A CONVERSATION WITH OUR READERS
A conversation with our readers
News of the 1994 political campaigns is
likely to fall into one of four categories:
Horse races: Who's ahead and by how
much? Can the one who is trailing possibly
catch up? These stories are increasingly common, despite the fact that conventional wisdom declares we see too many of them
already.
Mud slinging: All intelligent people say
they decry this type of campaigning, and candidates vow to avoid it, but when they're
"forced" to do it anyway, they say they didn't
start it but they must to respond to their opponents' outrageous charges.
So what can Illinois Issues contribute to
the mix, with the November 8 election a few
weeks away? For starters, we have a guest
column ("Your Turn," page 11) from the Illinois League of Women Voters, which has
done extensive research to find out what
issues Illinois voters want the candidates to
discuss this fall. The league has learned, after
listening to 13 focus groups, that Illinoisans
want the candidates to go way beyond their
sloganeering and discuss solutions that
acknowledge the interconnectedness of major
issues such as crime and education. This kind
of sophisticated discussion seems like a direct
contradiction to the simplified, slogan-filled
campaigns that now dominate the airwaves
and printed pages.
Besides the guest column, in this issue we
have a couple of in-depth reports about the
two highest-profile statewide races - for governor and secretary of state. Written by our
Statehouse Bureau Chief Jennifer Halperm,
these articles explore not so much what kinds
of campaigns the candidates are running - the
horse-racing angle - but much more what
kind of leadership the candidates would likely
provide in Illinois. This is the kind of information we know you have come to expect
from us. If you want to know "who's likely to
win" the statewide races, see your daily paper, and recall how often the polls and
experts have been wrong before.
I'd like to thank all of you who submitted
nominations for the Illinois Issues Award for
Extraordinary Public Service. We will honor
10 individuals with this distinction on the
occasion of our 20th anniversary next year.
We have so many nominations that narrowing
the list to 10 will be difficult. We have
assembled a blue-ribbon Selection Committee
of distinguished Illinoisans who will decide
who wins. I look forward to this process, and
I have another reason to thank you: Your
nominations provided us with a number of
leads for articles featuring people whose
active, passionate contributions to Illinois
would be of great interest to our readers.
More to follow in the months to come.
What our readers want to ask Edgar, Netsch
In August our Question of the Month
dealt with this fall's governor's race. The
question was:
What two questions do you want
gubernatorial candidates Jim Edgar and
Dawn dark Netsch to answer with
specifics and substance this fall? Why?
The range of responses was somewhat
predictable, though I admit getting a kick
out of the Hillsboro reader's concern about
roads and bridge repairs. This reader especially wanted the candidates to know that
Illinois 16 at Hillsboro and Litchfield "is a
mess."
Several readers want Gov. Edgar to be
clear about whether he would support a tax
increase during a second term. Here is how
two readers worded their question: "If a
person were to wager $1 million with me
that the income tax rate in Illinois would
be increased during your new term, should
I take the wager?" Another reader said, "I
would like to ask Gov. Edgar specifically
to tell us yes or no if he will support or sign
a tax increase if re-elected, and not dance
around the issue by saying he will do so
only as a last resort."
Not surprisingly, the biggest issue
raised dealt with education funding. Our
readers want to know how the candidates
plan to provide the funding for public education, a subject long debated but still not
resolved. As one reader put it, "What do
you propose for ensuring that our children,
all of our children, will receive a good education to prepare them for the future?"
An economic development official from southern Illinois had a number of
questions related to workers' compensation. "What has the Governor's Task Force
on Workers' Compensation accomplished
since being formed last year? (e.g., meetings held?) How will the task force be utilized during the next term?"
A few isolated questions dealt with
well-known issues, such as the people's
"right" to vote on gambling expansion into
their communities, tort reform, adoption
rights, pay raises for lawmakers during
times of fiscal crises, job training and
property taxes.
Perhaps one of the most thoughtful
questions encourages the candidates to
look well beyond the next four years to
discuss what is truly best for Illinois:
"What are the 10 most important priorities
you see for the state of Illinois in the next
five years and how do you intend to fund
and complete the priorities?"
October 1994/Illinois Issue/3
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Sam S. Manivong, Illinois Periodicals Online Coordinator |