Lame-duck legislators are Editor’s note no longer accountable to voters

Gay marriage. Gambling expansion. State Lame-duck lawmaking is not a new Dana Heupel employee pension reform. Medical marijuana. phenomenon, and it’s not unique to Illinois. Two Forcing some businesses to disclose tax breaks. years ago, lame-duck legislators played key roles Driving privileges for undocumented in approving the 67 percent increase in income immigrants. Keeping open prisons and mental taxes and in abolishing the death penalty and health and developmental centers. Implementing allowing civil unions. Congress’ 2010 lame duck federal health care expansion. session saw the extension of the Bush tax cuts. Those and a host of other pressing issues make This year’s lame duck session in Washington, up the bricks in the wall that Illinois lawmakers D.C., focused on the “fiscal cliff.” And Steven and Gov. Pat Quinn are up against. Serious issues Spielberg’s current blockbuster, Lincoln, shows — difficult decisions — many of which drill to politicians plotting to pass a constitutional the very core beliefs of politicians and taxpayers, amendment abolishing slavery during a lame- alike. Yet it is likely that many — if not most — duck congressional session near the end of the of those tough choices will hinge on legislators Civil War. who either no longer want to serve or whom the So it’s not new, and it’s not illegal. But is it a voters no longer want to represent them. sterling model for how a representative Lame ducks. Lawmakers who won’t be around democracy should work? Should the most after January 9, when a new two-year legislative important legislative decisions wait until a session begins. Legislators who are no longer significant number of lawmakers are no longer accountable to the voters back home and are free accountable to the people who elected them? to vote their consciences — or to follow the “These people are no longer on board,” David commands of party leaders and special interests Morrison, deputy director of the Illinois that can pay off campaign debts or find them Campaign for Political Reform, told the Chicago jobs after their terms expire. Tribune. “They're not tied to their constituents. There are more of them than usual this year — They’re unmoored.” at least 35 — primarily because of the changes in “Lame-duck sessions are when legislators district boundaries that occur every 10 years, but (some of whom won't again face voters) can run also because of the Democrats’ smack-down of riot,” Thomas Suddes of the Cleveland Plain Republicans in last November’s elections. So Dealer wrote in a recent column. “They pass bills Illinois Senate leaders have scheduled session that belong in a wastebasket, and they kill bills days to begin January 2 and extend through the they should pass.” beginning of the new legislative session, while Yale law professor Bruce Ackerman wrote in the House will convene on January 3 and follow the Washington Post in 2010, referring to the same schedule. During that period, the Congress: “It is utterly undemocratic for legislative leaders will most likely try to persuade repudiated representatives to legislate in the those lame-duck members to cast controversial name of the American people. Worse, the votes that many legislators who must face voters prospect of a lame-duck session encourages again wouldn’t touch. sitting politicians to defer big issues till after Session days are also scheduled during that Election Day and thereby avoid scrutiny by the time because after January 1, legislation only voters.” needs a simple majority to pass and become But Quinn, who made his bones as a effective immediately upon the governor’s government reformer, is all for doing the signature. Between the previous June 1 through legislative heavy lifting during lame-duck December 31, a three-fifths approval is necessary sessions. “I really feel that all the legislators who under the Constitution for bills to take effect are in the General Assembly right now have more before June 1 of the next year. work to do before their term is up,” he told the

www.illinoisissues.uis.edu 1 Illinois Issues 1 January 2013 3 Tribune soon after the November election. changes for new state employees were passed Editor’s note “And we want to make sure the entire term is in one day with little last-minute input from continued used in order to get big things done for the anyone, especially those most affected. And public, for the people.” it’s long been Statehouse lore that toward the Maybe not surprising, though, from a man end of a legislative session, House Speaker who desperately wants to deal with the state’s Michael Madigan and other legislative leaders fiscal problems in whatever way is expedient. will keep lawmakers in Springfield doing A crusader who shed his good-government busywork so they won’t travel home and be mantle after his election and instead governs influenced by the people they represent. with one finger moistened to test the political Granted, the pressure on the Illinois winds and another pointed upward and General Assembly and the U.S. Congress to inexplicably extended toward the deal with major issues is immense. Political constituencies that elected him. gridlock has made passage of controversial Insiders at the Statehouse would likely scoff legislation nearly impossible without at any suggestion that lame-duck sessions resorting to chicanery. And bond rating might not be the best time to enact major houses and influential interest groups such as legislation. That’s simply how the process the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club works, they’d say. And they would be right. of Chicago and others are pushing loudly for This is, after all, Illinois, where important solutions to the state’s fiscal mess or to votes are often made with little regard for or controversial social issues. consultation with voters or stakeholders. But it’s a shame — better yet, a sham — that Witness the practice known as “shell bills.” legislative leaders, the governor and the They are designed to skirt the constitutional special interests believe that the only way to provision that before a final vote, “a bill shall make those major changes is through votes be read by title on three different days in each by legislators who don’t have to answer to the house.” Instead, important issues such as voters who elected them. 1 statewide electric deregulation or pension

Robert Gallo, senior state director, Alysia Tate, Chicago. AARP Illinois. Corinne Wood, attorney, Lake Forest. Advisory Sharon Gist Gilliam, chairperson, Chicago Housing Authority. EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS Staff Board Graham Grady, attorney, Shefsky & Robert Easter, president, University CHAIR Froelich, Chicago. of Illinois. Susan Koch, chancellor, University of Mike Lawrence, retired director, Paul Doris B. Holleb, professor-lecturer Illinois Springfield. Executive Editor Simon Public Policy Institute, emerita, University of Chicago. David Racine, interim executive Dana Heupel Southern Illinois University Bethany Jaeger, management Carbondale. director, Center for State Policy and consultant, Kerber, Eck and Leadership, University of Illinois EDITORIAL VICE CHAIR Braeckel, Springfield. Springfield. Statehouse Bureau Chief Dawn Clark Netsch, professor of law Jeff Mays, president, Illinois Business J. Fred Giertz, director and professor, Jamey Dunn emeritus, Northwestern University Roundtable, Chicago. Institute of Government and Public Managing Editor School of Law, Chicago. Affairs, University of Illinois. Maureen Foertsch McKinney Brad McMillan, executive director, Columnist MEMBERS Dana Heupel, executive editor/ Institute for Principled Leadership Charles N. Wheeler III MarySue Barrett, president, director, Center Publications. in Public Service, Bradley Associate Editor Metropolitan Planning Council, University, Peoria. Beverley Scobell Chicago. MEMBERS EMERITUS Laurence J. Msall, president, The Graduate Research Assistant Cynthia Canary, former executive (years served on board in parentheses) Civic Federation, Chicago. Eliot Clay director, Illinois Campaign for Michael J. Bakalis (1983-2001) Editorial Assistant Political Reform, Chicago. Sylvia Puente, executive director, James M. Banovetz (1986-2005) Debi Edmund Robert J. Christie, vice president, Latino Policy Forum, Chicago. James L. Fletcher (1983-2000) government relations, Philip J. Rock, attorney, Rock, Fusco David Kenney (1978-90) BUSINESS Northwestern Memorial Hospital, & Associates, LLC, Chicago. Louis H. Masotti (1978-92) Business Manager Chicago. John R. Rosales, director of Chicago James T. Otis (1975-94) Toni L. Langdon Kathleen Dunn, vice president, City Colleges, south Chicago David J. Paulus (1988-94) Marketing & Circulation Director government relations, Illinois campus. Carl Shier (1978-87). Rachel Lattimore Hospital Association, Springfield. Valerie Denney, president, Valerie Tom Ryder, attorney, W. Thomas Illinois Issues is published by Denney Communications, Ryder, LTD, Springfield. Center Publications Chicago. Charles W. Scholz, attorney, Quincy. Center for State Policy and Jim Edgar, senior fellow, Institute of Jhatayn “Jay” Travis, program officer, Leadership Government and Public Affairs, The Woods Fund of Chicago. http://cspl.uis.edu University of Illinois. 4 January 2013 1 Illinois Issues 1 www.illinoisissues.uis.edu IllinoisIssuesIllinoisIssues Contents Volume XXXIX, No. 1 A publication of the University of Illinois Springfield Departments Features

Editor’s note Lame ducks not held accountable to voters by Dana Heupel 3 State of the state Testing teachers Tammy Re-entry ‘Least popular’ doesn’t As new performance Duckworth Former prisoners face tell whole Quinn story evaluations are She defeated a Tea a host of problems implemented, the Party darling to once they leave the by Jamey Dunn 6 state’s education become the first corrections system. community is Asian-American Noteworthy 8 challenged like never woman to serve by Molly Parker 30 before. Illinois in Congress. The issue was designed by People 34 by Kerry Lester 17 by Kenneth Lowe 24 Patty Sullivan. The cover photograph comes courtesy Letters 36 of defense.gov. Ends and means New lawmakers to take on weighty issues by Charles N. Wheeler III 37 What do women, Rural 911 sportsmen and EMS may be a downstaters necessary service in have in common? Illinois, but that does not guarantee such The Democrats’ new services are available. super-majorities promise to enhance by Jamey Dunn 27 the power of individual caucuses. January 2013 by Kurt Erickson 21

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www.illinoisissues.uis.edu 1 Illinois Issues 1 January 2013 5 State of the State ‘Least popular’ governor tag doesn’t tell whole Quinn story

