By MARY C. GALLIGAN
A graduate student in the Public Affairs
Reporting Program at Sangamon State
University, she has worked for the Decatur
Herald Review and taught school in the
St. Louis area since graduating from
Illinois State University with a B.A.
in English.
Can the Republicans stay solid
and support the governor's programs?
Inside the Senate: Factions and issues
LEADERS on the Republican side of
the aisle in the state Senate view their
major task in the 80th session of the
General Assembly as supporting Gov.
James R.. Thompson's budget proposals. "There are other subtitles," said Sen.
John Graham (R., Barrington), but
Republican priorities are tied to the state's finances.
Sen. David C. Shapiro (R., Amboy),
minority leader, said the state and the
legislature must exercise fiscal responsibility and cut spending. "This is the third
year of deficit spending," he noted. "We
need to build up the cash balance. And
one year won't solve the problems." He
said the only ploy the Democrats might
use is to disagree with Thompson's
revenue estimates. That will be the focal
point of the entire debate. Even if the
governor's estimates are too low, Shapiro said, "that doesn't preclude the belt
tightening. If we're not going to bite the
bullet now, the state will face more
severe problems next year. We know
bills have been delayed and cash has
been short." Shapiro said his priorities
as minority leader are to "support the
governor and his budget proposals and
get us back on even keel so that in two
years we can provide for the other
services we've had to cut back on."
Other Republican leaders agree with
Thompson's conservative revenue estimates and anticipate difficulties in
holding back spending in certain areas.
Sen. Roger A. Sommer (R., Morton),
minority spokesman for the Appropriations I Committee, said education,
public aid and pay raises for state
employees will be areas of contention.
According to Sommer, the bottom line
on Thompson's budget is "not this
spring but next fall during the override
session."
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Sen. John B. Roe(R., Rochelle), the
Elections Committee minority spokesman, also forecast dissatisfaction with the budget from various interest groups.
He predicted the governor "is going to
have to veto a lot of measures." Sen.
Stanley Weaver(R., Urbana) said there
will be some priority split over some
areas of the budget. Weaver, an assistant minority leader, said "there will be
time in May and June to allocate additional funds" to areas such as education.
Shapiro said he thinks education
came out very well in Thompson's budget. "What we did last December was
a total disaster," he said, referring to the
special session which former Gov.
Daniel Walker called to raise additional
funds for education. "The ramifications
of that action," he said, will be felt this
year since it took $50 million of this
year's revenues through tax speedup
measures to fund the school aid formula. Sen. Graham said he sees "a fight
there on funding the formula. Unless we
have a tremendous increase in resources, the formula will never be
funded."
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Sen. John J. Nimrod (R., Skokie),
minority spokesman for the Higher
Education Committee, said, "The governor has pretty well indicated education is his top priority." Nimrod does
not see any additional changes in the
funding formula this year. Education
will again be a major battle in the
legislature, predicted Sen. Bradley M.
Glass (R., Northfield), an assistant
minority leader. "The city of Chicago is
under financial stress," he said, "and will
be looking to the state for help." Some
of the mandated programs in education
should be reevaluated and perhaps
"unmandated," according to Glass.
The Republican leaders agree with
Gov. Thompson's concern about the
state's prison system. "More acute than
most people realize is the Department of
Corrections," Graham said. "We are in
desperate shape." He said after working
in this area for 18 years, he feels there are
only two choices available to deal with
additional prisoners — "provide space
to incarcerate them or turn them loose."
Graham said, "The past administration
just was not sensitive to the real needs of
the prisoners." Instead, said Graham,
"We kept hearing about a bare bones
budget." The problem was further
complicated, according to Graham, by
the fact that "most of us had demanded
loudly that the courts quit using probation so liberally. I was forced to sit by and watch."
The Department of Corrections
should have "high priority for emergency attention," said Sen. Harber H.
Continued at bottom of page 12.
May 1977 / Illinois issues / 11
Continued from page 11.
Hall (R., Bloomington), the Labor and
Commerce Committee spokesman for
the Republicans. He said there are
needed improvements in the penal
system, which if completed, would
strengthen the entire judicial system.
"That in itself should help decrease the
incidence of crime. Sure and swift
punishment is the best deterrent."
The prison system is a "tinderbox
situation," according to Sen. Glass. "We
have to act on it now. 1 consider it a
major problem."
The State Board of Elections presents
another immediate problem for the
Republican leaders. The State Board
of Elections was granted an extension
from the court until May 11 when the
Supreme Court's decision becomes
effective and, in effect, causes the board
to be without members because the
method of appointment is unconstitutional. The original effective date was
March 15 set by the court in its ruling in
November in Walker v. State Board of
Elections (see March Illinois Issues).
Shapiro said he favors a four-man board, selected by the governor and
confirmed by the Senate. In case of tie
votes, let the board itself devise its own
method of handling the situation, he
said. The court also declared the board's
method of breaking a tie vote was
unconstitutional.
Sen. Roe said he also favored a four-man board over a five-member board
composed of two Republicans, two
Democrats and one independent.
"There's no good way to have a fifth
member," he said. Hall said, 'T don't
like the designation of nonpartisan
anything. I don't like that term. I don't
like people selected because they're
nonvoters in primary elections." The
sentiment of many Senate Republicans
was expressed in Sen. Sommer's appraisal of the elections board. "It's an
example of one of those proposals that
was just stupid." The reform intended
by the new Constitution "has backfired
totally," according to Sommer.
Passage of the federal Equal Rights
Amendment (ERA) has a "slim-to-moderate" chance during this session,
said Shapiro. He has consistently voted against it, he said, because provisions in
the U.S. Constitution make ERA
unnecessary. "If we need a separate
article to prevent discrimination based
on sex," he said, "we need separate
articles for color, religion, age and the
physically handicapped. No constitutional amendment will do away with
discrimination. Customs and mores
determine discrimination in everyday
life."
