Gary Skoien
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Gary Jackson Skoien is a Republican politician from Illinois. He served as Chairman of the Cook County, Illinois Republican Central Committee from 2004 to 2006. Skoien was elected Chairman of the Cook County Republican Central Committee following a contentious election that also included Republican State Central Committeeman Maureen Murphy and Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica. Eventually, Skoien prevailed, widely seen as a compromise candidate that appealed to the Republican vote-rich northern suburbs of Cook County. Skoien concurrently serves as the Republican Committeeman for Palatine Township, Illinois.
Skoien earned a degree in political science in 1976 from Colgate University in Hamilton, New York and in 1978 was granted a Master of Public Policy degree from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Skoien, an Inverness, Illinois resident, previously challenged U.S. Congressman Phil Crane in two primary elections, vying to replace Crane on the general election ballot. Crane ultimately won in both cases, evantually losing to Democrat Melissa Bean in the November 2004 election.
Gary Skoien also serves as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Rosemont, Illinois-based Horizon Group Properties, Inc., a nationwide developer of outlet malls. Prior to his career in the private sector, he served as Executive Director from 1983 to 1991 on the Illinois Capital Development Board. In the early 1980s, Skoien served as Assistant to the Governor for Health and Welfare for then-Illinois Governor Jim Thompson.
In early 2006, reports suggested that outgoing U.S. Senator Peter Fitzgerald, a close friend of Skoien's and fellow Inverness, Illinois resident, has asked that Skoien seek the position of Chairman of the Illinois Republican Party following Judy Baar Topinka's anticpated resignation in January, 2005. Ultimately, Skoien demured to Andy McKenna Jr, a paper company magnate and unsuccessful candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2004.
Skoien made national headlines [1] in summer 2005, when as Chairman of the Cook County, Illinois Replican Central Committee, he offered a $10,000 bounty for any information leading to the indictment and conviction of Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley. Skoien immediately drew fire from both Democrats and Republicans for this bounty, but attracted immense press attention to the Cook County Republicans. Daley is currently embroiled in a political patronage scandal that had already netted 21 indictiments by U.S. Attorney (Northern District, Illinois) Patrick Fitzgerald, although Daley has never been charged. Two days after Skoien's annoucnement of the bounty, he was fired as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Office of Prime Realty, a firm that has considerable real estate holdings in the city of Chicago.