Jamey Dunn In late November, Gov. Pat Quinn was dubbed While many citizens may not see improvements with the infamous title of the least popular that have been made in Illinois, one has to consider governor in America. how bad things truly were before the state began to Only 25 percent of respondents to a Public Policy confront its ethics and budget problems. Polling survey of Illinois voters approved of Quinn’s A veteran Statehouse reporter noted in a recent performance in office, and 64 percent said they conversation how far Illinois has come in improving disapproved. The rest of those polled said they were its budgeting process by basing spending on realistic not sure. That represents a drop from a September revenue estimates and making the required public Paul Simon Public Policy Institute poll that found employee pension payments up front before other that 42 percent of voters approved of Quinn’s spending is determined. To most, those seem like performance. That number was an improvement the basics of budgeting: Find out how much money over an October poll from the institute, based at you are bringing in before you spend it. Make your Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, that required mortgage payment before you decide to found Quinn’s approval rating was only 35 percent. spend on other more-flexible costs. But in the “Gov. Quinn is doing what’s right for Illinois and context of recent Illinois political history, these to make our state a better place. After decades of changes are a revelation that Quinn perhaps did not fiscal mismanagement and two corrupt governors spearhead but did vocally support. in a row, Illinois now has no-nonsense ethics laws, Quinn’s administration also played a pivotal role a shrinking unemployment rate and less in historic Medicaid reform that is expected to discretionary spending than ever before because of reduce the state’s liability by nearly $2 billion. Gov. Quinn,” Quinn spokeswoman Brooke Before the campaign finance reform law, which Anderson told the Chicago Sun-Times. “He’s leading came as a response to Blagojevich’s stunning the state in its most difficult moment. What’s corruption, was enacted, Illinois was called the Wild required right now is a lot of hard decisions and West of campaign reform so many times that I bold leadership. And it’s not easy and immediately cringe to even reiterate the cliché. But there is a popular, but we’re doing what’s right.” Almost reason for all the repetition. While the state had everything about that statement is correct, but it reporting requirements, there was no limit on how doesn’t tell the whole story. much a politician could take from any one person Quinn — the lieutenant governor who or group. Quinn struggled with this first big championed environmental and populist causes challenge, at one point testifying for a bill that his and often had to hold press conferences on slow own reform coalition opposed. He also vetoed the news days and Sundays just to get coverage — bill that originally passed, as part of an agreement inherited a colossal mess. Former Democratic Gov. with legislative leaders to rework the plan. But in the Rod Blagojevich had just been impeached and end, Illinois got some substantive reform. Was it removed from office for, among a litany of everything that good government advocates offenses, conspiring to sell President Barack wanted? No. Did it completely revamp the state’s Obama’s former U.S. Senate seat. Illinois was culture that bred corruption? Clearly not. A House literally a joke, as it was getting ribbed on nearly member indicted on bribery charges is going to be every late-night comedy show. Now Blagojevich sworn in later this month. But when weighed and his predecessor, former Republican Gov. against what the state had before the new law, it was George Ryan, are both serving time in federal a monumental change. prisons for corruption convictions. Many say Quinn won the 2010 election primarily When Quinn stepped into office, the state’s on social issues because moderate voters were budget deficit was a jaw-dropping $13 billion. But scared off by the stances of his Republican at the time, nobody knew how bad it was because challenger, state Sen. Bill Brady, on issues such as Blagojevich’s administration had refused to give abortion and gay rights. But at times, Quinn has Quinn’s people information to ease the transition. struggled with owning his liberal bona fides. He

6 January 2013 1 Illinois Issues 1 www.illinoisissues.uis.edu was a vocal advocate of civil unions, even standing A former governor who had to make some up to Catholic leaders in his own church over it unpopular cuts in his day says that demonstrating and his pro-choice stance. However, his his ability to lead is the key to Quinn bringing up Department of Revenue’s waffling about whether his approval rating. “Public opinion can change. couples in civil unions could file joint tax returns, My experience has been: At the state level, once a right that had been promised them by legislators your numbers are down, it’s hard to get them back when the bill was passed, likely did not win him up,” says former Gov. Jim Edgar. “But it doesn’t points with the gay community. In the end, the mean they can’t come back. [Former Republican department found a way to allow couples in civil Gov. Richard] Ogilvie, his numbers got down after unions to file jointly, but damage was done. the income tax. They came back up. Not quite Quinn is pushing to close the super maximum- enough. He just barely lost to [former Democratic security prison near Tamms. Advocates say that Gov.] Dan Walker. ... I think Ogilvie demonstrated the extreme isolation that prisoners experience in as governor he was willing to do a lot of tough Tamms is a human rights violation that things and get things done. He managed well, and exacerbates and sometimes even causes mental I think that’s what governor Quinn would have to health issues. He has framed the closure of the do. He would have to demonstrate that he is costly facility simply as a budget issue instead of managing the state, [that] he is getting some focusing on the moral questions. While that move problems solved.” seems to be an effort to simplify the debate over Of course, Edgar, a Republican, likely hopes that the closure, few budget hawks in the General Quinn cannot increase his public approval Assembly are rushing to publicly support Quinn numbers. But Edgar concedes even if he can’t, it because their colleagues with facilities slated for does not mean that Republicans can defeat Quinn closures in their districts are not pleased with his in the 2014 race for the governor’s office. “I think plans. Quinn’s administration says that the [Quinn’s low approval rating is] why in two years, prisoners from Tamms will be held under the same we have a chance of coming back and making this conditions at another prison. So while advocates state a two-party state if we win the governor’s support the closure, Quinn is giving them little to race. I think we have an opportunity to do that. It’s commend him for. an opportunity. It’s not a guarantee. We’ve got to When Quinn does take to the bully pulpit, he make sure we nominate the best candidate and often has no luck. After a mass shooting in a that that’s a candidate who can not only win a Colorado movie theater in July, he used his veto primary, but he’s got to win the general election. pen to rewrite a noncontroversial bill dealing with And to win the general election in Illinois, you’ve ammunition sales into an assault weapons ban. The got to appeal to independents and Democrats.” veto was overridden, and the sponsors and other The survey from Public Policy Polling shows lawmakers rebuked Quinn for not going through Quinn trailing potential Republican challengers the regular legislative process. Quinn has used his state Sen. Kirk Dillard and state Treasurer Dan veto pen in the past to hijack bills and change them Rutherford. Quinn did beat Illinois Congressman to ethics initiatives. Those moves get him nowhere Aaron Schock in the poll, but only by one with the public or with legislators, who may resent percentage point. The poll also shows voters his efforts to get his initiatives passed without favored potential primary challengers Bill Daley appealing to the standard legislative process. and Attorney General Lisa Madigan over Quinn. No one could claim that Quinn has not pushed It is a rough time to be an executive in America. for pension reform. Early in the debate, he stayed The buck stops with you, and there are not enough somewhat on the sidelines, saying only that he bucks to go around. Charismatic President Barack would support a “constitutional” plan. But in the Obama has seen his approval rating dip. According last year, he has gone all in on pension reform, to Gallup polling, the lowest plunge was down to presenting his own framework for changes to 38 percent. It has since recovered to 51 percent. employee benefits. He has even claimed, “I know So it is no surprise that Quinn is not currently that I was put on Earth to get this [pension winning any popularity contests. And he has reform] done,” but when he called a special nothing but unpopular choices in front of him for legislative session on pensions, nothing happened. the rest of his current term — pension reform, And his online efforts to educate the public on budget cuts and possibly more reductions to growing pension costs, starring Squeezy the Medicaid. But if he can lead the way on those Pension Python, have been roundly mocked. issues and work effectively with the legislature, His struggle to get pension reform passed strikes where there will soon be a Democratic at the heart of Quinn’s problem: Whether it is fair, supermajority, he might be able to rehabilitate his it seems most voters just don’t see him as effective. image.

www.illinoisissues.uis.edu 1 Illinois Issues 1 January 2013 7 Noteworthy

Photograph courtesy of Illinois House Democrats

The Illinois House meets during a veto session in November Most of Gov. Quinn’s measures survive veto session During the fall veto session, several of Gov. Pat Quinn’s vetoes A judge blocked the closures after the American Federation of were upheld, including budget cuts that could clear the way for State County and Municipal employees sued, arguing that the the closures of state prisons. closures would make the state’s already overcrowded prison Most of what Quinn cut from the budget sent to him by system dangerous. Quinn says he plans to ask that the hold on the lawmakers was money to fund several Illinois Department of closures be lifted. “Now the facts are the governor has vetoed the Corrections facilities that he intends to shutter as part of a cost- money, the legislature upheld his veto, so there’s no authorization savings plan. to spend the money from either branch of the government.” He vetoed $19.4 million for the super-maximum security prison Lawmakers did vote to override one of Quinn’s seven non- near Tamms and $21.2 million for the women’s prison in Dwight. budget vetoes: a change that would have created a ban on assault In addition to the prisons, he plans to close three transition weapons in the state. Senate Bill 681 allows Illinois gun owners to centers meant to help inmates reenter society. He also cut $8.9 purchase ammunition from in-state dealers through the mail. million for a youth prison in Joliet and $6.6 million for a youth However, the measure ended up on Quinn’s desk after a mass prison in Murphysboro. The Senate voted to override the vetoes, shooting in a Colorado movie theater in July, and Quinn used his but the House did not take up the measure. Even if the House had veto pen to attach a ban on semi-automatic rifles, high-capacity voted to reject Quinn’s changes, he would not have been bound to magazines and .50-caliber guns onto the bill. Quinn said he felt he spend the money to keep the facilities open. needed to “raise attention” about the dangers of assault weapons. Still, legislators in support of keeping the prisons open wanted a “And that particular bill was a way to do it,” he says. chance to argue their case on the House floor. “I had the best “If the governor wants to do that, then he probably needs to speech ever,” says Rep. Brandon Phelps, a Harrisburg Democrat. find someone who introduces that bill, and then we have a He says the closures would hurt areas of Illinois that are already discussion about that bill,” says Okawville Republican Sen. David economically depressed. “The governor always says he is the jobs Luechtefeld, sponsor of the legislation. governor, but he is not proving it right now.” Quinn says he plans to back efforts to pass such a ban next Quinn says that having the vetoes sustained was “a victory for year. “We’re going to keep pushing and pushing until we get it taxpayers.” He told reporters in Chicago, “I think that does send a done.” message that we have to be serious about reducing the expenses of our government.” Jamey Dunn

