By ROBERT HEUER
Sally Jackson: government insider at helm for big business lobby
Why did she leave public service? She said she had considered leaving when Gov. Thompson decided not to seek a fifth term, then stayed when Edgar invited her to setup the recruitment process for his 60-person cabinet. She declined his offer to direct a department but accepted his offer to be second in command of the governor's staff. Having a prominent role in Edgar's administration was gratifying but eventually too demanding, she said. She didn't want to spend so much time in Springfield, away from her husband — Mike Jackson, a former Chicago TV newscaster who now runs his own communications business — and her four stepchildren and their home on Chicago's near northside. Last January, when a headhunter called her about a job at the chamber, she decided to make a move. Chairman of the chamber board at the time was Harry J. Seigle, a northeastern Illinois building supplier, who said that the chamber needed a consensus builder — someone who can work with a traditional adversary like organized
10/January 1993/Illinois Issues labor to contain health-care costs as well as avoid turf protection fights that hurt relations between traditional allies like the Illinois Manufacturers' Association (IMA) and the Illinois Retail Merchants Association (IRMA). The chamber, IMA and IRMA have slightly different interests, but the common denominator is that they represent employers. In-fighting among the groups, however, can hurt employers' interests, and a rift between them became public in 1991 with many blaming Jackson's predecessor at the chamber, Lester W. Brann Jr. The chamber's search committee sought "a high-profile person who could position business interests in a proactive and integrated manner" in this era of shrunken resources, Seigle said. Jackson, he contended, wasn't hired for access to the governor but for her knowledge of how government works. As chamber president, Jackson is working in those government processes. Besides GHRAC, she is member of the Health Care Finance Study Commission, which will study Medicaid funding and make recommendations most likely reflected in Edgar's proposed budget. Also, she says, Gov. Edgar is counting on her help for gaining access to business leaders and for facilitating the chamber's support for his proposals on job training and workplace issues during the spring session. The chamber obviously counts on her ties to Edgar. As Dillard put it, Jackson "respectfully canvased" three top administration officials on the chamber's opposition to the proposed education amendment on the November ballot."She helped shape the governor's views on why this referendum was poorly drafted," Dillard said. He was less forthcoming though on his ex-colleague's failure to sway Edgar on legalizing casino gambling for Chicago. The chamber supports Chicago casino gambling. The governor does not, which pits Jackson against her ex-boss. The issue also illustrates the inner workings of the group which Jackson now heads. Siegle hints at debate within the chamber itself: He said the chamber was wrong to "sit on its hands" last spring during the third Chicago airport debate. By not wanting to anger local factions vying for different sites, the chamber, he said, helped cripple a vital economic development initiative. He said the chamber decided not to sit out the next big development project, putting Jackson at odds with Edgar when its 60-member board decided before her arrival to support Chicago casino gambling. The board itself had members representing downstate gambling interests. Jackson said, "Casino gambling never would have been touched by the board two years ago," adding that controversies that split the membership were avoided often enough that exceptions like chamber support for branch banking were so isolated as to seem inexplicable. "The diversity of the chamber is its strength, and the challenge is to make sure to adopt strategies that allow members to express their opinions," Jackson said, completing the sentence as she often does in a questioning tone as if the hint of uncertainty encourages agreement. Jackson appears to be a genuine supporter for change within the chamber and for its changing views of government. She didn't disagree with state Sen. John J. Cullerton's (D-6, Chicago) assertion that the chamber has a "late 19th century outlook on government," viewing the public sector as an enemy. Business must view government as a partner that benefits from private sector expertise, she said. "I believe and the board believes that business needs to be more involved in things like education and social services,"she said, adding that chamber publications will soon reflect a shift from "this old perspective of getting government off my back. Getting government off your back may not result in good long-term solutions." One of state government's first champions of total quality management, Jackson speaks of building better channels of communication between business and government, various business associations and chamber staff and members. As Siegle put it: "Sally's remarkably good at bringing people together. As one politician told me, 'she can charm a pit bull.' " Shifting from Springfield maneuverer to private sector mouthpiece wasn't difficult. "The concerns of our board are major public policy issues — education, health care, tax reform and economic development," she said in an interview in her corner office on the 19th floor of Chicago's Civic Opera House. "These are the same issues that I dealt with on the governor's staff."
