Washington
By TOM LITTLEWOOD
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WashingtonBy TOM LITTLEWOOD |
Illinois' education embassy
THE INTERESTS of the governor and
the state superintendent of education
are frequently in conflict in Springfield
— on budgetary matters, for example.
But in Washington their representatives
work amiably in the same offices. Paul
B. Simmons, director of the State of
Illinois Washington office, is Gov.
Thompson's eyes and ears in the nation's capital. Sharing office facilities
with Simmons and his staff is Allan S.
Cohen, an executive assistant with the
Illinois Department of Education,
which is independent of the governor.
"Paul could always close his office door
or I could close mine, but it hasn't
happened yet," Cohen remarked recently.
The reason why the two separate
operations co-exist so easily is that they
are seldom working at cross purposes.
Their joint objective is more federal
funds for Illinois. With the growth of
federal aid, the states and more and
more local units of government have
found it worth their while to maintain a
presence in Washington in much the
same way that foreign governments
establish embassies to represent their
interests.
Working as coalition
Cohen's assignment to Washington is
particularly meaningful. He came with
Supt. Joseph Cronin to Illinois from
Massachusetts where he had been the
superintendent's top assistant. When
the Illinois Board of Education decided
that an outpost in Washington could
add to the $300 million a year that the
state now claims in federal funds, the 32-year-old former Boston teacher was
chosen for the transfer.
Newly arrived last December, he was the first tenant in the Hall of the States, a new building at the foot of Capitol Hill occupied by the National Governors' Conference and many of the other state organizations and representatives who cluster near the federal legislature. Cohen and the nine other representatives of state education agencies in Washington gather for weekly brown bag lunches at which they plan collective strategy. Their common mission is to make their views known before federal education laws are passed and then to apply for as much of the grant money as they can get.
When they act in concert, the coalition of education group is a formidable lobby. The Association of Chief State School Officers, the National Association of State Boards of Education and the Education Commission of the States all have Washington offices, with overlapping activities.
Although the last two Republican administrations made an effort to regionalize the decisionmaking process, the educators know that the big decisions are made and the big federal dollars are to be had in Washington, not in the various regional offices. The Illinois Board of Governors of State Colleges and Universities, and the Chicago School Board, are both considering opening Washington offices to be closer to the sources of federal funds and research contracts.
Coalition-building is just as essential for Simmons. The Illinois office is involved in a bipartisan network of regional groups working to increase the share of federal funds that goes to the Midwest and Northeast as against the Sun Belt states of the South and West. Simmons sees this as a consciousness-raising project. "Congress is feeling regional pressures for the first time," he said. "We're trying to get in on the big issues that mean really big bucks to us." Alie Randlett, formerly in charge of Wisconsin's Washington office, is now the Illinois specialist in regional liaison and regional competition for funds.
Simmons, like Cohen, is an Easterner, having worked in the Rockefeller administration in New York. There are five full-time professionals in the Illinois office. They work to "get our voice heard," Simmons said, in Congress, the executive departments and regulatory agencies. They also act as a state service clearinghouse and information bureau for the Illinois congressional delegation, and as the governor's political functionaries in Washington.
You won't find an item in the state budget marked "Washington office." The personnel are scattered among various payrolls. Lobbying for the big bucks in Washington might not be something either the legislature or the public would fully understand. For their "connections and expertise," according to Simmons, Illinois pays two part-time consultants who are specialists in transportation and coal gasification. "Access is a lot in this town," explains Simmons. "In their fields, they know the establishment and the bureaucracy."
August 1977 / Illinois Issues / 31