8 January 2013 1 Illinois Issues 1 www.illinoisissues.uis.edu Illinois Senate gives undocumented immigrants a shot at driver’s licenses The Illinois House will likely vote this month on a measure to our country’s law. The national government should act first, which give driver’s licenses to immigrants who are in the country illegally. then paves the way for this action,” says Aurora Republican Sen. The Senate approved Senate Bill 957 during veto session. The bill Chris Lauzen. “And when folks say to us, ‘It’s only one law, the would give immigrants without documentation a chance to get immigration law, that’s being broken,’ that is simply not accurate for three-year temporary Illinois driver’s licenses, which are already tens of thousands of people who are also employed illegally, many available in Illinois to immigrants who lack a Social Security of them driving to work, therefore breaking the traffic laws. Now number but have proof that they are in the country legally. we’re expected to believe that folks who are already breaking the “I think that while the issue of immigration is being debated on immigration law, the employment law, the traffic laws, are now the national level, in the meantime we care about the safety of our going to follow the insurance law.” highways in the state,” says Senate President John Cullerton, who The bill has bipartisan support. “For me, this has been somewhat sponsored the bill. of a process of evolution, where a number of years ago I was not The licenses would only be available to residents who can prove supportive of this bill. I think a lot of us felt like the federal they have lived in Illinois for a year. Sponsors say that provision is government would be more aggressive and proactive on the issue of meant to stop immigrants from neighboring states coming to immigration, and clearly they have not,” says House Minority Illinois to obtain licenses. The licenses would have a different Leader Tom Cross. appearance than standard driver’s licenses and could not be used as Lawrence Benito, chief operating officer of the Illinois Coalition identification. After three years, holders could reapply for another for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, said the proposal would mean temporary license, and there is no limit on the number of times more to immigrant families than simply becoming legal drivers. For they could reapply. If a driver with one of the licenses does not have some undocumented immigrants, it could mean the difference legally required liability insurance, his or her license would no between being deported and staying in the country. “For families, longer be valid. for parents who are taking their kids to school, to the local grocery Opponents say the state should wait for Congress to address store, or to drive to work, this is an important piece of legislation,” immigration reform. “We have the cart before the horse in the case he says. “A routine traffic stop should not end in the deportation or of granting additional legal privileges to people already breaking destruction of families.” Jamey Dunn

Rep. Ford disputes charges in bank fraud indictment Democratic state Rep. La Shawn Ford of Chicago acting U.S. Attorney Gary Shapiro’s office. Ford was denied charges of bank fraud brought by a federal first elected in 2006. grand jury in late November. In the indictment, Ford was charged with eight Ford, 40, who invests in real estate, sought money counts of bank fraud and nine counts of submitting to rehabilitate properties in Chicago but used the false information to Chicago-based ShoreBank, funds to pay other expenses such as car loans, credit which failed in 2010. cards and payments to a Hammond, Ind., casino, “Ford had multiple loans with ShoreBank, according to the federal indictment. The 17-count including a $1 million line of credit, which he was indictment alleges that he also used the money for his permitted to use solely to purchase and rehabilitate successful 2006 campaign for his Illinois House seat. investment properties. On May 22, 2006, he obtained In a message posted on his website November 29, a $500,000 increase — to $1.5 million — and a two- State Rep. La Shawn Ford Ford, who represents Chicago’s west side and western year extension of the credit line, allegedly by Cook County suburbs, wrote: “I believe I am submitting false tax return documents that inflated innocent of the charges brought against me today. his personal and business income,’’ according to the An indictment is an accusation, not a conviction that release. “On seven different occasions between April the law was broken. 2006 and March 2007, Ford applied for and obtained “I believe I did not break the law, and I look a total of $373,500 in advances from the credit line, forward to the truth being told and justice being allegedly by making false statements that he served.” intended to use the funds to rehabilitate six different He told the Chicago Sun-Times: “There’s no bank investment properties on the city’s west side. In each fraud in my blood. instance, however, Ford allegedly knew that he “The prosecutors — they have a good writer, and intended to use the funds, in part, for expenses they wrote a good story. I lived the story, and I’ll tell unrelated to the specific rehabilitation projects.” the story. I’m not a bank fraud, that’s for sure,” the The indictment seeks forfeiture of about $832,000, newspaper reported that Ford said. “I’m a hard- the release states. Each count of bank fraud and working man. They have a way of working, and I making false statements to the bank carries a have a way of living. I’m honest.” potential maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and The charges do not involve Ford’s role as a a $1 million fine. lawmaker, according to a prepared statement from Maureen Foertsch McKinney

www.illinoisissues.uis.edu 1 Illinois Issues 1 January 2013 9 Fee hike will bolster Department of Natural Resources The state’s struggling Department of Natural program to spend elsewhere. “That’s been a policy Resources will soon get some budgetary relief. choice. This wasn’t some irresistible, unchangeable The department has endured budget cuts and fund movement that we were faced with, so now we have to sweeps in recent years and faces an estimated $750 go once again and dig even deeper into people’s million in needed maintenance at the state’s parks. pockets,” says Sen. Dale Righter, a Mattoon The sweeps and dwindling appropriations had left Republican. He says lawmakers should cut elsewhere DNR officials looking for a consistent revenue source and use that money to save the parks. “That’s not outside of the General Revenue Fund. right. At some point you just have to say no. Fund the Lawmakers approved a revenue package to try to parks. They are in horrible condition.” Under Gov. Pat help get DNR back on its feet. Senate Bill 1566 will Quinn, DNR costs have been shifted out of general increase vehicle registration fees by $2, which will revenue fund spending and into other funds. bring the cost of registration for a standard passenger Quinn signed the bill in early December. vehicle to $101 annually. The proposal will also allow “This vote is a victory for conservation and the the DNR to charge out-of-state visitors park entrance environment in Illinois; it is also a victory for the fees and charge all visitors access fees for certain park economy and communities across the state that use features, such as beaches and horse trails. A previous and rely on the services the DNR provides on a daily plan of charging entrance fees for all park visitors was basis,” DNR Director Marc Miller said in a prepared scrapped in lieu of the proposed increased vehicle statement. Miller cautioned that the effects of the new registration fee. “If you live in Illinois and you have an funds would not be immediate. “While it’s important Illinois plate, it’s open season. Go to any park you to remember that capturing these new funds will take want to,” says Olympia Fields Democrat Toi time, we will work as quickly as we can to put the new Hutchinson, who sponsored the bill. The measure fell revenues toward their intended purpose. Passage of short of the support needed to pass when it was called this bill will help us hire critical staff to maintain state for a vote at the end of the spring session. But parks, fix aging infrastructure, speed up regulatory Hutchinson was able to scrape together the necessary functions and make a bigger difference in the lives of votes to pass it during the fall veto session. everyone we serve.” Miller has vowed not to close any Republicans who voted against the bill argue that state parks. Democrats have pulled money out of the DNR Jamey Dunn

10 January 2013 1 Illinois Issues 1 www.illinoisissues.uis.edu Photograph by Pete Souza, courtesy of the White House

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel meets with President Barack Obama in the Oval Office in mid-November. Obama’s victory expected to give a boost to Chicago

With the election cycle in the rear-view mirror, Chicago extension of the Red Line. Emanuel, an avid cyclist himself, has politicians look to bank on the reinstatement of President Barack wanted more than 100 miles of bike paths constructed within the Obama. Mayor Rahm Emanuel and other prominent figures hope city. “We had a couple things that you will see — in coming that the warm response to Obama in Cook County will equate to months ahead — that will be helpful to the city. … It’s all about federal assistance for a variety of programs and projects, ranging transportation and energy,” Emanuel said after his meetings. from educational funding to the expansion of the Chicago Transit Emanuel was also able to “drop in” to the Oval Office during his Authority’s Red Line. visit, a luxury that many in Washington are not afforded. He did It does not hurt that Mayor Emanuel was a former chief of staff not elaborate on the substance of his meeting with the president, of the president and was a fundraiser for a pro-Obama PAC. only saying: “We had a good meeting … with my friend, our Emanuel holds clout that few other politicians can claim to have. president, and we had a very good meeting. That’s all I’ll say.” “I don’t think it’s an overstatement to say that there is no mayor in “Certainly we will have a better opportunity of getting special America [who] has a better link to the White House than Mayor earmarks funds than we would have under Romney,” says Dick Emanuel,” says Ald. Edward M. Burke from Chicago’s 14th Ward. Simpson, political science department chairman at University of On November 16, 10 days after the election, Emanuel visited Illinois-Chicago and a former Chicago alderman. “Which Washington, D.C., for scheduled meetings with federal officials, particular grants go through, I’m not sure, but in general, we will including Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Energy receive probably hundreds of millions of dollars more during the Secretary Steven Chu. Although Emanuel would not comment on Obama administration, even in all of the budget turmoil, than we what was specifically discussed, it seems safe to say that he is vying would have during the Romney administration.” for federal help on his own campaign promises to create paths for Eliot Clay bicycle commuters within Chicago as well as the aforementioned

