Illinois Issues 20th ANNIVERSARY Special Section 1995 / 1

Illinois Issues 20th ANNIVERSARY Special Section 1995 / 2

Daley 'loves the city'
Mayor of Chicago

Combatting drugs and violence requires a focus on education and jobs, he argues, because the problems and the solutions are interconnected. Perhaps that's why he likes to talk about education and his hopes for recently enacted Chicago school reforms. Now he believes there is more accountability, better business management and a commitment to change. And, he says, the city's use of waivers from state regulations might become a good model for the rest of the state.

Daley also considers economic development a top priority. Indeed, he is considered a leader in the move toward privatization of city services, although he's quick to add that while privatization is a management tool that can deliver some services to citizens at a lower cost, it's not the complete answer.

Daley, who has been mayor since 1989, has received praise for the city's community policing program, which puts cops on the streets to walk beats. The mayor is proud of the community meetings held on Saturdays in police districts, where people gather to talk about schools, crime prevention, parks and housing.

This ability to bring people together is a hallmark of the Daley Administration. He likes to work the wards, and when asked what he especially likes about being mayor, Daley doesn't hesitate to say it's meeting with the people — community leaders, business leaders, social workers and others — because he believes innovation occurs at the neighborhood level.

Known for keeping track of remote details about the city's alleys, curbs and buildings, the son of Mayor Richard J. Daley is deeply proud of his roots. "I love the city," he says. "I put my full-time effort into trying to improve the quality of life in the city."

Before becoming mayor in 1989, Daley had been in public office a long time. He was a state senator from 1973 to 1980 and Cook County state's attorney from 1980 to 1989. 

About these awards
Last year, Illinois issues asked readers to nominate people for the 1995 Award for Extraordinary Pub! ie: Service. Readers responded by suggesting more than 100 Illinoisans who had had a significant impact on public policy in the past 20 years.

Ten people were not eligible this year because the magazine had honored them with a similar award (by a vote of the readers) 10 years ago, on the occasion of the magazine's 10th Anniversary. Recognized then were Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, Alan Dixon, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Michael

Madigan, Richard Ogilvie, Charles Percy, Dan Rostenkowski, Mike Royko, Paul Simon and James R. Thompson. For this year's 20th Anniversary celebration, the magazine asked a diverse blue-ribbon committee to consider the nominations and choose the 10 winners. Narrowing the final pool to 20 or 30 people was not difficult, but the selection committee then met several times for debate and spirited discussion before choosing this final list of 10 winners: Selection committee members acknowledged how difficult it was to leave some people off the list, because Illinoisans in many walks of life - the public, private and nonprofit sectors — have made significant contributions to public policy in Illinois. Ed Wojcicki, publisher of Illinois Issues, met with the award recipients and prepared these vignettes. Stan Adams illustrated the winners. 

Illinois Issues 20th ANNIVERSARY Special Section 1995 / 3

When Jim Edgar was Illinois secretary of state in the 1980s, he enjoyed setting his own priorities. He raised awareness of the problems associated with drunken driving and supported successful legislation to make life more difficult for persons driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs.

He also became a pioneer, as state librarian, in using his office to reduce adult illiteracy. These efforts brought him recognition from the Illinois Humanities Council and the U.S. Department of Education.

"We changed the image of the office [of secretary of state]," Edgar says. "No other secretary of state was involved in the drunk driving issue until I did it, but now it's taken for granted."

Being governor is different, he says. Rather than set his own priorities, he is forced to spend much of his time reacting to crises. For example, he entered the governor's office in 1991 with the state in a difficult fiscal condition. As a result, he says, he had to focus initially on the budget crisis and spend less time on creating new programs.

In listing his achievements as governor, Edgar mentions holding the line on taxes, altering the welfare system by putting more emphasis on employment rather than dependency on the government, and addressing the crime issue, which is of increasing public concern. Supporters credit Edgar for the restructuring of higher education and the sweeping changes taking place in the Chicago school system this year.

Edgar is pleased by the early results of the new plan to overhaul Chicago's schools. One lesson being learned, he says, is that giving more control at the local level seems to be leading to positive results. He believes the debate for too long has been about money, but the debate also must include accountability and what's happening in the classroom.

"Overall, the quality of life is important, too," he says, citing a concern for environmental protection and adding his enthusiasm for something as simple as new bicycle trails.

Edgar was re-elected in 1994 with a record-setting margin over his opponent — a margin especially pleasing to him because he believes that is a barometer of public confidence in an official.

