People                                                                                 

Shifts at the top

•Robert Mandeville, former director of the Bureau of the Budget under Gov. James R. Thompson, will assume the duties of the executive director of the State Universities Retirement System on an interim basis until a permanent director is selected. Mandeville replaces Dennis Spice, who resigned in the wake of controversy following a state audit that questioned thousands of dollars paid to Spice for perks, bonuses and travel expenses.

In early May, Urbana Republican Sen. Stanley Weaver introduced legislation that would reduce the SURS board from 11 to nine members, all appointed by the governor. Currently, the governor appoints five members and college and university governing boards appoint the other six. Weaver argued for the change because the SURS board would grow to 16 members next year with the breakup of the university governing boards.

•Charles Fisher was appointed executive director of the Illinois Commerce Commission. He replaces Josephine Simmons, who has been interim director since last summer. Fisher previously worked for the Illinois Department of Revenue as the chief financial officer and policy development administrator. Fisher, who begins his new duties June 1, will earn $85,000.

•Mark Schmidt was named assistant director of the Illinois Department of Public Health. Schmidt worked in the secretary of state's driver services division before serving as an administrator in the office of public affairs at the Department of Central Management Services. He will be paid $71,525 annually.

•Harold A. Fritz was named deputy director of programs and services for the Illinois Department of Veterans' Affairs. Since retiring from the U.S. Army as a lieutenant colonel in 1993, Fritz has been active as a veterans' advocate. He is a Vietnam War veteran and a recipient ofThe Congressional Medal of Honor.

•Bobby J. Wilkerson has been appointed the Illinois Development Finance Authority's new executive director. Wilkerson had worked with the Illinois Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities for seven years, serving most recently as the director of public finance, housing and special projects.

•Lt. Gov. Bob Kustra named Chris Allen as press secretary for his office. Allen had been Georgia Republican U.S. Sen. Paul Coverdell's press secretary since 1993. He was deputy assistant for public affairs to U.S. Trade Representative Caria A. Hills prior to that and was special assistant to U.S. Secretary of Labor Lynn Martin from 1991 to 1992.

Another task force on education funding named

Like Sisyphus rolling a boulder up the same hill over and over again, Gov. Jim Edgar appointed yet another "blue-ribbon committee" to make recommendations for funding the state's elementary and secondary schools.

Stanley O. Ikenberry, retiring president of the University of Illinois, is the chairman. Other members are:

•Jim Compton, executive director, Chicago Urban League;
•Art Velasquez, president, Azteca;
•Arnie Weber, president. Civic Committee of the Commercial Club;
•Ron Warfield, president, Illinois Farm Bureau;
•Mike Bruton, president, Chicago Federation of Labor;
•Tim Bramlet, president. Taxpayers' Federation of Illinois;
•Diana Nelson, directorof public affairs, Union League Club;
•Don Gossett, superintendent, Libertyville High School;
•Barb Toney, member, West Chicago Board of Education;
•Mary Jackson, chemistry teacher, Springfield High School;
•Gary Tooker, vice chairman and chief executive officer, Motorola;
•Norm Jones, chief executive officer, Gromark;
•Jim Kackley, managing partner, Arthur Andersen;
•Susan Whitney, Midwest manager, IBM;
•Ed Brennan, chief executive officer, Sears.

Ex-officio members:
•Joseph Spagnolo, state superintendent of education;
•Sen. John Maitland, Republicanof Bloomington.

The governor wants a report by early next year for the 1996 session of the legislature to consider.

Appointments

• Robert M. Healey of Homewood was reappointed to the Illinois State Labor Relations Board. Members are paid $58,520 annually.

Illinois State Toll Highway Authority
• Julian C. D'Esposito Jr. of Winnetka, a partner with Mayer, Brown & Platt of Chicago.

Governor's Travel Control Board
• Michael Schwartz of Springfield, director of the Department of Central Management Services.

Obituaries

•Daniel Ward, 76, former chief justice of the Illinois Supreme Court and Cook County state's attorney, died of lung disease in April. Ward was a Supreme Court justice from 1966 until he retired in 1990. He was chief justice from 1976 to 1979.

•Robert P. Regan, 59, former state representative for the southern suburbs of Chicago, died in his home in Crete on May 3. He served in the Illinois House of Representatives from 1986 until 1992. An insurance broker, he had worked since 1993 as a supervisor in the Illinois Department of Insurance.

•Maurino Richton, 85, former state representative and mayor of Chicago Heights, died April 30. He served in the Illinois House of Representatives from 1956 to 1958. He was mayor of Chicago Heights, a southern suburb of Chicago, from 1947 to 1951 and again from 1963 to 1967.

38/June 1995/lllinois Issues

People                                                                                 

Illinois leaders line up for Republican presidential hopefuls

Photo courtesy of Mars Cassidy, Illinois Information Service
Gov. Jim Edgar, left, and House Speaker Lee A. Daniels, right, endorsed U.S. Sen. Majority
Leader Bob Dole of Kansas, center, for the Republican presidential nomination.

The presidential election is 19 months away, yet candidates for the Republican nomination have lined up their soldiers in Illinois, a state considered key to all candidates' strategies.

Gov. Jim Edgar added his forces to the campaign of U.S. Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas. Comptroller Loleta Didrickson and Illinois House Speaker Lee Daniels also endorsed Dole, majority leader of the U.S. Senate.

Lining up for Dole's chief rival for the Republican presidential nomination, Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas, was Secretary of State George Ryan, who is, some say, Gov. Edgar's chief rival for Republican power in Illinois. State Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka also endorsed Gramm.

Execution carried out

Despite an unprecedented campaign on his behalf, Girvies Davis was executed May 17. Eight state Democratic lawmakers joined those asking the governor to commute the death sentence. In a letter to Gov. Edgar, Reps. Barbara Flynn Currie, Monique Davis, Constance Howard, Lou Jones, Coy Pugh, Carol Ronen and Art Turner, all of Chicago, and Jan Schakowsky of Evanston said "it would be a travesty of justice if the state of Illinois were to execute an innocent man." Edgar let the sentence stand.

Northwestern University journalism student Ryan Owens, right, met with Girvies Davis in March at Menard, where Davis had lived on Death Row for almost 15 years. Owens and nine classmates reviewed Davis' case as part of an investigative journalism project. The students and their professor, David Protess, believe Davis was convicted of murder on the basis of a coerced confession. According to the class findings, Davis was illiterate at the time and could not have written a confession letter himself. Protess says the students are still on the case.