www.illinoisissues.uis.edu 1 Illinois Issues 1 January 2013 11 Democrats to wield super-majorities in the legislature in 2013 When the 98th General Assembly is sworn in early without input from Republicans. “The map has got a this month, Democrats will hold super-majorities in lot to do with it, I think, undoubtedly,” says both chambers. Christopher Mooney, a political science professor at “Senate President John Cullerton and House the University of Illinois Springfield. Mooney added Speaker Michael Madigan have to feel pretty good that enthusiasm for President Barack Obama in his about their new muscle ... and their new recruits,” home state might have brought more Democrats out says John Jackson, a visiting professor with the Paul to the polls. Jackson agreed. “To me, the huge Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois difference between [20]10 and [20]12 is the size and University in Carbondale. In the General Assembly shape of the electorate.” He says that in 2010, the that will be sworn in on January 9, Democrats will backlash over the Affordable Care Act and the rise of hold 71 House seats to the Republicans’ 47, and 40 the Tea Party brought out populations that are more Senate seats, shrinking the Republican Senate caucus typically Republican, such as white and older voters. to 19 members. This means that if legislative “It was kind of a totally different snapshot Democrats unify behind a bill, not even Gov. Pat demographically.” He says this year’s election brought Quinn’s veto pen can put a stop to it. out an electorate more like the one that sent Obama When asked if the majorities weakened his power, to the White House in 2008. Quinn told reporters in Chicago, “Not at all.” He says “Part of the generic Republican problem is that the the Democrats are a diverse bunch who come from electorate is changing,” says Kent Redfield, a all areas of the state. “I think it’s important to see that professor emeritus of political science at the the Democratic Party made great inroads in University of Illinois Springfield. He added, “African- suburban communities, and I think that’s helpful for American and Hispanic voters make up a larger our democracy in Illinois. It’s not just one party in percentage of the electorate in Illinois than they do one part of our state,” Quinn says. “I think we have nationally.” the opportunity to have a progressive majority in Redfield says that unless there is a change of Illinois to make reforms that are necessary and course, the situation could only get worse for overdue.” Republicans. “If the demographic changes continue Some veteran Statehouse watchers were surprised through this decade that we saw last decade, then the by the sweeping nature of the Democratic victories in map is probably going to get more difficult than what Illinois. “I’m surprised that almost all of the contested we’ve seen this year.” He says it is all but impossible races tilted ultimately to the Democrats. You can for the party to take back the majority in either expect that in Chicago, but I did not [expect it] across chamber in 2014. “If they pick up 10 seats in either downstate,” Jackson says. chamber, they are still short of the majority.” Many are attributing the Democrats’ big wins to He says the losses might also make it more difficult their drawing of the new legislative map. Because to raise campaign funds. “People want to give money they hold both chambers of the General Assembly to winners, and they want to give money to people and the governor’s office, Democrats were able to who have access to power.” draw new state legislative and congressional districts Jamey Dunn

Gov. Pat Quinn Sen. President John Cullerton House Speaker Michael Madigan

12 January 2013 1 Illinois Issues 1 www.illinoisissues.uis.edu Report issues a C- grade to K-12 education in Illinois Illinois improved slightly since 2010 in a nonpartisan education At the high school level, only a third of students are considered think tank’s assessment of kindergarten through high school, but the “academically prepared for the coursework ahead,” and at “a time group still gave the state a C- grade. when eight of every 10 jobs require more than a high school “Our major take-away message is that if we don’t take a diploma, fewer than three-quarters of Illinois students who begin comprehensive approach to what's going on in our schools, and we high school will graduate, and fewer than a third will earn a two- or don’t stick with a comprehensive strategy over a sustained period of four-year degree.” time, we're going to be writing the same report 10 years from now,” Steans says: “At the end of the day, it’s all connected. [How says Robin Steans, executive director of Advance Illinois, “This needs students] are doing in college readiness is really just a culmination of to be something that we feel strongly enough about that we’re what is or isn’t happening well earlier in a child’s educational career. prepared to commit and stay the course and not follow the latest best So we are really working hard to get kids off to a stronger start, and thing or think that there's some easy, magic-bullet answer out there.” the last thing we should do is give up on that. And it’s a little too The group’s biennial report, The State We’re In: 2012, noted that soon for all that work maybe to have shown up, but we've got to only a third of Illinois students who finish fourth grade are know if we want these ... college post-secondary completion proficient in reading. That statistic is troubling, the report notes, numbers to improve, we are going to have to care about what because “students who do not transition from learning to read in the happens in the freshman year of high school, eighth grade, sixth early grades to reading to learn by fourth grade fall behind and are at grade, fourth grade, kindergarten and on down. much greater risk of dropping out.” “My hope is that people feel urgent but not so overwhelmed and The results were worse for minority and low-income students: “A discouraged that they just throw up their hands. ... Hard as it is, it’s shockingly low 12 percent of African-American students, 18 percent just not something we can afford to give up on.” of Latino students and 16 percent of low-income students read The report is online at www.advanceillinois.org proficiently in fourth grade.” Maureen Foertsch McKinney

Supreme Court rejects a call to hear case involving eavesdropping on police in Illinois The U.S. Supreme Court’s refusal to consider an police, says, “This was the goal of the legislation that appellate court ruling blocking the prosecution of we were attempting to pass, so I’m thrilled that was citizens who have audiotaped police was hailed by free the outcome.” She said, barring some other speech advocates who say the lack of action on the development, she would not introduce new legislation controversial eavesdropping law effectively settles the on the issue. issue. According to the Chicago Tribune, Sally Daly, a The American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, spokeswoman for Alvarez, said a Supreme Court which initially brought the complaint against Cook ruling could have provided "prosecutors across County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez for prosecuting Illinois with legal clarification and guidance with individuals recording police, is seeking a permanent respect to the constitutionality and enforcement” of injunction against such arrests. The federal court the statute. issued a preliminary injunction in its ruling. Harvey Grossman, ACLU of Illinois’ legal director, Josh Sharp, director of governmental relations for said in a prepared statement: “The ACLU of Illinois the Illinois Press Association, says: “Practically continues to believe that in order to make the rights of speaking, the enforcement of the eavesdropping law is free expression and petition effective, individuals and no more, at least as it comes to recording police organizations must be able to freely gather and record officers. I would say the chances … of any media information about the conduct of government and person or private citizen being charged with an their agents — especially the police. The advent and eavesdropping violation for tape recording police are widespread accessibility of new technologies make the over. recording and dissemination of pictures and sound “What went to the Supreme Court for review was, inexpensive, efficient and easy to accomplish. Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez appealed “While a final ruling in this case will only address that ruling by the Seventh Circuit, that the the work of the ACLU of Illinois to monitor police enforcement of Illinois’ eavesdropping law violated activity, we believe that it will have a ripple effect the free speech component of the First Amendment, throughout the entire state. We are hopeful that we and the Supreme Court — even though they didn’t are moving closer to a day when no one in Illinois will technically rule, they just let the Seventh Circuit’s risk prosecution when they audio-record public ruling stand — there is no more issue to appeal. That officials performing their duties. Empowering was the highest court of appeals she could go to. I individuals and organizations in this fashion will think it’s pretty much over.” ensure additional transparency and oversight of State Rep. Elaine Nekritz, a Northbrook Democrat, public officials across the state.” sponsor of legislation that would allow the taping of Maureen Foertsch McKinney

www.illinoisissues.uis.edu 1 Illinois Issues 1 January 2013 13 Suicide rates higher for LGBTQ students Advocates are lobbying Illinois lawmakers for a than their heterosexual peers. Robinson explains bill to legalize gay marriage, but it has yet to come that it is more complicated than just straight versus for a vote. In last November’s election, however, gay. People who identify as bisexual or questioning three more states — Maine, Maryland and have even higher rates of suicide than the rest of the Washington — approved measures to allow same- group. sex couples to be recognized as married under the “Perhaps these groups are exposed to greater law. intolerance and stress than youth who identify as As attitudes about the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, lesbian or gay,” he says in a news release. “Or bisexual, transgender and questioning) community perhaps they are targets of ‘biphobia’ — shift more in their favor, it would seem likely that experiencing social rejection and discrimination the stigma of “being different” would shift as well. from both heterosexual and lesbian/gay students.” But a new study shows that changes in that Although it has been difficult to pinpoint what perception apparently have not kept pace. exactly causes the higher rates, the research has Joseph Robinson and Dorothy Espelage, shown educators and lawmakers that the problem educational psychologists at the University of lies in more than just bullying in schools. More Illinois Urbana-Champaign, conducted a study steps need to be taken to address other factors comparing the difference in suicide rates among contributing to increased rates of suicide, Robinson adolescents associated with the LGBTQ group and says. those identified as heterosexual. After they “Suicide is not a trivial thing. Our findings examined seventh- through 12th-graders across 30 suggest that even beyond bullying-prevention schools, their findings revealed a stark difference in policies, schools should have additional policies that numbers: The LGBTQ group was three times more support safe learning environments for all students likely to commit suicide than the heterosexual and help address the remaining risk disparities that group. The researchers associate some of the bullying alone does not account for,” he says. numbers with bullying, an issue not just for the gay The news release highlighted that in May, a bill community but also for children who are low on the was voted down in the Illinois Senate that would socioeconomic ladder. have provided the type of oversight Robinson and Although bullying has been a hot button issue his colleagues would like to see. It was not approved with advocacy groups, Espelage says that it “is not because “conservative groups opposed the the entire story.” After controlling for bullying and legislation out of concerns that the mandated other variables such as childhood sexual abuse, programs would promote homosexuality and violate physical abuse and spousal abuse, they found students’ and parents’ religious beliefs,” he says. LGBTQ teens are still more likely to commit suicide Eliot Clay

