Shifts at the top • Jim Reilly, who quit as head of the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority a year ago to be Gov. Jim Edgar's chief of staff, is returning to his old job. Gene Reineke is taking over as chief of staff. Reineke, 38, (above) of Petersburg previously served as Reilly's assistant and as executive assistant to the governor for economic affairs. He was director of the Department of Central Management Services from 1989 to 1991. He was also director of former Gov. James R. Thompson's Build Illinois program. • Meanwhile, Edgar has appointed two new deputy chiefs of staff. Department of Corrections Director Howard Peters III and former campaign manager Andrew Foster will assume those duties, effective January 16. Mike Belletire is currently a deputy chief of staff. • Central Management Services Director Stephen Schnorf will become director of policy. • Michael E. Tristano, chief of staff for incoming Illinois House Speaker Lee Daniels, resigned to take a position at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Beginning the first week of January, he will be executive associate vice chancellor for administration and human resources for the university.

State senator opens office for national government consulting firm

Kirk Dillard, a Republican state senator from Hinsdale, is counsel for a national lobbying group opening an office in Chicago.

Tony S. Colletti, who served as legal counsel and manager of the Illinois Department of Commerce and Community Affair's governmental affairs office from 1991 to 1993, is directing the office for MultiState Associates Inc.

Dillard, who was Gov. Jim Edgar's chief of staff before being appointed to the Senate in 1993, says MultiState maintains a "unique network of over 1,500 professional lobbyists in every state capital and major city in America."

SIU doctor appointed first black female chair of department

Dr. PonJola Coney joined the faculty of Southern Illinois University School of Medicine in Springfield as department chair and professor of obstetrics and gynecology. She is the first black woman to be appointed to such a position at a U.S. medical school.

Prior to joining the SIU faculty. Coney, an infertility expert, was associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology and director of the reproductive endocrinology and infertility division at Arizona Health Sciences Center in Tucson.

DORS director appointed to national council

Audrey L. McCrimon, director of the Illinois Department of Rehabilitation Services, was appointed by President Bill Clinton to serve on the National Council on Disability.

The council was instrumental in developing the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Judicial appointments

• Robert Davison, former director of the Administrative Office of Illinois Courts, was appointed to fill a vacancy in the Cook County Judicial Circuit. He was assigned to work in the Fourth Circuit in Taylorville for two years.

• Robert W. Gettleman was sworn in as a U.S. District Court judge for the Northern District of Illinois on November 9. He was a partner with D'Ancona and Plaum, Chicago. He replaced Judge John Grady, who moved up to senior status.

• David H. Coar was sworn in on October 31 as a U.S. District Court judge for the Northern District of Illinois. Coar had been a U.S. bankruptcy judge since 1986, was associate dean at DePaul University College of Law from 1982 to 1986 and worked as the

Andrew Raucci (right) with Gov. Jim Edgar A new judge on the Court of Claims Lawyer lobbyist Andrew Raucci was appointed to the Court of Claims by Gov. Jim Edgar. Raucci, a partner in the Chicago law firm of Kusper and Raucci, will replace Leo Poch, who resigned in July. Raucci has served one other term on the court. He was first appointed in 1984 by former Gov. James Thompson. He served until 1992. The part-time post pays $37,333 a year. The court handles financial claims against the state, including those stemming from contracts. The governor appoints the seven judges, and the appointments require Senate confirmation. Raucci is a Springfield lobbyist for his firm's clients, which include the Community Currency Exchange Association and the United Center, home of the Chicago Bulls. In the past four years, Kusper and Raucci, a contributor to Edgar's campaign chest, has received thousands of dollars for legal advice to state agencies. Chicago magazine lists the firm, which is also named after former Democratic Cook County Clerk Stanley Kusper, as one of the top politically connected legal teams in the state.

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Changes in the press room

• Sandra Skowron replaces Terry Mutchler as bureau chief in the Associated Press office at the Capitol.

• Chris Wills is leaving the AP Capitol office. He has been promoted to correspondent and will work out of the Peoria bureau.

New board member for Field Foundation

Christina M. Tchen joined the seven-member board of directors of the Field Foundation of Illinois, which awards grants to programs that "advance the quality of life" in metropolitan Chicago.

Tchen is a partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, Chicago.

Obituaries

• Former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and Illinois Congressman Edward Madigan died December 7. He was 58. Madigan, a Republican from Lincoln, served in the cabinet of former Republican President George Bush. He also served 10 terms in Congress, where he was on the Agriculture Committee, and three terms in the Illinois General Assembly. Most recently, he was a lobbyist for State Farm Insurance. Madigan was diagnosed with lung cancer. He died in St. John's Hospital in Springfield.

"During his distinguished career as a public official, Ed Madigan preferred action to rhetoric and political theater," said Gov. Jim Edgar. "He was far more interested in producing than posturing. His constituents time and time again benefited from his quiet effectiveness."

• Former state Sen. Harlan Rigney, a Republican from Freeport, died November 23. Rigney joined the General Assembly in 1973, serving 10 years in the House and 10 years in the Senate. When he retired from the Senate in 1993, he was the ranking Republican on the Revenue Committee. Rigney was a member of the convention that wrote the 1970 Illinois Constitution.

• Calvin C. Covert, a member of the Illinois Toll Highway Authority board of directors, died December 1 in Rockford Memorial Hospital. Covert was retired from Woodward Governor Co. in Rockford where he worked for 52 years. He was still serving as chairman of the board of directors at the time of his death.

Beverley Scobell and Wendy Langren

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