Edgar entered state government service in 1968 and worked as an aide to Illinois House and Senate leaders. He was elected a state representative in 1976, then appointed secretary of state by Gov. James R. Thompson in 1981. He held that post until he was elected governor in 1990. 

Harris moves on the idea that education the cradle

Irving B. Harris says his own education is continuing at age 85. In the midst of his successful business career in the 1960s — he was a director of the Gillette Safety Razor Co. and the Pittway Corp. — along came the War on Poverty and the beginning of Head Start.

Harris read a book that included a description of ways to enhance the education of children in poverty. He was moved by the idea that education begins in the cradle and not in schools. Harris was also influenced by his own daughter's study of early childhood development. He talked with Dr. Maria Piers and others. Piers established the Erikson Institute in 1966 to provide graduate study in early education and family development. Affiliated with Loyola University, Chicago, the institute is now recognized as a leading center for the training of professionals in child development.

Harris' interest in family development also sparked the creation of the Ounce of Prevention Fund. While chairman of the Pittway Corp., he learned that many employees of Pittway's Aurora plant were considered at risk of having family problems that could lead to child abuse or neglect. He went to the state Department of Children and Family Services in 1982 to ask for a $25, 000 grant to start a family support center in Aurora, promis-

Illinois Issues 20th ANNIVERSARY Special Section 1995 / 4

Harris agreed, and that was how the Ounce of Prevention Fund began. Every year since the beginning of the fund, Pittway has contributed $325, 000, an amount enhanced by state and federal money as well as other corporate, foundation and individual contributions.

The Ounce of Prevention Fund now serves thousands of families and nearly 40 locations to promote the well-being of children and adolescents. Among its major programs are Parents Too Soon, which strives to deter teen pregnancy and support adolescent parents; Head Start programs at several sites; and the Center for Successful Child Development, which provides comprehensive health, education and social services in the Robert Taylor Homes in Chicago.

The importance of early education and prevention of problems (instead of treatment) is what led Harris to get so involved in these initiatives. Although educated formally at Yale, Harris considers himself largely self-educated and adds that he knows a lot more now at age 85 than he did when he was merely 65. 

Ikenberry heralded as great education leader

He also is respected nationally for his leadership in higher education. At different times he chaired all three major higher education organizations: the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges (1988), the American Council on Education (1990) and the Association of American Universities (1994).

A walk on the Urbana-Champaign campus makes it dramatically evident how much Ikenberry has affected the campus. The university restored Georgian architecture as the predominant style for campus buildings, and the North Campus was envisioned and transformed. As the U of I developed master plans for both the Urbana-Champaign and Chicago campuses, nearly 50 new buildings or major renovations comprising more than 5 million square feet on both campuses were completed or are under construction. In addition:
• The University of Illinois at Chicago was created in 1982 by consolidating the Medical Center and the Chicago Circle campus, and the U of I added its third campus in Springfield this summer when Sangamon State University became the University of Illinois at Springfield.
• There were many new academic initiatives, including the $50 million Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology and the National Center for Supercomputing Applications.
• Ikenberry led efforts to raise the astounding amount of more than $ 1 billion in alumni, corporation and foundation support for the university.

Even as Ikenberry prepared for retirement this year, Gov. Jim Edgar asked him to lead a special commission that is examining new ways to fund the state's public schools. 

Illinois Issues readers' list of top 10 issues
Anticipating this 20th Anniversary, Illinois issues asked its readers to name the top 10 issues facing the state of Illinois in the next decade. Here is their list:

Illinois Issues 20th ANNIVERSARY Special Section 1995 / 5

But Lederman persisted. "We don't object to elitism when it comes to entertainment or athletics," he observed. "In those areas, we want the best."

He believes the caliber of student at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, which opened in 1986, is so high that "their brains don't fit into the normal classroom." He is proud of the innovative school's graduates, 60 percent of whom have entered a scientific field. Other graduates have ventured into other territory, and Lederman says with a chuckle, "Despite my dire threats some of them even went to law school."

Lederman believes passionately in the teaching of science. "Kids love it when it's done right." Instead of sitting in chairs, science students starting in kindergarten should be sitting at tables, using their hands as well as their minds by moving jelly beans around, bouncing balls and constructing their own objects. And the noise level should be high, Lederman adds.

So concerned is he about the teaching of science that he believes high schools should require three years of science (physics, chemistry and then biology, a sequence not commonly followed now). He also spearheaded the Teachers Academy for Math and Science in Chicago and has visions of retraining 17, 000 elementary school teachers, at a cost he admits would be about $3, 000 per teacher for about 130 hours of training each.