14 January 2013 1 Illinois Issues 1 www.illinoisissues.uis.edu Report calls for shutdown of immigration detention centers A recent report calls for the closure of several immigration detention centers across the country, including one in southern Illinois. The Washington-D.C.-based Detention Watch Network, a national coalition that advocates reforms to the country’s immigrant detention and deportation system, ranked the Tri-County Detention Center in Ullin as one of the 10 worst detention centers in the country. Tri-County is a privately operated facility. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has a contract with Pulaski County to provide housing for detainees. The county has a contract with Paladin Eastside Psychological Services, which operates the facility. It is the only privately run detention center in the state. “This arrangement diffuses ICE’s accountability for upholding basic human rights of immigrants in its custody, as ICE has no contractual relationship with the entity caring for them,” the report says. For more than 10 years, Chicago-based Heartland Alliance’s National Immigrant Justice Center has represented detainees at Tri-County and offered legal presentations to educate those being held about their rights. Detention Watch Network’s report relied on information from Heartland Alliance representatives who have visited the facility. Workers from the alliance recounted instances of sexual assault among detainees and woefully inadequate health care. However, the main focus of the report is the isolation detainees experience in the facility. “Tri-County is 350 miles and more than six hours from Chicago. Like most immigration detention facilities, its location isolates immigrants from the outside world and restricts access to legal counsel,” the report says. It notes that some phones in the facility were not operational, and detainees said calls could cost as much as $1 or $2 per minute. “Lawyers often cannot reach their clients detained at Tri-County by phone, even when they schedule the call days in advance. This is a particularly serious problem for immigrants in detention because the government does not provide lawyers to help them negotiate removal proceedings. Instead, immigrants must find and hire lawyers on their own, a next-to-impossible task without a reliable way to communicate.” According to the alliance, detained immigrants with lawyers are five times more likely to win their cases than those without legal counsel. Advocates say the problems at the Tri-County Detention Center play out at similar centers across the nation. “The abuses we see at Tri-County are a snapshot of those occurring in immigration detention centers throughout the country,” Mary Meg McCarthy, executive director of the Heartland Alliance’s National Immigrant Justice Center, said in a prepared statement. “The Obama administration must end this crisis by closing Tri-County and every facility that fails to respect human rights and by stopping the expansion and privatization of the immigration detention system.” ICE says it is looking into the claims made in the report. “However, it is disappointing that the reports appear to be built primarily on anonymous allegations that cannot be investigated or substantiated and many second-hand sources and anecdotes that pre-date the agency’s initiation of detention reform,’’ ICE spokeswoman Barbara Gonzalez said in a prepared statement. “ICE stands behind the significant work we’ve done reforming the detention system by increasing federal oversight, improving conditions of confinement and prioritizing the health and safety of the individuals in our custody.” Jamey Dunn

For more news, see the Illinois Issues website at http://illinoisissues.uis.edu

www.illinoisissues.uis.edu 1 Illinois Issues 1 January 2013 15 Study finds danger in urban cell phone use by drivers The cell phone market has seen immense growth in recent years with the release of products such as the iPhone and Android devices. While cell phones have had a positive effect on our ability to communicate and share information with others, they also have contributed to rising rates of accidents among drivers. This scenario has scared police officers, transportation officials, and insurance companies, who view the booming cell phone market as a fuel for more traffic accidents. Illinois bans texting while driving and prohibits all use of a cell phone by novice drivers, but is that enough? A study by educators at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign seeks to show that cell phone bans do indeed lead to reduced traffic accidents, even in states such as Illinois with large rural areas. Sheldon Jacobson, professor of computer science and mathematics, compared seven years of traffic data from New York, which enacted a statewide ban on cell phone use while driving, with Pennsylvania, a state with no bans. Although there have been similar studies, most others look at a use. “In urban areas, especially very dense ones, our narrow span of time immediately following data shows clearly that cell phone use is associated enactment of a law. with higher amounts of personal injury,” Jacobsen The study found that accidents declined at a fairly explains. “Whether it be state government or local steady rate when a cell phone ban was in place, but ordinance, we just want the data to be as available more interesting were the differences in numbers and non-biased as possible.” when examining urban versus rural environments. Eliot Clay Because of the already high amount of distractions in urban areas, there was a sharper drop in accidents after a ban was implemented because there seemed to be just one less thing to look at while driving. Jacobson explains in a news release: “The main idea is to use the eye test when it comes to cell phone use. If you look around and it's busy, it's a good idea to put the cell phone down and not use it when driving.” Oddly enough, in rural areas, cell phone bans were correlated with a slight increase in traffic accidents. Researchers were not immediately able to determine the cause. “The other possible explanation is that in lower density areas, the number of accidents is smaller, and as a result, the data isn’t as rich. This could just be a statistical anomaly,” Jacobsen says in the release. Researchers would like to continue further study into this finding, though Jacobson acknowledges that data is limited. One issue is whether to examine statewide versus local mandates on cell phone bans. Chicago already bans handheld use while driving, but Chicago is also atypical for many Illinois residents, who often travel state highways flanked with corn, not skyscrapers. In any case, Jacobson and his team do not wish to influence who takes up the cell phone ban flag, but only to show the data in a clear manner for others to

16 January 2013 1 Illinois Issues 1 www.illinoisissues.uis.edu Striking Chicago teachers rally

Feature

by Kerry Lester

Three years ago, Gov. Pat Quinn was preparing to But fast forward, and just as that implementation is Photographs courtesy of the Chicago Teachers Union sign legislation that would tie teachers’ performance really beginning, the legislation — and the strength of evaluations to the growth of their students. It was the state’s education community — are being tested hailed as historic. Part of a national trend spurred by like never before: states’ desire to qualify for the Obama administration’s • The state’s finances are in even more dire Race to the Top federal education grants. straits. The plan was to phase it in year by year, starting • Teachers’ strikes are cropping up in districts with Chicago in the fall of 2012, followed by the large and small. lowest performing schools across the state, with all • Attaining — and keeping — tenure is tougher schools in compliance by 2016. than ever.

www.illinoisissues.uis.edu 1 Illinois Issues 1 January 2013 17 Chicago teachers rally on Labor Day 2012

For new teacher evaluations to be effectively implemented, passed at the time because of “exquisite timing,” says Robin Steans, education experts warn that proper support mechanisms must be director of Advance Illinois, an organization that promotes in place for the reform package to reach its full potential. education reforms. “The law has a good intent, but so did No Child Left Behind,” Illinois teachers were still smarting from the way pension says Marleis Trover, chair of Eastern Illinois University’s education reform was achieved the year before, elevating the retirement age department and a consultant for the Consortium for Educational to 67 and cutting benefits for teachers hired after January 2011. Change. This time, they were bound and determined not to be left out of “Things in bureaucracy can develop a life of their own. ... How the conversation. this is implemented is so important: the timing, the details, the After successfully working for reforms in states including , rules and regulations.” Oregon, Tennessee and Washington, national education reform The Performance Evaluation Reform Act, commonly known as group Stand for Children had, with a mixture of the right staffers PERA, requires districts to design and implement performance and money, Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan’s ear in evaluation systems that assess teachers’ and principals’ Illinois. Madigan then formed an education committee professional skills, as well as incorporate measures of student comprising lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to examine growth. The law, which passed nearly unanimously in both the reforms. state House and Senate in 2009, requires that various test results The state’s 2010 failed bid to win federal Race to the Top be used for at least 25 percent of a teacher’s rating in the first two education stimulus money had laid the groundwork for future years, growing to 30 percent over time. reforms. Classroom observations also figure prominently in the “While some states are engaging in noisy and unproductive evaluations. Teachers and administrators must now all be rated battles around education reform, Illinois is showing what can according to four clear categories: excellent, proficient, needs happen when adults work through their differences together,” U.S. improvement or unsatisfactory. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan told the media at the time. While student growth on standardized tests is not yet a factor in SB 7, which built off of PERA, requires districts to prioritize a majority of districts across the states, all teachers, beginning this teachers’ performance, instead of seniority, in layoff decisions. It fall, must be evaluated using these categories. also makes tenure tougher, requiring high ratings on the last two Over the last few years, a majority of other states have adopted years of a teacher’s evaluation before the privilege is granted. similar evaluation systems. According to the Education Teachers with exceptional reviews could be placed on a fast track Commission of the States, 30 states require evaluations that to earn tenure within three years instead of four. In turn, teachers include evidence of student achievement on tests, and more than a with two unsatisfactory evaluations during a seven-year period dozen use test scores for half or more of a teacher’s rating. could have their certificates revoked. In Illinois, a separate, complimentary piece of legislation to “That piece is so significant,” Trover says. She believes that PERA was pushed through both chambers of the state legislature threatening teachers’ tenure and seniority is a “game changer” that in the spring of 2011, allowing teacher evaluations to be used in could eventually open up the state to lawsuits from teachers who decisions about tenure and layoffs. That piece, Senate Bill 7, feel they were unfairly demoted.

18 January 2013 1 Illinois Issues 1 www.illinoisissues.uis.edu “Adult learners need to learn in an unfearful environment,” she says. Still, there has been an attitude among those in the education community, she says, “to make the best of [the new evaluation system],” something, “we do every day as teachers.” As mandated by law, Chicago Public Schools began this fall, for the first time, to use student growth as part of its teacher evaluation rating. The district, says Sue Sporte, director of research operations for the Consortium on Chicago School Research, got a “late start” — and made some late changes to its implementation process because of the two-week- long teachers strike in September. “It wasn’t like a two-week interruption because people were planning in August [for the strike],” Sporte says, and therefore were not as communicative with one another. Certain parts of that implementation, Sporte says, were renegotiated, though the end result “ended up being very, very close to what was [initially] determined.” Tenured teachers were originally going to be observed during the first year of the new evaluations. That was slid back a year as part of the district’s agreement with the Chicago Teachers Union. Over the summer, in response to pressure from the federal government, the State Board of Education sent out a survey to districts across the state asking which might phase in the new teacher evaluation program earlier than expected. That survey, state board spokeswoman Mary Fergus says, “didn’t yield any hard results.” Still, she says, “all your districts are now working on some phase o the implementation.” Despite varied implementation times, other districts in the suburbs and downstate, whether high- or low-performing, are required to have trained evaluators in place and to have written or adopted new performance T-shirts are sold on the first day of the September 2012 teachers’ strike evaluation standards for principal evaluations by this fall. With the state requiring all evaluators to School Boards and School Administrators,” Phillips complete a majority of training modules for the new says. The evaluation training courses — conducted evaluation system by November 1, Fergus says, through webinars — take roughly 90 hours and “training this summer made things very real.” conclude with what Trover calls a “very Vicki Phillips, division administrator at the state comprehensive test.” board, says that while there is no research data Roughly 85 percent of all evaluators have gone available as to how the training is going at this point, through the training so far, Phillips says. “It’s she’s received “quite a bit of anecdotal-type feedback. absolutely amazing that that many people have gone For the most part, it seems like it’s gone pretty well,” through this program,” Trover says. Phillips says. “Certainly, there are questions of ‘How The training for teacher evaluators is based on should I do this?’ or ‘How should I do that?’” economist and educational consultant Charlotte The training, which cost a total of $2.5 million, has Danielson’s “Enhancing Professional Practice: A been paid for by Illinois’ receipt of federal Race to the Framework for Teaching,” an evaluation model that Top funds. Individually, she says, it costs about $300 the Illinois Education Association largely regards as per principal evaluator and $650 for teacher one of the best. While the Danielson method is used evaluators to learn the new evaluation systems. All in training, state rules only require districts to adopt evaluators are also required to attend regular “re- an instructional framework, not that a specific one be training” sessions.” used. But several suburban districts, including Elgin “One of the really great dynamics here is that the Area School District U-46 and Naperville District state board has really been able to collaborate with the 203, have already put into place evaluation systems [teachers’ unions] and the Illinois Association of based around the Danielson framework. That’s proof,

