Names- Illinois Issues, September, 1980

Turnover in top agencies and new superintendent of education

A flurry of top-level appointments, reappointments and resignations over the past two months result in the following changes in the governor's cabinet.

James B. Zagel, Chicago, switched jobs in August. He was named director of the Department of Law Enforcement (DLE) by Gov. James R. Thompson effective in August. Zagel had been director of the Department of Revenue and originally joined the Thompson administration in 1977 as executive director of the Illinois Law Enforcement Commission. The DLE directorship was held by Dan K. Webb, who resigned in July to return to private law practice. Before Zagel took over, DLE Assistant Director James F. McCarthy, Palatine, served as acting director.

Replacing Zegel as director of the Department of Revenue is J. Thomas Johnson, Springfield, who was assistant revenue director and had been director of the Department of Local Government Affairs.

Also joining the Thompson cabinet was Joyce E. Tucker, Chicago. She was appointed by Thompson as director of the newly created Illinois Department of Human Rights effective in July. This new agency results from the merger of the Illinois Fair Employment Practices Commission and the Department of Equal Opportunity Employment (EOE). Tucker, an attorney, was previously acting director of EOE. The Human Rights Department has been opposed by black lawmakers in the Illinois House who charge that it would dilute already existing laws protecting blacks from racial discrimination. If confirmed, Tucker will be the first black woman to be a permanent cabinet member.

Thompson also appointed Dr. Ivan Pavkovic, Glenview, as acting director of the Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities (DMHDD) effective July 1. Pavkovic, a psychiatrist, had been associate director of DMHDD since 1977. He replaces Robert deVito who resigned to head the Department of Psychiatry at Loyola University's Stritch School of Medicine in Maywood. A nationwide search for a permanent director of DMHDD is in effect. The 16-member search committee is headed by Dr. Harold M. Visotsky, M.D., Chicago.

The next permanent director of DMHDD must be a psychiatrist as required by law. However, the requirement that the director of public health be a physician was eliminated by the General Assembly this year, and a similar proposal to eliminate the psychiatrist requirement for DMHDD director was postponed. Those arguing for the change say that most of DMHDD's work in both state facilities and government grants involves developmental disabilities rather than mental illness and does not require specialization in psychiatry. And the sheer size and scope of the department makes administrative ability the most important requisite.

Jeffrey C. Miller, who had been acting director of the Department of Public Aid (IDPA) since September 1979, was appointed director by the governor in May after a bill was approved to waive the requirement of 10 years of experience in the area of public aid. Miller joined IDPA in 1974 after working for the Bureau of the Budget (see next month's magazine for Miller's comments on the recent audit of IDPA).

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Lastly, William J. Schilling, Chicago, was reappointed commissioner of the Illinois Savings and Loan Commission by the governor effective in July. Schilling, an attorney, has been a commissioner since October 1979. Previously he was assistant director of the Department of Financial Institutions.

All of these appointments require Senate confirmation.

The state also has a new superintendent of education: Donald G. Gill, who was born and educated in Illinois. He was appointed by the State Board of Education effective August 1. The board's power to appoint is from the Constitution and does not require Senate confirmation.

Gill was previously superintendent of Volusia County Schools, DeLand, Fla. A native of O'Fallon, he received his bachelor's degree from Illinois College, Jacksonville, and his master's degree and doctorate in education from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. He has taught in Waverly and Taylorville schools and was professor of education and director of laboratory schools at Eastern Illinois University, Charleston.

Gill must address the controversial issues of desegregation, competency testing and financial aid to Chicago schools. Gill replaced Joseph M. Cronin, who was the first appointed state superintendent and resigned to become president of the Massachusetts Higher Education Assistance Corporation, Boston, Mass.

Names

Judiciary

Milton Shadur, Chicago, was nominated as U.S. district court judge for the Northern District of Illinois by President Jimmy Carter and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in June. Shadur had been general counsel to the Illinois Judicial Inquiry Board since 1975. Also nominated for the Northern District court bench were: Charles Kocoras, Oak Lawn, and Susan Getzendanner, Chicago. Kocoras resigned in 1979 as chairman of the Illinois Commerce Commission to work in a private law firm. Getzendanner, is an attorney with Mayer, Brown and Platt and was chief trial attorney for Continental Bank of Chicago. As of July 19, their appointments were still awaiting U.S. Senate confirmation.

Arthur F. Powers Jr., Sullivan, was appointed associate judge of the 6th Judicial Circuit of Illinois by the circuit judges of the 6th Circuit effective June 1, Powers had been state's attorney of Moultrie County.

Human Rights Commission

Randall C. Raynolds, Springfield, as member of the Illinois Human Rights Commission, by the governor effective in June for a term ending in January 1981. The appointment requires Senate confirmation. Raynolds, a realtor, is chairman of the National Association of Realtors Equal Opportunity Committee. He was appointed after Gov. Thompson withdrew the nomination of Ruth K. Kretschmer, Medinah. Kretschmer's name was withdrawn when Sen. John E. Friedland (R., South Elgin) objected to her remaining a member of the DuPage County Board while serving on the commission (see June Illinois Issues, p. 28, for list of other commission members).