January 1993/Illinois Issues/11 local chambers. Jackson heads a staff of 50, including 14 full-time registered lobbyists, the largest of all groups lobbying state government. When Jackson's predecessor Brann retired last June after 25 years as chamber president, he left a legacy for both innovation and controversy. Innovations include the Illinois Chamber Action Line on Legislation (ICALL), a telephone network that can produce 800 contacts to legislators within a matter of hours. A chamber hotline for direct service to members takes 8,000 to 10,000 calls a year wanting information on such things as workers' compensation and federal equal employment regulations. Brann disputes his successor's characterization of the chamber's past: "Working with government was a chamber strong point for a long, long time." He recalled how he and then AFL-CIO President Bob Gibson cochaired a task force to replenish the Department of Employment Security's (DES) unemployment insurance trust fund, which by 1982 had a $2.3 billion debt with the federal government. The task force prepared a plan to pay off the debt, which was carried out by Jackson when she was director of DES under Thompson. Today, the unemployment insurance fund has a $1 billion surplus. "If there is a better example of business working with government, I'd have to be told what it is,"Brann said. "We worked with DES every step of the way. I'm told that that paper is still the bible of the department. Of course, cleaning up DES is one of her [Jackson's] claims to fame." Brann's statement is evidence of his "lack of respect" for Illinois' business trade associations, said David Vite, president of IRMA, which represents 23,000 retailers statewide.
12/January 1993/Illinois Issues Brann did indeed help make the unemployment insurance trust fund solvent, but he did so in concert with many others, Vite said, adding that the chamber isolated itself by "taking credit for everything that happened in Springfield." IMA problems with Brann became public knowledge in 1991 when a chamber bill to create a decision making board over the Department of Commerce and Community Affairs was undercut by the IMA on the General Assembly floor. The IMA represents 4,700 manufacturing companies and plants state wide. Its president is Greg Baise, who worked with Jackson in the Thompson administration. He was secretary of transportation and also a Thompson campaign manager. "After Sally announced her move, I saw Jim Thompson at a dinner, tapped him on the shoulder and said,'I bet you smiled to yourself when you heard about Sally Jackson,' " said Baise. The chamber also fought Thompson for years, most notably on his tax increases. Relations became so strained that eventually, according to Jackson, the governor didn't give Brann "the time of day." Illinois' leading business groups — the chamber, IMA and IRMA — talk about sending a more consistent message to the political leadership by ironing out differences on issues before they reach a legislative form. Historically, they have pooled resources on an array of issues. For example, the chamber led negotiations on unemployment insurance, the IMA on workers' compensation issues and IRMA on the state response to the federal Clean Air Act amendments requiring employers to reduce their employees' auto trips to and from work. AFL-CIO President Richard Walsh, labor's leading lobbyist in Springfield, said there isn't too much difference among the three as it is. "What's different from the past," Jackson said, "is that now we're agreeing that one person take the lead and we all take the credit. Before, one association took all the credit."Vite and Baise had been meeting regularly before Jackson joined the chamber. Vite, who had applied for the chamber presidency, had lunch with Jackson on her first day on the job. He recalled her asking: "When the boys get together do I get to come along?" She does. Vite, Baise and Jackson made a statewide fly-around the Wednesday before the November 3 election to promote the business groups' united front opposing the education amendment. On election night, the three had an after-work drink to toast the promise of future collaborations. With its first woman president, the Illinois State Chamber of Commerce has come a long way since it was formed in 1919 with 24 members and a budget of $18,500. In 1920, the Chicago-based group opened an office in Springfield to lobby for such things as a state police force, a standard set of statewide traffic laws, state regulation of public utilities and a state highway plan. By 1924, the state chamber counted 47,000 businessmen and establishments through the membershp of 118 local chambers and 10 trade associations. In 1967, Ormand Lyman retired after 25 years as chamber president and was replaced by Brann, then chief lobbyist of the Milwaukee Association of Commerce. "Republicans totally controlled the General Assembly," Brann recalled, until 1974 brought Democratic control and a rise in the influence of organized labor. "That Watergate election hit us between the eyes. The threats to business have grown ever since." For the first time since that 1974 election. Republicans have gained control of the Illinois Senate, and Sally Jackson has the chamber's top priorities in order for the 88th General Assembly when it convenes January 13: education, economic development and health costs. On education funding, Jackson says the chamber representative on the school finance task force will press the chamber agenda, tying increased funding to performance and accountability. On economic development, she says the chamber will support the governor's new advisory director for economic development for the Department of Commerce and Community Affairs and his emphasis on promoting local economic development efforts. On health care, the chamber will fight to prevent further cost-shifting to business.
Robert Heuer is a Chicago writer.
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