Kent Redfield named Illinoisan of the Year by the Illinois News Broadcasters Association

Kent Redfield, emeritus professor of political science at the University of Illinois Springfield, was awarded the Illinoisan of the Year award at the Illinois News Broadcasters Association (INBA) fall conference on Oct. 4 in Marion.

Redfield was voted by past presidents of the INBA as Illinoisan of the Year in honor of his contributions as a political scientist at UIS and his work with the Sunshine Project, a political campaign finance research project. Redfield is a frequent contributor to news stories on Illinois politics, and a well-known presence in Springfield. He delivered a keynote address at the award ceremony.

Redfield has been engaged in research on the financing of political campaigns in Illinois and political ethics since 1991. The results of that research have been presented in numerous research reports, a series of articles in Illinois Issues, a 1994 book on financing legislative elections in Illinois, which is entitled Cash Clout and a 2001 book on the role of money in Illinois politics entitled Money Counts. Redfield has been director of the Sunshine Project since 1997. The project focuses on the role of money in politics, particularly in Illinois. The extensive databases and analysis of campaign finance in Illinois produced by the project can be accessed on the website of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform at www.ilcampaign.org.

Past recipients of the Illinoisans of the Year award include Attorney General Lisa Madigan (2011), Governor Jim Edgar (2009) and former press secretary and director of the Paul Simon Institute, Mike Lawrence (2008). Other winners include U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald (2006), State Representative Barbara Flynn Currie (2001), Senator Paul Simon (1995), and economists Saul Bellow and Milton Friedman (1977).