www.illinoisissues.uis.edu 1 Illinois Issues 1 January 2013 19 officials say, that their hard work is being recognized stakes. They were really working at it.” While she says and validated. some teachers are fearful of Senate Bill 7’s effect on Phillips calls the new evaluation system for the state tenure, “it’s up to the person who’s providing the “definitely a step in the right direction. There were message to influence how do the teachers feel about some places that didn’t evaluate principals in the past. it. That has to do with the preparations.” Or it was such a perfunctory duty that it really had no As with anything else, it is the support systems meaning.” The required training for anyone who’s around the new system that will prove important, conducting evaluations worked to provide a common over time. “Sometimes, state cuts to education language across the state, Phillips says. “We now have funding have probably been a stressor that adds to a common language with some common the pile,” Phillips says. “But really, when you get down understanding of what academic language really to evaluating a principal, the cost of that is time. It’s means. That has changed the conversation from not so much dollars. Time really is allocated as district to district.” according to priorities.” While critics across the country have looked to the Still, funding is inadvertently in play when tight Chicago teachers strike as evidence that teacher school budgets force the school administrators doing evaluations are becoming too data-driven, Trover the evaluating — and the teachers being evaluated — says many of the state’s teachers support the inclusion to juggle more and more. of test scores in their evaluations — as long as “It’s not free,” Sporte says. “If the principals are students are tested multiple times throughout the going to need to be spending a lot of time doing year. “You’re looking at the student when they come observation and coaching ... obviously that’s a good in, where they are, and where they’re going,” she says. thing. There’s still school management stuff that has “It’s so much better in education than saying to go down. If all of a sudden, I need to make room in everyone has to be at a certain point on one test, one my life to observe these teachers and talk to them day of the year.” about their craft, that takes time. As a longtime superintendent in downstate Vienna “Something else has got to give. They all had full District 55, Trover says the first time her students plates before this initiative started.” 1 had to take the Prairie State Achievement Exam as part of federal No Child Left Behind, she was “sick Kerry Lester is political editor/projects writer for the for my students. ... They understood it was high Arlington Heights-based Daily Herald.

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20 January 2013 1 Illinois Issues 1 www.illinoisissues.uis.edu Feature

by Kurt Erickson

The Democrats’ new super-majorities promise to enhance the power of individual caucuses

In the frenzied final hours of the 2005 spring insertion into the budget of hundreds of millions of session of the Illinois General Assembly, the push to dollars for local projects as an example of how the finalize a new state budget suddenly ground to a deal likely was sealed. halt when a bloc of Democratic lawmakers “I feel very comfortable with the commitments he announced they couldn't support the spending plan. (Madigan) made today, and going forward, we Without their votes, there was no way the decided that we would be a ‘yes,’” said former state Democratic majority could adopt a budget without Rep. Marlow Colvin, a Chicago Democrat who was Republican input, raising speculation that the chairman of the caucus at the time. session could go into overtime. The incident is just one example of the role that Facing the prospect of being stuck in Springfield caucuses can play in the legislative process. And, during the summer months, House Speaker Michael with Democrats now holding super-majorities in Madigan called the members of the Illinois the Senate and the House, the informal coalitions Legislative Black Caucus into his private office near could become an even bigger factor in what gets the House floor to try to find a way to meet their done and what doesn’t on the floor of the House and needs and keep the budget-making process on track. Senate. Hours later, members of the caucus announced they In theory, the majorities held by Madigan and were back on board. No terms of the negotiations Senate President John Cullerton could allow them were ever outlined, but Republicans pointed to the to ignore the threat of a veto from the governor.

www.illinoisissues.uis.edu 1 Illinois Issues 1 January 2013 21 Cullerton, however, believes the possibility of that happening is Similarly, one of the newest caucuses in Springfield is dedicated to “exaggerated’’ because of the diverse nature of the Democratic bringing attention to a national health epidemic. Formed in 2011, the caucus. In other words, just because they are Democrats doesn’t Illinois Legislative Diabetes Caucus is designed to support public mean they see eye to eye on every issue. policies and programs to improve the lives of those affected by “We have numerous caucuses. We have to compromise within our diabetes and to create awareness for its prevention. In November, caucuses,” Cullerton says. members of the caucus fanned out to hospitals, school districts and Take gun control as an issue: Many white downstate Democrats other public places in their districts to help raise the public’s favor allowing citizens to carry concealed weapons, while many understanding of the disease. black Chicago lawmakers oppose that concept. There also is an Asian-American caucus, even though there are no “Democrats are not a homogeneous lot,” says Deputy House Asian-Americans currently serving in the House and Senate. It is Majority Leader Lou Lang, a Democrat from Skokie. overseen by lawmakers who represent the districts with the largest By definition, a caucus is an informal meeting of a group of number of Asian-Americans in Illinois. legislators, most often called on the basis of party affiliation or Lang, who chairs the new group, says he realized the need for the regional representation. In addition to the standard Republican and caucus because about one-third of the constituents in his district are Democratic caucuses, there are at least 10 more potential voting Asian-Americans, including Indians, Pakistanis, Chinese and blocs operating under the Capitol dome, including gatherings for Japanese. Latinos, downstate interests and female legislators. He sought out other representatives in the Senate and the House The Conference of Women Legislators, known in Springfield and then met with the constituents to find out whether they would parlance as COWL, is highly visible because of a fundraiser its support formation of a new caucus to help focus in on specialized members organize to help pay for scholarships and leadership social service programs and immigration issues. training. The ‘Capitol Capers’ event, held every two years, allows “They should have a voice in Springfield,” Lang says. “We’re going rank-and-file members to lampoon themselves and their leaders for to be their sounding board.” a good cause. A similar story follows the creation of the Latino Caucus, which is The organization was formed in 1979 to advance the interests of known for its members standing together on issues such as women, but because of its bipartisan nature, it often focuses on immigration reform and social service programs. In addition to pushing agreed-upon legislation forward rather than on blocking focusing on legislative issues, the group also formed a foundation in maneuvers employed by other caucuses. In February 2012, for 2002 to hand out college scholarships aimed at “training the state’s example, COWL members teamed with the Illinois Department of next generation of leaders.” Public Health to increase awareness of heart disease by co- While black and Latino caucuses are predominantly Democratic, sponsoring a fitness program. the legislature’s Downstate Caucus has members from both sides of COWL Executive Director Deborah Murphy says the group has the aisle, but its goals are not that dissimilar from its ethnic pushed for legislation for equal pay laws, backed increases in mental counterparts. Along with pushing policies that could bring economic health funding and focused on legislation to prevent sexual abuse. development to their home communities, members focus on finding “We try to choose things that will help improve the economic common ground on issues affecting agriculture, education, health well-being of women, family and children,” Murphy says. care and conservation. One of the key Downstate Caucus issues is obtaining money for downstate transportation projects in the face of the massive need for road-building dollars in traffic-choked Chicago and its suburbs. “Our roads are the vital connection that links businesses and people throughout the state. They are the engine that drives our economy and provides us access to agricultural markets, higher education and health care, just to name a few,” notes the caucus’ website. The Illinois Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus also has a downstate focus but includes many members from every corner of the state interested in outdoors issues. In recent years, the group has led the way on initiatives affecting state parks, conservation laws and hunting regulations. Former state Rep. Dan Reitz, a Steeleville Democrat who once chaired the caucus, says it is tough to gain consensus among the different lawmakers because members come from diverse backgrounds. While most share a desire to improve outdoor opportunities in Illinois, there were some disagreements over finer points, such as the ability to carry concealed weapons or the role of open space in cities versus more rural downstate areas. “It was a little harder to keep everyone focused. You had members from deep southern Illinois and members from Chicago,” says Reitz, now a lobbyist for Chapman and Cutler. He says caucuses can get behind legislation, which then helps persuade non-members to support it.

22 January 2013 1 Illinois Issues 1 www.illinoisissues.uis.edu Deputy House Majority Leader Lou Lang, a Democrat State Rep. Will Davis, a Democrat from Hazel Crest, is from Skokie, chairs the Asian-American caucus. chairman of the black caucus in the House.

