now, some people in politics ... stay too long. Sometimes, if you don't go out on top, they throw you out,'' he said.

``After 30 years in state government, I have concluded it is time for Brenda and me to begin a new chapter in our life,'' Edgar told a somber gathering of more than 200 supporters and staff.

Edgar, who had been considering a third term as governor and a run against Democratic U.S. Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun, left the ballroom with tears in his eyes and wife Brenda at his side.

The bombshell rocked the political landscape, throwing all statewide offices up for grabs.

Secretary of State George Ryan was already maneuvering for governor and Attorney General Jim Ryan moved closer to a U.S. Senate run. And both got Edgar's endorsement Wednesday.

Edgar's move to end his political career comes after a trying 18 months. Only days earlier, a federal jury convicted a top campaign contributor, Management Services of Illinois, of bribery and fraud. The firm's trial raised serious ethical questions about the Edgar administration. But Edgar said the jury's verdict did not influence his decision.

``All I can say is that did give me pause to run again just because of how you guys played it,'' Edgar told reporters. ``[But] I decided I'm not going to let how the media plays an issue determine what I'm going to do the next five years.''

Edgar's leadership also was questioned in each of the last two springs, when he could not persuade his own party to back his call for an income tax increase for education.

During Edgar's speech, his former GOP nemeses on education--House Minority Leader Lee A. Daniels (R-Elmhurst) and Senate President James ``Pate'' Philip (R-Wood Dale)--sat in the front row, only feet from Edgar's lectern.

While Edgar held out hope Wednesday that he still could push through school-funding reform in his remaining 16 months, Philip maintained any plan with an income tax increase is ``down and wounded.''

``I think we're going to miss Jim Edgar,'' Philip said. ``When you reflect on his two terms, he's done a very good job.''

Some Democrats were less charitable toward Edgar's decision. Democratic Party Chairman Gary LaPaille accused the governor of ``running away from Illinois voters.''

But Mayor Daley, who has been both friend and foe to Edgar, said, ``I know this must have been a difficult decision for the governor. I commend him for his service to the people of Illinois. I extend to him and his family best wishes for the future.''

Daley has not endorsed a Democrat in the gubernatorial race.

Edgar had wavered over his three options--retirement, re-election or Senate--until only hours before his 3 p.m. speech. Once he had decided and began rehearsing his retirement speech, he said he had ``a real problem'' in ``getting the words out of my mouth.''

Brenda Edgar said, ``I know you won't believe this ... at 12 o'clock today, I was saying, `Jim, which speech is it going to be?'

``I'm very happy with the decision because I feel like Jim has given it so much thought. And I think he feels like it's the absolute best decision,'' she said.

Edgar said he was driven to spend more time with his family, particularly grandson Dakota. The toddler lives with his parents in Colorado and slept through Edgar's speech in an upstairs bedroom at the mansion.

``He's going to get big,'' Edgar said after his speech, with his grandson in his arms.

``What Jim Edgar did today, he did mostly for his family and for himself,'' said Edgar's running mate, Lt. Gov. Robert Kustra.

Just what happens after he leaves office in January, 1999, is a mystery at this point to Edgar, who has not amassed a personal fortune but could command a six-figure salary in the private sector.

Saying he had not lined up a future job, Edgar dispelled long-circulating rumors that he might be interested in the presidency of Eastern Illinois University, his alma mater, or in becoming Quaker Oats chief executive after friend William Smithburg leaves that post.

``I don't really know,'' Edgar said, when asked about his retirement plans. ``I figure I've got 16 months to mull that over and see. I hope to be very active. I don't intend to retire, and just go to Florida and live in a condo or something like that. Brenda's worried I'm going to hang out at the racetracks.

Contributing: Fran Spielman, Scott Fornek

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Out of the running
Edgar's not a candidate for anything

By BERNARD SCHOENBURG
STAFF WRITER/STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER

Lauding his record in office but following a plan he'd quietly had for years, Gov. Jim Edgar shook up the political terrain of Illinois Wednesday by announcing that he will not seek elective office in 1998.

The long-awaited announcement came in the ballroom of the Executive Mansion that Edgar has called his home since January 1991, and it marked the coming end of a state government career spanning three decades.