"Teaching science is teaching a way of thinking," he explains, and "math is a shorthand for a logical sequence of arguments. It's a language."

As a physicist, Lederman has been a leading proponent of the superconducting supercollider project in the United States, but Congress cut off funding in 1993. "If the public had a sense of science and what it can do and can't do, the situation would be different," he laments. 

An employee of Commonwealth Edison since 1963, 0'Connor became the corporation's chairman in 1980. He is the CEO of the company that is now known as Unicorn Corp.

For many years 0'Connor has been a leader of the Chicago corporate community. Among his favorite roles is chairman of the Big Shoulders Fund, an organization of business and professional people that raised more than $42 million in the past 10 years to support the city's Catholic schools. The schools' students — 40 percent non-Catholic and 80 percent below the poverty level — do well on national tests and few drop out.

0'Connor also headed a $3 million fund drive to help the Chicago Urban League build a new headquarters, and in 1988 he directed the Crusade of Mercy drive, which brought in $92 million and established a new standard of support for the metropolitan Chicago area.

0'Connor is aware that corporations and their leaders frequently get stereotyped as only being interested in profits. His experience tells him such criticism is unfair. He has worked with many leaders who have been generous with their time and money, so "you get to a point where you ignore the critics. Anybody with a public profile is going to be criticized, but you have to get on with the job."

So it's no surprise that when asked what he'd like others to say about his service, he replies: '"He cared.' That's not very profound, but people I admire most are people who care about others." 

Illinois Issues 20th ANNIVERSARY Special Section 1995 / 6

But Reyes eventually called her alderman to complain, and within hours a crew showed up to install new lights and get the furnace working."! saw that I had power. Any person has that power. They only need to learn how to use it," she now says.

In the 1960s her son Bobby, the sixth of 11 children, became partially paralyzed and retarded after about with meningitis. Reyes could find no one to help her, so she tried to take care of him herself. "The doctors had nothing to offer me, either," she says, so she visited the state institution at Dixon and decided it was not for her son. "It was terrible," and there was a nine-year waiting list.

Feeling frustrated and isolated, she placed a newspaper ad and met with four parents who had similar problems in her Pilsen neighborhood. She made more calls and found even more people in need of help. With the assistance of a university professor, she started Esperanza School (which means "hope") in 1968, and this led to the formation of El Valor ("courage") in 1973. In a church basement, the group started the first bilingual rehabilitation program in Illinois.

Since then El Valor has expanded and provides service to more than 1, 000 families. El Valor advances the well-being and dignity of persons with disabilities by providing them and their families with education, training, community centers and residences. A few examples: a Head Start program, complete diagnostic testing, a vocational workshop to teach job skills, and eight independent-living residences.

The new Guadalupe Reyes Children and Family Center offers a variety of services for children and adults. Northern Illinois University and Roosevelt University offer college degree programs in association with the center.

Reyes' son Bobby died in 1983, but she continues to provide a vision and inspire thousands of people who once felt as timid and frustrated as she did. She has caught the eye of executives of some of Chicago's largest corporations, who help raise millions of dollars to advance El Valor's vision.

As for dealing with powerful people in government and the business world, she says, "I just take their titles off, and they're people just like me. I see that I have more power, even more than the ones who have power because they have money." 

The Democrat from Oak Park retired from the Senate in 1992 after serving as president of the Senate and majority leader longer than anyone in state history — seven consecutive terms. Nearly all of that time there was a Republican governor.

He describes those years as a time of conferring with and confronting Gov. James Thompson. "It was always important to be fair and evenhanded, to disagree without being disagreeable," he says. "I wasn't going to spend my working hours looking to retaliate."

Perhaps a big reason Rock garnered so much respect is that he deeply believed in using his position to make government work rather than to advance a personal agenda. He supported Thompson's Build Illinois program because he felt it was good for the state's economy, even though some of his own Democratic col-

Illinois Issues 20th ANNIVERSARY Special Section 1995 / 7

His leadership in the creation of a state-run school for deaf and blind children in Glen Ellyn is what Rock calls his "single finest accomplishment in this business." So supportive was he that in 1987 the State Board of Education voted to rename the school the Philip J. Rock Center and School.

Rock is also proud of his role in passing the first Illinois Domestic Violence Act and the first Illinois Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act.

But most of all. Rock appreciates "the general recognition that I was able to make the place work, make the process work without ever having an overwhelming majority [of Democratic senators]. We never reached the point where we had a really cohesive majority, but we were able to accomplish a great deal anyway.

"I was able to contribute and make the process work." 