“When they are able to work together, it helps the process along,” Reitz says. State Rep. Bob Pritchard, a Hinckley Republican, says he has been a member of at least nine or 10 caucuses during his decade in Springfield. Some groups are active, while others come and go according to the issues that are playing beneath the dome. He says caucuses will be important in the coming two-year General Assembly because there are many new members who could use the work of a caucus to educate themselves about various issues. “Because caucuses are often bipartisan and bicameral, they help bring an attitude of information- State Rep. Bob Pritchard, a Hinckley Republican, says he sharing to the group, rather than just partisan politics,” has been a member of at least nine caucuses. Pritchard says. He was a member of a caucus brought together by communities. The passage of laws such as Illinois’ manufacturing interests that helped craft — and kill — motor voter program, which enables people to register legislation focusing on worker compensation issues. to vote at driver’s license stations, can be tied to the He says caucuses likely will be more important to efforts of the black caucus. Republicans in the coming spring session because of State Rep. Will Davis, a Democrat from Hazel Crest, their minority status. Getting involved in a group at serves as chairman of the black caucus in the House. that level could help a GOP lawmaker have a bigger “Our role primarily is to examine the effect of voice in the legislative process than he or she would legislation and proposals on African-Americans.” otherwise have when issues arrive on the floor of the In the recent debate over how to reduce the state’s House or Senate for a vote. Medicaid costs, Davis says the black caucus fought “It’s a way to bring members from both parties back attempts to reduce funding for podiatry services. together,” Pritchard says. He says the prevalence of diabetes within the African- Over the years, however, the black caucus has American community makes having state-funded remained one of the most visible and effective podiatric services a major issue. caucuses in the Statehouse. The coalition consists of “We want to focus our efforts on preventative care more than two dozen legislators in the House and rather than afterward, when you’re talking about Senate who are committed to ensuring that people of amputations and people having to be in wheelchairs. color are represented in the legislative process. That would be more expensive than providing The bloc traces its roots to the mid-1960s, when the treatment upfront,” Davis says. number of blacks being elected to the General With 20 members in the House from nearly every Assembly was on the rise. Former Chicago Mayor corner of the state, the black caucus could play a big Harold Washington was among a handful of African- role in deciding what legislation moves forward and American lawmakers who formed a study group to what stays on the sidelines during the coming months, discuss political issues and strategies of interest to the Davis says. black community. “I think we’re one of the most important caucuses in By 1969, the group had evolved into a full-fledged the General Assembly.” 1 caucus, pushing for civil rights issues, educational Kurt Erickson is the Statehouse bureau chief for Lee reforms and budget plans that would help minority Enterprises newspapers.

www.illinoisissues.uis.edu 1 Illinois Issues 1 January 2013 23 Photographs courtesy of the Duckworth campaign Feature by Kenneth Lowe

She defeated a Tea Party darling to become the first Asian-American woman to serve Illinois in Congress

The election in Illinois’ 8th Congressional District Duckworth, 44, was born in Bangkok, with was defined by personalities, by national ideological military credentials stretching back to before she and demographic trends and by political realities even lived in North America. The daughter of a specific to Illinois. In one corner, Hoffman Estates veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, she and her family Democrat Tammy Duckworth, born in Thailand, traveled throughout Southeast Asia for her father’s became another data point in a sweeping national work with the United Nations. She joined the U.S. victory for Democrats and the progressive left. In the Army Reserve in 1992 and opted to become a other, Republican Joe Walsh, the incumbent and an helicopter pilot, she says, because it was one of the outspoken member of the Tea Party wave that took few combat roles open to women. the House in 2010, became another casualty in a “For me, the perspective was one of how varied the Congress that will be less male and Caucasian than world is but an optimism of America’s place in it,” any before. Duckworth says. “I think that’s always going to be a With Duckworth now poised to take Walsh’s seat place where I come from now, as an adult. I know in Congress, she is looking forward to what comes America’s strength and her capabilities, and I’m next after one of the hardest-fought and going to work hard to maintain those.” conspicuously expensive campaigns in the state. Enemy combatants shot down a helicopter Both candidates’ sensational stories and the money Duckworth piloted over Iraq in 2004. She managed surrounding their contest made their campaigns a to get it to the ground but lost both her legs and highlight of nationwide election coverage and a view injured one of her arms in the attempt. of what forces drove the 2012 wave for Democrats Since then, Duckworth made an unsuccessful 2006 and progressive issues. run for the then-6th Congressional District, losing to

24 January 2013 1 Illinois Issues 1 www.illinoisissues.uis.edu Peter Roskam. She served as director of the Illinois Department of Nearer to her own district, Duckworth says transportation issues Veterans Affairs under Gov. Rod Blagojevich from 2006 to 2009 are going to be key, and she hopes she can get on the House and then as an assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Transportation Committee. Improvements to the Elgin-O’Hare Veterans Affairs from 2009 to 2011. Expressway (which, as Duckworth points out, still goes to neither “In 2006, with the wars going on, the narrative (during the of its namesakes) are top among those concerns, she says. 2006 campaign) was very much concentrated on what was And she’ll still be an advocate for veterans’ issues. happening in Iraq and foreign policy, and this time, I was able to “I’m always going to be interested in veterans’ issues,” connect more with the people in my district about my history,” Duckworth says. “As I was coming home from my training session Duckworth says. (for new members of Congress), I was approached at the airport by Jaime Dominguez, a professor of political science at veterans. You can count on me to continue my work, from veteran Northwestern University who focuses on Latino issues and employment, to homelessness, to health care.” Chicago politics, says Duckworth was also favored by a wave of Soon after the election, Duckworth took the stage alongside sentiment that broke nationally against Republicans, along with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and a host of other the 2010 redistricting process that drew a congressional district triumphant female representatives. Duckworth says the increased with favorable demographics for a Democrat, regardless of the diversity of this Congress is reflective of the nation, but that many candidate’s race or gender. of the issues minorities and women hope to see addressed aren’t Every 10 years, the state legislature redraws the boundaries of specific just to their demographics. Anxieties over employment, legislative districts, a highly partisan process during which the health care and education, she says, cut across all segments of the majority party — in this case Democrats — holds the high hand. population. Dominguez says he hesitates to use the word “gerrymandering” in “For our new immigrant communities, making education the case of the 8th District. affordable is very important,” Duckworth says. “Many haven’t had “In redrawing that district, the party made sure to incorporate the time to accumulate the wealth other families have, and they large chunks of the Hispanic population that had grown need access to those programs. I’ve been working on issues that substantially in that part of the district,” Dominguez says. “Was may be population-specific, but I’ve found that with groups I’ve there bad intent [on the part of Democrats]? I don’t think so. It talked to, the issues that are important to them are important to was reflective of us as a society.” the larger population as well.” Duckworth also benefited from the perception among the Walsh, 51, managed to find the national spotlight even in a race electorate of Democrats being more attuned to women’s issues, seemingly defined on the Republican side by controversial Dominguez says. comments about violence against women and female reproductive “What helped the Democrats was the national context rights. Walsh could not be reached for comment on this article. surrounding the election,” he says. “We saw the narrative coming Walsh has often been a lightning rod for controversy. During a from the Republican Party at the national level that they were not 1996 campaign for Congress that Walsh lost by 26 percentage friendly to women on equal pay, reproductive rights. Her campaign piggybacked off of that, and it definitely gave her leverage.” Duckworth drew from a mighty war chest to win and spent nearly all of the $4.5 million she raised. Her $4.2 million campaign outspent Walsh’s $1.2 million effort, though money spent by super PACs, the outside organizations that can spend indirectly on a candidate’s behalf, were major factors in the race. Tracking their spending — and who provided them the money to begin with — is more difficult to pin down. The airwaves in the Chicago suburbs were choked with attack ads between the two campaigns and the organizations supporting them. Duckworth says she wants to push for the DISCLOSE Act, which would mandate more disclosure on the part of super PACs, among other things. It was defeated in the Senate by the threat of a Republican filibuster during the previous session. “I expect that the forces like the Koch brothers and Citizens United, Freedomworks — I think that will only grow,” Duckworth says. “There was no disclosure of where they got their money from. I think passing the DISCLOSE Act will be important, and it’s possible in the near term.” As she looks forward to the next two years, she says the economy and jobs will be among her top priorities. “The first thing we’re going to have to do is the fiscal cliff,” Duckworth says. “It would be great to think the lame duck session would get that handled, and I’m optimistic, but I think we’re going Duckworth thanks voters at the Schaumburg train station the day after the to deal with it come January.” election.

www.illinoisissues.uis.edu 1 Illinois Issues 1 January 2013 25 points, he reportedly unveiled a birthday cake with “I know there is a sizable Muslim community in the 87 candles for his opponent, 87-year-old incumbent 8th District, and there was a lot of mobilization in the Sydney Yates, for which he drew criticism. In his [Islamic] organizations to support Duckworth’s 2010 bid against Melissa Bean, Walsh, with little campaign because of these comments,” Sahloul says. “I support from the party establishment and billing think in the future, the changing community is himself as a Tea Party conservative, edged out the probably going to turn Democratic, especially if the incumbent by 291 votes in a cycle that saw the message of the Republican Party is divisive. I would say Democratic majority in the House fall to in the past, the Muslim community was conservative, Republicans. but when you have Republicans talking over and over It was perhaps not surprising that Walsh called a about divisive issues, exploiting immigrants and the lot of national attention to himself during this past other minorities, I think that will not help.” campaign, though this time, it was part of a problem Dominguez says Walsh may also have suffered due endemic to high-profile Republican candidates. to the perception of Tea Party candidates taking too Damning statements from Republican U.S. Senate hard a line on economic policies, which voters in candidates who went on to lose thought-to-be- many cases seem to have rejected. Combined with winnable seats, such as Todd Akin of Missouri (who his comments on some minorities and women’s expressed doubt at the likelihood of pregnancies issues, it added up to a loss, he says. arising from “legitimate rape,”) and Richard “I think the Tea Party fell out of favor,” Dominguez Mourdock of Indiana (who said that despite the says. “Joe Walsh represented the sect that was abhorrent nature of rape, pregnancies arising from it beholden to not raising taxes. It’s something the were still “gifts from God”), happened around the people overwhelmingly rejected. I think it was all time Walsh captured his own headlines. these factors working at the same time.” After an October 18 debate with Duckworth, Duckworth, the first Asian-American woman to Walsh was quoted as saying that exceptions to serve Illinois in Congress, prepares to take her seat abortion bans aren’t needed because “modern alongside many other firsts for women: Four technology” can almost always save the life of the representatives from New Hampshire who comprise mother, for which he drew criticism from people that state’s first congressional delegation made up rebutting the view as false. entirely of women, the first openly gay female Speaking at a campaign event about what he called senator, the first representative who openly identifies a “radical strain of Islam,” he said: “It’s here. It’s in as bisexual. Duckworth said she’s proud of what that Elk Grove. It’s in Addison. It’s in Elgin.” It was a represents for America. viewpoint that drove some Chicago-area Muslims to “I think that it’s good that our Congress is more organize against him, says Zaher Sahloul of the diverse because our nation is more diverse,” she says. Chicago Islamic Organization of Greater Chicago. “My district is more diverse, and I think it all adds to That effect also highlights what kind of changes the the strength of this nation.” 1 Republican Party as a whole is going to need to make Kenneth Lowe is the enterprise reporter for the Decatur going forward, Sahloul says. Herald & Review and Bloomington Pantagraph.