Other appointments

Albert Somit, Carbondale, was named president of Southern Illinois University at Carbondale effective June 12, and Earl Lazerson, Edwardsville, was named president of Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville effective July 10. Both appointments were made by SIU chancellor Kenneth A. Shaw with approval by the SIU Board of Trustees. Somit was previously executive vice president of the State University of New York at Buffalo. He replaces acting SIU-C president, Hiram H. Lesar, who resigned to become chancellor of the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, Lazerson, who had been acting SIU-E president since last September when he replaced Shaw, joined the mathematics faculty in 1969. He was chosen over a host of applicants from outside the state.

B. Smith Hopkins, Urbana, as executive secretary of the statewide Health Coordinating Council, by the governor effective in July. The appointment requires Senate

30/September 1980/Illinois Issues

confirmation. Hopkins is a retired physician who specialized in internal medicine at Carle Clinic, Urbana, from 1944 to 1978. He replaces Roy W. Armstrong Jr. who resigned to return to work at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) — formerly the Department of Health, Education and Welfare.

Kenneth A. Padgham Jr., Chicago, as general counsel of the Department of Registration and Education, by the department's acting director James D. Nowlan effective in July. Padgham was assistant Illinois attorney general in the inheritance tax division of the Attorney General's Office. He replaces Jacob M. Shapiro, Chicago, who retired. Shapiro, the department's first general counsel, was named to the post in 1974.

Norval Hickman Jr., East St. Louis, as deputy director of the bureau of disability adjudication services, Department of Rehabilitation Services (DORS) by department director James S. Jeffers in March. The bureau determines medical eligibility of persons filing claims for Social Security Continued on back cover

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Names

Continued from page 31

Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI). Hickman was previously DORS rehabilitation services supervisor in the East St. Louis and Greenville area district office. He replaces Joy Hill who resigned.

Charles E. Jones, Lockport, as affirmative action officer for the Illinois Department of Commerce and Community Affairs, by department director John W. Castle effective in August. This is a new office within the department. Jones was director of personnel services at Chicago State University.

Retirements

Ernest F. Melkush, Springfield, as chief of field services, Illinois Emergency Services and Disaster Agency (ESDA), effective June 30. Melkush had been with the agency for 16 years and was responsible for all field activity and coordination in ESDA's nine regions.

Honors

Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago, was one of 11 public colleges to be honored for innovative academic excellence in ceremonies held May 30 in Washington, D.C. The institutions were finalists for the G. Theodore Mitau Award for Innovation and Change in Higher Education. Winner of the award was State University College at Brockport, N.Y.

House Minority Leader George H. Ryan (R., Kankakee), received the third American Pharmaceutical Association Hubert H. Humphery Award in Washington, D.C, in April. Ryan was nominated for the honor by the Illinois Pharmacists Association. The award recognizes one pharmacist yearly for contributions and accomplishments in public service.

Chicago sculptor Richard Hunt was commissioned by the Capital Development Board to create an $80,000 sculpture for the University of Illinois Veterinary Medicine Basic Science Building in Urbana. Hunt was selected by the board's Fine Arts Committee as the first artist to take part in the state's "Art in Architecture" program, Under the program, 1/2 of one percent of the total cost of construction or remodeling of certain state buildings is set aside to purchase and install original art work.

Cook County Treasurer Edward J. Rosewell, Chicago, received the 1980 Outstanding Treasurer's Award in April. The award was presented at the 93rd Annual Spring Conference and Seminar for the Illinois Association of County Officials. Rosewell is also president of the Illinois County Officials Association and is the first Cook County Democrat to hold that office in the association's 92-year history.

Deaths

Martin B. Lohmann, 98, in Pekin on May 29. He was a state representative (D., Pekin) from 1923 until his election to the Senate in 1932 where he served until 1953. Lohmann's major legislative achievements were in the field of transportation. The Interstate 474 Illinois River Bridge, dedicated in August 1978, was named the Shade-Lohmann bridge in honor of Lohmann and J. Norman Shade, a longtime mayor of Pekin. A week after Lohmann's death, the Martin B. Lohmann Memoir was published by the Illinois General Assembly Oral History Program.

Pete Pappas, 52, in Rock Island on May 5. A Rock Island businessman, Pappas (R., Rock Island) served in the Illinois House from 1966 to 1974; he was a member of the Rock Island County Board and was active in Republican politics for 20 years. Pappas is best known for his role as unindicted coconspirator and the government's star witness in the so-called "cement bribery trial" in 1976 (see Illinois Issues, December 1976). In 1977 he testified at another federal trial in which legislators were charged with extorting money from the car rental industry.

George E. Schuppe, 70, Springfield, on May 17. His career as a newspaperman with the Springfield bureau of United Press and later as a press aide, first to Gov. John Stelle and later with the state highway agency, spanned more than 40 years until his retirement in 1972.