Conversation with our readers Ed Wojcicki

A conversation with out readers

Ed Wojcicki

Readers:
The investment in our cover story this month has been substantial. It was well worth the time and effort that went into it. It seems everybody advocates "welfare reform," but so few seem to have a handle on what's really happening in the state's welfare system. This cover story will give you a clearer perspective on welfare and allow everyone to speak more intelligently about welfare reform.

Since last summer, Donald Sevener has been gathering information that documents how the system fails to meet the real needs of many people on welfare. This systemic failure has important public policy implications, especially when trendy proposals are made to require people to get a job within two years or lose their welfare benefits. Are such proposals realistic? The article in this issue, the first of a two-part series, vividly describes the great gap between the intent of welfare programs and what they actually achieve. Two months from now (in our April issue), we will publish the second part of Sevener's investigation, with a focus on the welfare-to-work concept. We are grateful to the Woods Charitable Fund of Chicago for providing us with a grant to give Sevener the time to research this subject and write the articles.

Another fascinating article in this issue analyzes the power of the Illinois Toll Highway Authority. Remember when we were promised that tolls would eventually be eliminated once the highways were paid for? Why hasn't this happened? Illinois Issues examined the toll authority in detail in 1989. With the extension of the toll highway system still going strong, it is well worth another look.

Election years like 1994 always produce added doses of excitement about our political process. In addition to the various statewide races that are generating a lot of publicity, another election with statewide and well as local implications is the race for president of Cook County Board, in which there is considerable jockeying because board president Richard Phelan is running for governor and not for reelection. Our article traces the interesting recent history of campaigns for Cook County Board president. As David Fremon points out, this year's election will give yet another indication of what direction Chicago-area Democrats are heading.

As for the "state of the State," Gov. Edgar presented his version in his annual address Jan. 12. His rivals for the governorship had other perceptions, of course. Reflections and reactions are offered in this issue by our State-house bureau chief, Jennifer Halperin, and by Charlie Wheeler, our longtime columnist who directs the Public Affairs Reporting Program at Sangamon State University.

Finally, a footnote. You may recall that in our October 1993 issue, we featured the plight of coal workers in Saline County who lost their jobs with the closing of the Sahara Coal Company mine. In December, the state announced the allocation of $1.65 million in federal Job Training Partnership Act funds to help 170 workers receive job retraining. The funds will pay for counseling, job search assistance, basic skills training, classroom training, and other services. The funds were requested under JTPA's Title III Clean Air Employment Transition Program.

Readers say yes to more gun control

The Question of the Month we posed to our readers in December 1993 was this:

HANDGUN CONTROL: Do you believe the time has come for the state to enact additional restrictions on the possession and use of handguns?

And the readers replied:

Yes: 59
No: 20

Of those who said yes, many are distressed about what they describe as violence run rampant in our society. Wrote one couple from Murphysboro: "Even here in our small city, a student in our middle school shot a fellow student. Thank goodness it didn't kill, but the fact a student had a gun at school is frightening."

A reader from Elgin added: "There is something drastically wrong with a society that allows juveniles (age 17 and under) to have ready access to weapons which are killing machines... We can no longer walk down the street, drive our car anywhere we want to go or go out at night without the constant threat of possibly being shot, robbed, raped, attacked or killed. That certainly is a free society, isn't it?"

One reader, who broadened the question to include a ban on assault weapons, too, had this to say: "It's obvious that the death and violence brought about by guns has continued to worsen. Why is it that legislators are content to say 'gun control measures will never totally solve the problem and that's why we're not passing any laws'? Of course it won't, but even a few less deaths as a result of more laws would be a successful law, in my opinion." Another reader wants a ban on all assault weapons and more restrictions on handguns. This may affect collectors, he said, and some exceptions might be granted to "legitimate" ones, "but the burden to prove this should be placed on such collectors."

On the other side of this issue are readers who said more laws will not help because existing laws are either not heeded by criminals or they are not enforced effectively enough. Said one man from Orland Park: "The Illinois firearm owners identification card already restricts legal ownership of handguns to those persons who are of proper age, have not been convicted of a felony, are not addicted to drugs, and are mentally sound. Underage, drug-addicted, mentally unsound felons will not be deterred by any additional legal restrictions on the ownership and use of handguns... It is not that appropriate laws do not exist, but that they are not or cannot be enforced."

One woman from Wheaton who opposes more gun laws called handgun control a woman's issue: "The restriction of handgun possession and use has always increased violence toward women. In contrast, when Florida enacted a concealed-carry law, rape and other crimes against women dropped even though the Florida population was climbing. As a minority woman, I advocate a concealed-carry law for Illinois."

"We already have owner registration, waiting periods and instant background checks (I support all of these)," said a Downers Grove man. "Now let's punish willful abusers and leave law-abiding gun owners alone."

And so the arguments go.

Ed Wojcicki

February 1994/Illinois Issues/3

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