"I will not be a candidate in the upcoming election," Edgar, with family members including his wife, Brenda, at his side, told a hushed group of aides and supporters.

"It has been a very, very difficult decision. However, after 30 years in state government, I have concluded it's time for Brenda and me to begin a new chapter in our life. It's time to afford someone else the rare, precious opportunity to govern and lead the greatest state in the nation."

The 51-year-old governor had for months said he would run for a third term as governor, a U.S. Senate seat or no office in 1998. Most speculation had centered until the final hours before the announcement on which of the elective offices he would choose.

But Edgar told reporters after his emotional speech that "for the last several years, I had always planned to be a two-term governor. ... I had never really contemplated ... three terms as governor."

He said he knew that leaving after two terms would turn out to be tough.

"There's a lot of folks throughout the state who I have a great deal of respect for who ... urged me to run again," Edgar said, and he had second thoughts, particularly after meeting at the Illinois State Fair with GOP county chairman.

But he said he was never convinced his original two-term plan was wrong.

Edgar said he finally came to his decision because he set the 3 p.m. Wednesday announcement time and had to figure out which way to go.

Even his wife had guessed wrong in the weeks leading up to the announcement.

"I thought from January on that he was going to be running for the Senate," she said.

Edgar and his wife both stressed that the decision was the governor's.

"I would have been absolutely supportive of any of the three choices," Brenda Edgar said.

The governor also said he had always thought "I want to go out on top."

"Some people in politics, I think, stay too long," he added, with the result being "they throw you out."

Edgar said the weekend convictions in the federal bribery and fraud trial involving a key campaign contributor to his campaigns, Management Services of Illinois, played no role in his decision to remove himself from 1998 races. He said news coverage of the trial didn't affect his positive ratings in polls, though it did make him consider seeking another term to prove his popularity.

Edgar, who was not accused of any wrongdoing in the case, said the administration was open and cooperative in the matter, and he ultimately decided, "I'm not going to let how the media plays an issue determine what I'm going to do the next five years."

Edgar's eagerly anticipated announcement freed other Republican office seekers to make their 1998 plans, and gave Democrats new hope that without an incumbent to challenge, they might win back the governor's office for the first time in more than two decades.

"It's like the sun peeking out over the clouds after 22 years of rain," said David Axelrod, a Democratic strategist working for the gubernatorial campaign of Chicago lawyer John Schmidt.

And some Republicans were putting the best face on the news that Edgar, whose polling shows he maintains popularity ratings in the 70-percent range, will not be on the ballot next year.

"I'm enthusiastic about the ticket," said Senate President James "Pate" Philip, R-Wood Dale.

Edgar said he's not sure what he will do when, at age 52, he leaves the governor's office. But he said he will get involved in GOP campaigns, and already said he'd be for Attorney General Jim Ryan for U.S. senator and Secretary of State George Ryan for governor, if they seek those offices. He also noted that he has 16 months left in office with work left to do - and the "luxury" of not having to campaign in that time.

"I hope to be very active," he said about life after government. "I don't intend to retire and just go to Florida and live in a condo or something like that."

Despite past heart problems, Edgar also discounted health as a reason for his decision. He said a recent checkup showed him to be in "real good shape."

Edgar hasn't lost hope that he can push through an education funding reform package like the one blocked by the General Assembly this spring, and he said he hoped that his being a non-candidate might help remove any partisanship that might have blocked progress.

In his speech, Edgar thanked his supporters and highlighted achievements of his administration including streamlining state government, making the state more friendly to business, making major investments in conservation areas, giving more money to education, and moving people from welfare to work.

The Edgars' daughter, Elizabeth, son, Brad, and daughter-in-law, Stacey, joined them during the announcement. Brad and Stacey's baby son, Dakota, was sleeping at the time.

But after the announcement, the governor held Dakota in his arms while he answered some last questions.

Edgar said one thing he was looking forward in private life was "not worrying about when I pick up the paper in the morning whose done what in my administration."

Edgar's decision also leaves officials throughout the administration to wonder about their futures.

"We've all worked hard, but he's worked the hardest," said Thomas Ortciger, director of the Department of Nuclear Safety. "I appreciate the opportunity he gave me" but it's time he looks out for "himself and his family and his wife."

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