Rejected
Former Chicago Board President
D. Sharon Grant can't buy a break
these days. She has been judged an
unsuitable candidate for the Intensive
Confinement Center, or "boot camp,"
adjoined to the federal prison in
Bryan, Texas. Grant is scheduled to
report to the prison March 4 to begin
serving the remaining 16 months of a
21-month sentence for tax evasion,
The boot camp tour would have
shortened her stay in Texas to six
months, with the remainder of her
sentence spent at a halfway house
Chicago.
Courted
When Secretary of State George
Ryan endorsed Texas Sen. Phil
Gramm for the Republican presidential
nomination, he gave a back-door
nod to US. Senate Majority Leaders
Bob Dole —just in case Gramm's
candidacy sank.
Gramm dropped out of the race in
I mid-February after a poor showing in
the Iowa caucuses — one national
network reporter observed that he
had the buoyancy of a rock after the
Louisiana caucuses — and Dole's Illinois
forces immediately began courting Ryan
for Gramm's delegates. As
of press time, Ryan was holding out.
What with Lamar Alexander's strong
polling numbers, his people are also;
knocking on Ryan's door.
Resigned
Richard Semonin, who is chairman
of the task force that will write the
siting standards for a nuclear waste
dump in Illinois, resigned in mid-February.
The group will make recommendations to
the state soil and water surveys, which will
then find at least 10 locations that
meet the standards.
|
H O N O R S
U.S. Sen. Paul Simon donated more than $168,000 from his campaign fund to various charities and philanthropic organizations. More
than $37,000 went to Illinois organizations: $25,000 to his wife Jeanne's alma
mater, Barat College in Lake Forest; $10,000 to Israel Arts and Science Academy in Chicago; $1,000 each to the Carbondale Public Library, home of
Southern Illinois University where he will teach and do research upon his
retirement from the Senate, and to Troy Public Library, the city where Simon
lived and published the local newspaper early in his career. The senator also
donated to the Sojourn Women's Center in Springfield.
Outside his home state, Simon donated the largest amount, $100,000, to
Dana College in Blair, Neb., where he spent two years before quitting to buy
the Troy weekly. He is on the college's board of trustees, and his donation will
help students who want to study abroad. He gave $10,000 to the [President
Jimmy] Carter Center in Atlanta, Ga., and $5,000 each to the "New York-based Armenian General Benevolent Association, the Barbara Bush Foundation, the NAACP and the United Nations Association. He donated $1,000 to
the Women's Bar Association based in Washington, D.C., for scholarships for
underprivileged women pursuing law degrees.
A spokesman for Simon says the senator has more than $121,000 left in his
war chest and that he will probably make other donations to charities.
* * *
William Julius Wilson, sociology professor at the
University of Chicago, has accepted a position at
Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of
Government beginning next fall. During his 25-year
tenure at U of C, Wilson's scholarship has
attracted a national following. He says he was
drawn to Harvard by the prospect of joining other
African-American scholars who hope to have an
impact on national social policy.
SENATE RACE THINNING
Chicago lawyer calls it quits
Clint Krislov of Wilmette ended his
campaign in early February for the
U.S. Senate Democratic primary.
Krislov claimed he was hurt by a challenge to his petition signatures made
by U.S. Rep. Richard Durbin, who is
also trying to win the Democratic
nomination. Of the 10,080 signatures
filed at the State Board of Elections by
Krislov, the Durbin camp objected to
9,201. J. Patrick Hanley, a Chicago
election law attorney, says he felt sure
there was enough evidence to throw
out more than 5,200 signatures on
Krislov's petitions, which would have
left the candidate with fewer than the
required 5,000 to remain on the ballot.
A political unknown, Krislov said
the petition challenge tied up resources
he needed to get his name and his message before the voters. However, he
said he would have survived the petition challenge. He withdrew the day
before the Board of Elections hearing.
Krislov's withdrawal left the race to
the top two contenders, Durbin and
former state Treasurer Pat Quinn.
Durbin has the endorsements of both
Sen. Paul Simon and Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun, but Quinn has the advantage of statewide name recognition.
|