Shortly after Washington died, Ed McManus wrote in Illinois Issues of the significance of Washington's rise to the mayor's seat. Not only was his first victory in 1983 monumental because he was the city's first black mayor, McManus wrote, but "the fact that the voters reelected him demonstrated that a black can be successful at the very difficult job of running this city. ...

"Minority hiring went way up while Washington was mayor. So did the awarding of contracts to minority businesses, for so long closed out of the competition. Police brutality went down. The city started spending significant amounts of money in the neighborhoods — helping small businesses, rehabbing housing. City Hall, for the first time, began providing services to the black parts of town on an equal footing with the white parts. A freedom-of-information order was issued, opening public records to the public. An ethics-in-government law was passed. A tenants' rights law was passed."

And though problems remained and Washington had many political battles to fight, hope was high among many people. He was not only the first black mayor, but he was also a symbol for black people and for others interested in greater social and political integration in the city.

Before becoming mayor, Washington served in the Illinois House from 1965 to 1976 and as a state senator from 1976 to 1980. He then went to Congress in 1981 before running for mayor in 1983. In the Illinois legislature, he became known for being his own man and for bucking the regular Democratic Machine. 

Knowing that "issues drive people together and drive people apart," Wolff recalls the coalition building that occurred to get the Illinois Human Rights Act passed in 1979.

She held public meetings to raise awareness, and had to deal with the political caucuses in the General Assembly that were deeply divided over the bill. "It was a very dramatic and colorful experi-

Illinois Issues 20th ANNIVERSARY Special Section 1995 / 8

Democrats and Republicans alike now credit Wolff for her ability to bring people together to share their values in order to advance public policy in sensitive areas. Wolff had a leading role in the Parents Too Soon program, the Solid Waste Management Act, the School Reform Act, and 11 state agency reorganizations. While many people in government get frustrated by an apparent inability to get much done, "I'm a pathological optimist," she says. And she always is careful to express appreciation to Thompson and many others, including members of the General Assembly, with whom she collaborated: "I'm proud of what happened in state government, but it happened because others — others — helped and made it happen."

After leaving the Thompson Administration, Wolff established the Chicago Cluster Initiative, a nonprofit corporation that integrates resources of public and not-for-profit agencies, and was a visiting lecturer at the Irving B. Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago and visiting scholar at the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Since 1992, she has been president of Governors State University in College Park.

Former Illinois Issues Board members

Illinois Issues 20th ANNIVERSARY Special Section 1995 / 9

Thank You Irving!

Paid for by Marcena W. Love, Chair, Personal PAC Board of Directors

BEGINNING TWO DECADES AGO...

1975
• January: First issue of Illinois Issues.
• Democrats in control for the first time since the administration of Gov. Henry Horner in the 1930s. Democrats hold majorities in both houses of the General Assembly along with the governor's office (Dan Walker) and three of the five constitutional offices.
• Cecil A. Partee, Democrat of Chicago, elected the first black Senate president. After a record 93 ballots, William A. Redmond, Democrat of Bensenville, elected speaker of the House.
• Former Gov. Otto Kerner released from the federal prison at Lexington, Ky., after serving seven months of a three-year sentence on a bribery conviction.
• Paul Simon goes to Washington (as U.S. representative from the 24th District in southern Illinois).
• State spending tops $8 billion.

1976
• James R. Thompson elected governor,
• Mayor Richard J. Daley dies in December.
• State lottery approved.
• Former Gov. Otto Kerner dies.

1977
• Capital punishment restored.
• Michael Bilandic appointed mayor of Chicago.

1978
• Gov. James R. Thompson re-elected.
• Roland W. Burris elected comptroller, the first black elected to statewide office.

1979
• Jane Byrne elected mayor of Chicago after one of the biggest snow-storms the city had experienced.

1980
• Legislative Cutback Amendment passes. The House of Representatives is cut by one-third, and Illinois voters are no longer electing representatives by cumulative voting.
• U.S. Rep.John B. Anderson loses presidential bid as independent candidate.

1981
• Beginning of an economic downturn for the state.

1982
• General Assembly fails to pass the Equal Rights Amendment, and the 27th Amendment to the U.S. Constituion is not ratified.

Illinois Issues 20th ANNIVERSARY Special Section 1995 / 10

My own role in Illinois Issues came about when Bob Spencer was going about staffing the new state university, Sangamon State. I had written him urging publication of an Illinois magazine under SSU auspices.

Chris Vlahoplus, public information spokesman for SSU, and Sam Gove, director of the Institute of Government and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois, asked me if I would be interested in editing such a journal. Such was the beginning. ...

