The state of the State
Position papers detail Thompson stance
GOV.-ELECT THOMPSON'S priorities, as listed in his Position Paper No. 7 last August are "education, criminal justice, transportation, and mental health." He termed these "high priority items" and said that until they were "properly funded, we cannot consider expensive projects such as Lincoln Lake," a proposed reservoir on the Embarras River near Charleston. He also turned thumbs down on the Middle Fork project on the Vermilion River near Danville until the state's fiscal condition improves when he indicated he would "take a new look at this project." A proposed marina near Zion which involves the use of state land but no cost to the state was favored, but with qualifications: (1) creation of a marina authority and (2) preparation of a satisfactory environmental impact statement.
Thompson issued 13 position papers during his campaign beginning with a paper on the Crosstown Expressway in Chicago. In this first paper, issued more than a year ago in the fall of 1975, he recommended a restudy of the proposal; in his last paper, issued less than a month before the November election, he recommended a criminal justice plan. These papers should be an excellent forecast of the positions Thompson will take as governor.
Public aid
Thompson's public aid proposals
include new methods to protect Illinois
from losing federal funds, professionalization of the operations of the
Department of Public Aid, a program to
deal with welfare fraud, improved
vocational training and effective job
placement, and increased consideration
of the rights of welfare recipients. To
deal with fraud he would hire on the
basis of merit, not politics, and institute
a training program to detect fraud. He would use computers to prevent duplicate applications, tying in with other
states, and he would use computers to
identify factors which continue to cause
ineligibility. He would create an independent welfare fraud control bureau
and focus on locating absent parents of
dependents on welfare.
A separate paper on medicaid proposes implementing the federal government's medicaid management information system (a model computer system) and improving relationships between the Department of Public Aid and medicaid service providers through a liaison program. Thompson wants to establish an independent office investigating medicaid fraud and implement a record book program for medicaid recipients to insure that services are documented and to reduce chances for fraud. Data in these two papers indicate that payments to ineligible recipients and fraudulent payments may total from $400 to $600 million per year.
Law enforcement
Thompson has had 16 years in law
enforcement activities, and his criminal
justice proposals (No. 13) are very
detailed. He recommends a statewide
grand jury and public defender system,
merit selection of judges and reform of
bail rules. He would use a summons in
lieu of arrest in misdemeanor cases and
the like and would use an omnibus trial
hearing to dispose of pretrial issues for
both parties, plus put a limit on continuances. He favors mandatory minimum
sentences for repeaters, more uniform
practice in sentencing to reduce disparities and creation of a state probation
agency.
Thompson believes a death penalty law should be passed to include murder of a law enforcement officer on duty or murder during commission of a rape, robbery or hijacking. Testing the Fogel "justice model," Thompson wants determinate sentences without parole applied to such crimes as murder, rape, arson, armed robbery or other felonies with guns, plus hard narcotics sales. Thompson's plan would ban unsupervised furloughs for persons serving sentences for violent crimes, and he believes habitual criminals (third-time felons) should be sentenced to life imprisonment without parole.
Thompson also proposed to initiate a campaign against white collar crime (financial fraud, etc.), to develop a plan to coordinate diverse aspects of the juvenile justice system, and to reorganize the accounting system of the Department of Corrections.
Children
Paper No. 5 asserts that "problems of child abuse, neglect, abandonment, and delinquency are interrelated and complex," but present efforts to help
children in need are "splintered, uncoordinated and ineffective." The paper
calls for "a major rebuilding effort" in
the Department of Children and Family
Services to include developing a guide
for assignment of each child, evaluation
of existing programs, launching a management training program, and
broadened contact with parents.
With respect to battered children, Thompson says guides should be prepared to assist teachers and counselors in identifying abused children and programs of self-identification through organizations such as Parents Anonymous should be encouraged. Also, "a computer capability should be developed to track children treated for physical injuries so that parents who take an abused child to a different hospital on each occasion cannot escape identification."
In his campaign financing paper, Thompson states he want more disclosure and the addition of a fifth, nonpartisan member to the state Board of Elections. Under governmental ethics, he urges creation of an independent state board of ethics to administer a "comprehensive and integrated Code of Ethics." His environment paper in eludes a multifaceted proposal calling for a "healthy and socially enjoyable'' environment that promotes rather than prevents sound economic growth." A set of the papers is on file with the State Library, Springfield, for ready inspection./ W.L.D.ž
24 /January 1977 / Illinois Issues