Fighting for the people
Clyde Bunch was the opposite of term limits. First elected to the Sangamon County Board in 1980 at 44, he served 44 years, representing District 21 and a predecessor district. He was elected 14 times, including just two months before his death. Bunch also served 60 years as a Democratic precinct committeeman.
He died a month shy of his 89th birthday and lived a colorful life, filled with controversy, joy and love.
While Bunch’s recent elections were uncontested, that isn’t how he started.
Hard to believe today, but in 1978 Democrats had a 15 to 14 majority on the County Board, and Bunch’s County board member, Democrat Don Gibbs, was chair. In July 1978, Gibbs resigned the chairmanship and another Democrat, George Mimms, voted with the Republicans to elect Republican Dick Austin as the chair.
In the next election, Bunch stepped up to run for Gibbs’ seat. Bunch beat Republican Ets Galassi, 1,067 to 878. By 1982, Gibbs had become a Republican and ran against Bunch for his old seat, but Bunch defeated him in a close 1,344 to 1,057 vote.
County Board wasn’t Bunch’s first foray into elections. In 1978 he ran to fill a two-year vacancy on the SMEAA Board, finishing third, behind the winner, Tom J. Ketchum, and Len Dirksen.
In 1977, Bunch, a former deputy sheriff, presented his credentials to the Democratic Central Committee to run for sheriff instead of the incumbent Democratic Sheriff Martin Gutschenritter. The Democrats backed the incumbent, but he lost to Republican Jim Purdon.
Bunch served as president of the Southeast Democratic Club for more than 16 years.
He attended Feitshans High School, and with his late wife, Ruth A. Squires, had two children and raised 23 foster children, according to SJ-R reports.
At Bunch’s funeral U.S. Senator Dick Durbin said he first met Bunch five years after moving to Springfield. Durbin didn’t have much money, but he wanted to run for state Senate, so Durbin wrote down 10 people crucial to winning his race. A year later, Durbin had lost; he opened a drawer and looked at the list. Only three people on it had helped, and Clyde was No. 1, Durbin said.
In the first Springfield city election after the voting rights lawsuit, Bunch first circulated petitions to run for Ward 1 alderman. But he switched gears to run for Public Works director in the 1987 election for a transition government. Bunch, then a Capitol security guard with the Secretary of State, touted his seven years of experience in the city’s Public Works Department. Although he made it past the first-round election in September, Bunch lost the November general election to Democratic Party Chair Todd Renfrow.
On Tuesday evening, June 20, 2006, word was spreading that Bunch had died. His daughter and grandson received calls of sympathy. Stunned, his daughter, Cathy, said she called home “and my mom said he’s asleep in bed. I told her to go pinch him to make sure.”
“I’ve had a couple open heart surgeries and close calls, but the Man ain’t called me yet,” Bunch told the SJ-R at the time.
Bunch ran for Sangamon County Democratic Chair in 2009 when Tim Timoney resigned. Bunch complained Timoney had appointed 35 precinct committeepersons, implying the deck was being stacked against him. Timoney said he was only filling vacancies to leave less work for the new chairman. Jim Moody won.
No stranger to controversy, Bunch was charged with a DUI in 1998. Bunch refused the breath test, but an out-of-county judge both rescinded Bunch’s summary suspension and found him not guilty of the DUI. The judge strongly criticized Deputy J.D. McNamara’s treatment of Bunch, who threatened to sue for $5 million. His lawyer, Tim Timoney, said they might, but court records do not reflect the suit was filed.
Bunch started collecting his pension in 1997, but in 2002 got a part-time job with the city. In 2008 the IMRF cut off Bunch’s pension and sought to claw back $91,539.96 of pension benefits because Bunch worked more than 1,000 hours a year, violating an IMRF rule. Attorney Grady Holley filed an appeal for Bunch, and according to IMRF general counsel Vladmir Shuliga, the appeal was granted in part.
Bunch only had to pay back $63,650, and he did.
Bunch served on a jury in 1991, shortly after the courts moved to the new County Building. Several of his fellow jurors had claustrophobia and couldn’t get on elevators, Bunch said, but the stairs in the building were accessible only in emergencies.
Bunch filed a resolution calling for the stairways to be unlocked so the public could use them routinely. The measure lost.
In August 2006 Bunch voted no on the county smoking ban, which narrowly passed. Then in December he introduced a resolution for an advisory referendum on exempting private clubs, bowling alleys and designated areas of bingo halls. The measure failed in the election committee, and Bunch dropped it, saying, “I can count.”
In 2023 Bunch voted present on a controversial zoning measure to allow a solar farm in eastern Sangamon County. The measure failed. But due to Bunch later agreeing to vote yes and two Republicans who had voted no agreeing to move for reconsideration, the measure was reconsidered and the solar farm was later approved – the first time in anyone’s memory that the board reversed itself.
The County Board is currently composed of 21 Republicans and eight Democrats. Yet the longest serving County Board member in Illinois history is fondly remembered by members of both parties, not only for his colorful personality, but for his dedication to public service and helping others.
In the reception area of the Helping Hands homeless shelter, constructed by the county at Ash Street and Dirksen Parkway, hangs a plaque with Bunch’s image. It reads: “In Recognition Of Clyde Bunch’s Tireless Dedication And Public Service To the People of Sangamon County.”
Sam Cahnman, a lawyer, served on the County Board with Clyde Bunch from 2002 to 2006 and from 2022 until Bunch’s death in December 2024. Cahnman also served two terms on the Springfield City Council, representing Ward 5.
This article appears in January 1-7, 2026.
