The Paul H. Douglas Award for Ethics in Government is memorialized by a solid bronze medallion bearing the Senator’s likeness.
Ethics, integrity, and understanding opposing viewpoints defined the career of Paul H. Douglas, who served as U.S. Senator from Illinois from 1949-1967. To commemorate the 100th anniversary of his birth in 1992, the University of Illinois established the Paul H. Douglas Award for Ethics in Government to extend this legacy for generations to come and to encourage future leaders to follow a similar path. Douglas’ career provides a model for public service and IGPA is proud to be the home for this award since its inception. The 2018 award was presented to former President Barack Obama. In 2019, the award was presented to Walter M. Shaub, Jr., former director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, no award was presented in 2020. Among other award recipients are U.S. Senators Mike Mansfield, Paul Simon, Barbara Mikulski, Richard Lugar, Carl Levin, Alan Simpson, Olympia Snowe and Richard Cohen, former Congressman and federal judge Abner Mikva, and retired U.S. Supreme Court Justices Sandra Day O’Connor and John Paul Stevens. The Douglas Award is made possible by donations from Ned Bandler, Jean Douglas Bandler, and Family, as well as all those who helped with the original funding and subsequent gifts from supporters of this long-running program.
The Paul H. Douglas Award for Ethics in Government is memorialized by a solid bronze medallion bearing the senator’s likeness. The award is presented annually to a person whose public actions, writings or other contributions have made a significant contribution to the practice and understanding of ethical behavior and fair play in government. The recipient may be an elected or career government official or former official, at any level of government and regardless of party, or a private citizen whose public actions or writings have made a significant contribution to the practice and understanding of ethical behavior in government. A selection committee drawn from the public and private sectors and academe selects the honoree from nominees whose careers have demonstrated or promoted respect for the highest standards of public service. Nominations for the award may be made by anyone and are sought from individuals and organizations across the United States. Past recipients include a Nobel Prize winner. The Douglas Award is made possible by donations from Ned Bandler, Jean Douglas Bandler, and Family, as well as all those who helped with the original funding and subsequent gifts from supporters of this long-running program.
Email acoope7@illinois.edu or Call (217) 333-3438.
Fred Wertheimer is the Founder and President of Democracy 21, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that works to strengthen our democracy and promotes government integrity, accountability and transparency measures to accomplish its goals. Wertheimer has spent more than five decades working on democracy and governance issues, and is a recognized national leader and spokesman on money in politics issues, including campaign finance, ethics, lobbying and transparency reforms. He has been described by The New York Times as “the country’s leading proponent of campaign finance reform,” and “the dean of campaign finance reformers,” by Washington Post columnist E. J. Dionne as “the eminence grise of the campaign reform movement” and by The Boston Globe as a “legendary open-government activist.”
Wertheimer was named as one of Washington’s 90 greatest lawyers of the last 30 years by Legal Times in 2008 and as one of Washington’s top lobbyists for several years by The Hill, a Capitol Hill newspaper. A graduate of the University of Michigan and Harvard Law School, Wertheimer served from 1981 to 1995 as President of Common Cause, a nonpartisan citizens’ lobby. He served in 1996 as a Fellow at the Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University, and in 1997 as the J. Skelly Wright Fellow and Visiting Lecturer at Yale Law School. Wertheimer also has served as a political analyst and consultant for CBS News, ABC News and ABC’s Nightline.
WALTER M. SHAUB JR.
BEN BERNANKE & JANET YELLEN
BARBARA MIKULSKI
JOHN LEWIS
JOHN PAUL STEVENS
OLYMPIA SNOWE
GEORGE MITCHELL
ALAN K. SIMPSON & ERSKINE BOWLES
ROBERT M. MORGENTHAU
Eliot Spitzer
Abner Mikva
Arthur S. Flemming
A. Ernest Fitzgerald
Archibald Cox
Nominations can be submitted by sending a nomination letter to the IGPA Director. The nomination letter should include a short bio and a short explanation of why the nominee is deserving of this award. All nominations will be screened for eligibility then forwarded to the selection committee for review.
Nominations can be made online by clicking here:
Make NominationsOr submitted via email to igpa@uillinois.edu
Or sent to:
Institute of Government and Public Affairs
University of Illinois ATTN: Douglas Award Nomination Committee 1007 West Nevada Street Urbana, IL
61801
Recipients of the award may be elected or career government officials, former officials, or a private citizen whose public actions or writings have made a significant contribution to the practice and understanding of ethical behavior in government. A nominee should be a person whose career demonstrates or promotes respect for high standards of public service.
Members of this working group research ways to make Illinois’ economic and fiscal structure equitable, dynamic and sustainable.
Questions may be directed to Alyssa Cooper.
