When I was younger, back in the late 60's, I got to know quite a few Illinois political figures personally because of my hobby of collecting license plates. Aside from getting collections from 1911 onward, my particular passion was getting low number plates. Through this, I got to know Paul Powell (the SOS you mentioned before?). He actually lobbied some of the owners to give up their expired plates to this adorable 14 year old kid (we actually did exist back then!) from Aurora. He was always nice to me, so I won't go into the scandal you mentioned.
I also got to know Otto Kerner because he had #2. After bugging him for a year or two, he finally said he didn't have any #2 plates left, but gave me his "other plate"...."Official 1" from his days as governor. This was all by mail, however at the age of 16, I was in Lake Geneva, WI (the drinking age was lower up there back then), and happened to spot a car with Illinois #2 on it. I walked up to Mr. Kerner and introduced myself, and he recognized me as the kid who kept writing him for his plates.
Among the others I got to know included Ray Carpentier(sp?) who had #3, James Copley (of the Copley press and son of Ira Copley) who had #44, and Supreme Court Judge Roy Solfisburg who had "Supreme Court #4 plate, and Ken Yellin who had #71.
I got lots of other plates in the 1-100 range, but never actually met them in person. I was also one of the earlier members of the
A.L.P.C.A. (Automobile License Plate Collectors of America) with #761.
Don't tell me I wasn't popular in school....LOL!