Collective bargaining for public
employees may be a major point of
disagreement between the Senate Republicans and the governor. While
Thompson has said he would sign a
reasonable collective bargaining bill,
most Republicans are opposed to it.
"Twenty-one of the 25 [Senate Republicans] are opposed to any collective
bargaining," said Sen. Roe. "1 am one of
those four who would generally support
collective bargaining. We tend to feel
public employees should have the right
to strike." Roe noted that the Democrats in the Senate are also divided on
the issue. "It's less than unanimous
among the Democrats," he said. "If the
12 / May 1977 / Illinois Issues
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Daley organization as it exists remains
less than enthused, that won't make 30
votes."
As chairman of the subcommittee
that studied collective bargaining during the 79th General Assembly, Sen.
Hall said he had "a feeling a vast
majority of our citizens don't approve of
the concept of any public employee
striking." He predicted a very active
session in this area, noting certain lobby
groups such as the Illinois Education
Association addressed the question specifically in the last election.
"Unions are concentrating on this
area," said Nimrod. "It presents a great
opportunity since union enrollment in
the private sector is declining." Republican opposition to collective bargaining
centers around the right of public
employees to strike. "1 don't think there
should be strikes in the public sector,"
said Sen. Glass. "1 don't think the law
should authorize it."
Sen. Shapiro said the results of the
struggle of the Democratic factions for the Senate presidency at the beginning of the session were "a mixed bag," with
no real winners or losers. "Some
individuals might have gained," .he said,
"but what they came up with in the final
analysis is difficult to say." Roe said the
Democratic struggle for the presidency
was worthwhile. "The whole thing was
very constructive. It's the best thing that
ever happened here." The Democrats in
the Senate "will be much more solid as a
group of 34" because of the leadership
fight, according to Roe. "It was probably the worst thing that ever happened
to Thompson."
Graham said he was happy the
Republicans stayed unified behind their
candidate. Sen. Shapiro, and let the
majority party settle its own differences.
He said he was ready to negotiate with
the Democrats, however, because "we
weren't getting anywhere and the image
of elected officials is not that good
now." Nimrod said he hopes Republican unity during the balloting is a sign of
continued party unity. So far, he said,
"we have been able to discuss things and arrive at consensus efforts."
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Senate Republicans
Karl Berning, Deerfield
Prescott E. Bloom, Peoria
Jack E. Bowers, Downers Grove
Max E. Coffey, Charleston
John A. Davidson, Springfield
Bradley M. Glass, Northbrook
John A. Graham, Barrington
John E. Grotberg, St. Charles
Harber H, Hall, Bloomington
Kenneth G. McMillan, Bushnell
Robert W. Mitchler, Oswego
Don A. Moore, Midlothian
John J. Nimrod, Park Ridge
Frank M. Ozinga, Evergreen Park
James Philip, Elmhurst
David J. Regner, Mt. Prospect
Mark Q. Rhoads, Western Springs
John B. Roe, Rochelle
James H. Rupp, Decatur
Jack Schaffer, Crystal Lake
David C. Shapiro, Amboy
Roger A. Sommer, Pekin
James C. Soper, Cicero
Richard A. Walsh, River Forest
Stanley B. Weaver, Urbana
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Continued at bottom of page 14.
May 1977 / Illinois Issues / 13
Continued from bottom of page 13.
Shapiro said he was not happy to see
extra leadership positions created in the
Senate as one of the results of the
presidency negotiations. "We are only
creating problems for ourselves," he
said. What happens when the leadership
is expanded is that "the leadership could
start bidding-wars. If you run into a
roadblock and need four or five votes,
trade-offs occur." The same thing has
happened in the House in the past to the
point where "the House is all leadership
now," according to Shapiro. Sen. Hall
said he was discouraged "when the
Republicans did not recognize this expanded leadership is not good for our
party." There is no real function for the
added leaders, "no work for them to do."
Nimrod said now 20 per cent of the
Senate members are in leadership
positions. This only "destroys the
effectiveness of leadership," He also
opposed "the proliferation and expansion of committees in the Senate." It was
a bad compromise among the Democratic factions, he said, "which became very clear, very obvious." Shapiro was
also displeased with the division of the
Appropriations, Judiciary and Education committees. He said, "The result
will be that the Higher Education
Committee is not going to get much
assigned to it and will not improve its
lot."
Shapiro said he does not foresee any difficulties in the confirmation of
Thompson's cabinet appointments.
"The Republicans are going to like Jim
Thompson," he said. "The Republican
party will be proud of him and the way
he's conducted himself." With Thompson, Sen. Charles Percy and Atty. Gen.
Williams Scott leading the Republican
ticket in 1978, Shapiro said the Republican party should experience a resurgence of strength in the legislature.
Graham said if Thompson "does a
good job" during this term, he should
not have any problem getting reelected
unless he "gets off the beam. We're kind
of hinged on this guy," he said, and
added he hopes Thompson continues to
call up on experienced legislators for
advice and not make the disastrous
mistake of surrounding himself with
yes-men.
"It is difficult to function in a
minority role," Nimrod said, but expressed confidence in looking at Republican prospects in 1978. "If we begin
now," he said, "we can recapture the
seats we lost four years ago." Shapiro
said discussion of the governor's presidential ambitions should not hurt his
effectiveness. "He's going to tend to
business here in Illinois," he said.
Democrats will probably receive better
cooperation from Thompson than they
experienced with former Gov. Walker.
This is because Thompson is "willing to
talk to them, compromise and reach
agreements."
14 / May 1977 / Illinois Issues