Bill Day
founding publisher
Illinois Issues

1983
• Harold Washington elected mayor of Chicago, the first black mayor of the city.

1984
• Lawmakers revise commission system, eliminating 47 special legislative
• Department of Employment Security created.
• Governor creates office of inspector general to oversee investigations of people or businesses regulated by the state.

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SOUTHERN ILLINOIS' UNIVERSITY PRESS

Illinois Issues 20th ANNIVERSARY Special Section 1995 / 11

And from the very beginning, under the direction of the first publisher. Bill Day, the magazine's board and staff were determined to effect a balance in four ways.

The first was between academic and journalistic contributors. Context, theory and academic insight were sought from the academics, and good stories, insider information and journalistic sizzle from the reporters. Sometimes it seemed that we were pleasing no one and irritating everyone. But not always. Food for thought was delivered monthly. I believe our readership picked up precisely because we always strived to be fair and balanced, even though our venture into journalism meant of necessity that coverage of government was impossible without critical coverage of government.

The second balance was between people and issues. Too many issues could make the magazine read like a sociology syllabus; too many people stories would give us the aura of a political gossip column. Many were the debates among Caroline Gherardini, longtime editor, other staff members and me on this matter. Looking back, I think we were perhaps too issue-oriented at the beginning, but in truth, quality people stories were harder to write.

The third balance that we tried for dealt with the political parties and other contending subgroups. Hardly a month went by that someone did not accuse us of being either a tool of the corporations or a patsy for liberal groups. As long as Illinois is a politically competitive state, I'm sure that Illinois Issues will be misperceived by one or another group, party official or coalition. Indeed, it will be a sign of decline if someone isn't criticizing the magazine for leaning hither or yon.

And it occurs to me that another balance we sought was between the "hard

1985
• Gov. Thompson's $2.3 billion Build Illinois program approved by legislature.

1986
• Adlai E. Stevenson Jr. defeated a second time by Gov, James R, Thompson. Stevenson's campaign for governor was weakened when he was tied to a lieutenant governor candidate who was one of two backers of extremist Lyndon H. LaRouche who won primary nominations.

1987
• Mayor Harold Washington was re-elected in the city of Chicago.
• In November, Mayor Harold Washington dies of a heart attack in Chicago.
• Former Gov. Sam Shapiro dies.

1988
• Former Gov. Dan Walker sentenced to seven years in prison for bank fraud.
•Former Gov. Richard B. Ogilvie dies of a heart attack in Chicago.

1989
•Richard M.Daley elected mayor of Chicago.
• Riverboat gambling passed by legislature.

1990
• Gov. Thompson issues

Illinois Issues 20th ANNIVERSARY Special Section 1995 / 12

Now, 20 years after our ambitious beginnings, with a new leadership team in place at the magazine, it is worth emphasizing that the experiment of analyzing public affairs in a journalistic way at a public university has succeeded and deserves the credibility it has earned. It was our idea all along that some of the good thinking and analysis in the academic community was hidden away in academic journals. For a broader audience, good editors have been able to cut away the academic excess and publish the best part of scholars' prose and perspectives. Sometimes the scholars were authors of articles, but perhaps even more often they were expert sources in our articles. The public was starved for this material. And the journalists who wrote for the magazine loved being able to provide more background and write longer pieces.

Finally, it's worth noting that over the years many of the magazine's contributors were products of Sangamon State University's Public Affairs Reporting program, another brainchild of Paul Simon, who was on SSU's faculty when Illinois Issues was founded. Now that he is leaving the U.S. Senate, I hope Sen. Simon returns to Springfield from time to time and writes some good prose for you all. Excelsior! 

J. Michael Lennon was at Illinois Issuesfrom 1974 to 1992 as an editor and then publisher. He is vice president for academic affairs at Wilkes University, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.

Illinois Issues 20th ANNIVERSARY Special Section 1995 / 13

1992
• Carol Moseley-Braun defeats U.S. Sen. Alan Dixon in the primary and goes on to win the election, becoming the

first black woman from Illinois to win a U.S. Senate seat.
• Mary Ann McMorrow elected first woman on the Illinois Supreme Court.

1993
• Power formally shifts to the suburbs. James "Pate" Philip of DuPage County elected Senate president.

Illinois Issues 20th ANNIVERSARY Special Section 1995 / 14

1995
• U.S. Sen. Paul Simon announces intention to retire after current term.
• Suburban power consolidated with the election of Elmhurst Republican Lee Daniels as speaker.
• Lawmakers approve a $33.5 billion state budget.

Illinois Issues 20th ANNIVERSARY Special Section 1995 / 15