Duckworth meets with campaign workers on Election Day.

26 January 2013 1 Illinois Issues 1 www.illinoisissues.uis.edu Feature

by Jamey Dunn

Dr. John Warner Hospital in Clinton stopped departments and some count on volunteers. Hospitals dispatching ambulances at the end of 2012. often provide ambulance services, often with a mix of “The hospital decided to get out of the ambulance paid paramedics and volunteer EMTs. For-profit business because we were losing just under $600,000 a ambulance services have also sprung up, typically in year on the operation,” says Earl Sheehy, chief urban areas that have enough calls to sustain profits. executive officer of the city-owned medical facility. “It “Most ambulance services grew up in the local was difficult. There were a lot of emotions involved community based on local interests,” says Thomas and all that.” But he says the hospital could no longer Nehring, chair of the Rural EMS Committee for the bear the financial drain. “The community can have a National Association of State EMS Officials. better ambulance service, and the hospital can be Jack Fleeharty, director of the Division of EMS and stronger without having to sustain the ambulance Highway Safety at the Illinois Department of Public service.” Health, says Illinois reflects the diversity in EMS. “The Rural emergency medical services across Illinois are infrastructure in EMS really varies by county — and struggling to stay afloat as the number of volunteer maybe even by township — and whether it’s fire or emergency medical technicians drops and the cost of whether it’s private or whether it is volunteer or operating the ambulances outpaces the money they whether it’s hospital-based,” he says. “Our state is very bring in. diverse. I mean, we have some areas where EMS EMS systems in states throughout the country are in providers actually compete for business, and then we reality a patchwork of local solutions. Some counties have other areas where the closest EMS unit might be have their own ambulance services, some rely on fire 20 minutes away.”

www.illinoisissues.uis.edu 1 Illinois Issues 1 January 2013 27 In Illinois, as in many states, EMS is not deemed an An Illinois House task force has issued a report on essential service, such as police and fire protection, so the problems facing EMS systems in the state. One of counties are under no statewide requirement to ensure the group’s recommendations is to find dedicated that their residents have access to EMS. “The first 40 funding sources for EMS. The report suggests years, what we’ve done is we’ve proven that people like increasing driver’s license fees by $1. The plan also to have us around. So what are we going to do with proposes directing $40 million from gambling those next 40 years?” asks George Madland, EMS revenues annually to EMS. The report says that such systems coordinator for the Advocate Good Samaritan revenue should be spent on grants to EMS providers, Hospital Emergency Medical Service System, which is no-interest loans for buying ambulances, grants to so- based in the Chicago suburbs. “And the first thing that called resource hospitals that train EMTs and has to be done is [lawmakers] need to recognize us as paramedics and increased Medicaid reimbursements an important essential service, just like police, just like for ambulance providers. fire — EMS. And once that happens, then other things Gilson Republican Rep. Donald Moffitt, who heads seem to flow.” He says the designation would help to the task force, says 911 call centers need emergency professionalize training and ensure that EMS is funding. “Within the next year, you are going to hear properly funded. “Give us the support to do it. Some of about some 911 centers that are on the brink of our communities are dying out there, especially in the closing.” If a center is closed, its functions fall to the rural areas. The people, they want the service. They Illinois State Police. Call centers for 911 are funded want us to do it, and we need some help.” through a surcharge on landline phones, but as more In modern EMS services, the care does not start at people abandon their home lines for cells phone, the the hospital but begins when EMTs or paramedics funding has shrunk. “We know some 911 call centers reach the patient. Offering such care is expensive, and that are in very desperate situations,” Moffitt says. many rural EMS operations in Illinois are struggling to However, with many pressures on the state’s strapped stay in the black while others are closing their doors. budget, the politics of new state spending are difficult. “There’s been a number of small ambulance “There’s not too much room to carve out more companies, mostly volunteer, that have gone out of money from existing revenues for services that we all business,” Fleeharty says. agree are vitally important to communities across the Some medical facilities, such as Dr. John Warner state. So this is just a part of that great challenge, and I Hospital, which provided ambulance service for a 460- think we’re going to have to look at all of those possible square-mile area around Clinton, are also opting out of sources of revenue,” says Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon, who is the EMS business. Slabach says that in the past, also working on the issue through her Rural Affairs hospitals often covered their EMS losses with money Council. Simon says she supports zero-cost solutions, from their other revenue sources. But now, “we’re such as streamlining some regulations on EMS finding that hospitals are not able to sustain the losses systems. that they are taking out of the ambulance services “We’ve kind of picked the worst time in history to [with] their other operations,” he says. try to talk about how to fund EMS,” DeTienne says. He In rural locales, EMS services usually cover large says people do not consider whether EMS is properly geographic areas while serving a small number of funded or whether it will be there for them when they people. The distances they must travel can add to have an emergency. “They’ve just always been there, so response times, consume gasoline and create wear and nobody has really had to question, ‘How does this get tear on vehicles. Often, the low volume of calls doesn’t paid for?’” bring in much money through billable services and Bradley Democratic Rep. Lisa Dugan, who was a co- Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements. “Even when chair of the task force with Moffitt, agrees that most they charge a reasonable rate, they’re only getting 40 residents just assume that an ambulance will be percent of their costs in a rural area,” says Jim available if there is an emergency, and they do not DeTienne, president of the National Association of question the system that makes it possible. “Many State EMS Officials. people believe it’s just there,” she says. “When a Over the years, reimbursement rates for Medicaid resident calls on their phone to 911, they expect and Medicare have not kept pace with costs. In the somebody to answer. And when somebody answers, 1980s, the bulk of federal funding for EMS was and they tell them they need an ambulance, they’re diverted into state grants for preventative care. “It cost going to expect — and should be able to expect — that us close to $600 every time we started up the engine on one’s going to be there, and in a timely fashion.” the ambulance,” Sheehy says. But he says In Dewitt County, where Dr. John Warner Hospital reimbursements typically covered less than half of that is located, voters approved a referendum in November cost. to fund ambulance service. As of press time, the “When you compare the reimbursement to the cost county planned to work with a private contractor to of operations ... it is difficult to even break even,” says provide EMS service. “I don’t think a service could Greg Scott, system director for McLean County Area ever make it here without some kind of subsidy,” EMS. Sheehy says.

28 January 2013 1 Illinois Issues 1 www.illinoisissues.uis.edu “That’s a political thing in every county. Can you get it passed? Is that tax going to bring in enough revenue A history to keep that county going?” Fleeharty says. “A lot of The concept of ambulance service has been with counties have not even gone down that road.” America since its early days. Belleview Hospital in Another challenge for rural EMS operations is New York City and New Orleans’s Charity Hospital, ensuring that there are trained personnel on hand to known first as L’Hôpital des Pauvres de la Charité, answer the call when an emergency happens. “In many had horse-drawn ambulance service in the mid- of the rural areas [where EMS operations] have closed, 1800s. The first volunteer rescue squads organized in it is because of lack of personnel,” Scott says. the 1920s. Volunteers are aging. People are moving to or In the 1960s, medical innovations such as CPR, working in urban areas, making it inconvenient for defibrillation and advances in prescription drugs them to volunteer for a rural service. The changing gave more opportunities to make trauma treatments face of the country’s economy has also made it more mobile. Veterans returning from Vietnam who went difficult for people to volunteer. Many jobs do not offer to work in emergency care had already witnessed in- the flexibility for workers to go off the clock for a few the-field trauma treatment saving lives. A 1966 white hours to attend to their volunteer duties if there is an paper from the National Research Council titled, emergency, and in the wake of the financial collapse, “Accidental Death and Disability: The Neglected some workers are balancing multiple part-time jobs to Disease of Modern Society,” sought to reduce the make ends meet. Fleeharty says the days when a small- number of accidental deaths in the country and is business owner, such as a local mechanic, could be on cited as setting into motion the creation of the call and place a “closed for emergency” sign in the modern EMS system. Congress created minimum window are all but gone. “It is really changing standards for emergency care under the National dynamics, and certainly the economy has a lot to do Highway Safety Act of 1966, which empowers the with this,” he says. U.S. Department of Transportation to withhold up to “We’ve built this system for 30 years on the 10 percent of a state’s federal highway funds if it does shoulders of volunteers, and now we’re having a tough not comply with the standards. States also were time trying to turn that ship,” DeTienne says. Most required to create EMS systems, and the federal experts agree that the future of EMS will be a mix of government provided millions in funding to support paid professionals and volunteers, with the number of the creation of those systems. paid EMTs likely increasing over time. Before those changes, the primary goal of Moffitt says staffing issues brought the EMS emergency response was typically transport — problems to his attention. “A lot of the volunteer getting patients to doctors who could help them. services said in their small towns, they do not have two Responders might have administered some basic EMTs to go on a call.” The state requires that two first aid, such as applying pressure to stop bleeding EMTs respond to an emergency, but the Department or oxygen to assist with breathing. There were no of Public Health is in the process of changing that recognized standards for training or equipment. requirement. Fleeharty says that services that can According to the National Association of Emergency prove that the requirement is a hardship would be Medical Technicians, at least half of the nation’s allowed to instead have one EMT respond, along with ambulance services were offered by funeral homes a first responder, such as a police officer. because they had cars on hand — either hearses or The task force also recommended changes to hearses converted specifically for use as ambulances training requirements. Fleeharty says EMTs must clock — that could easily accommodate a stretcher. 120 hours of training every four years. “That’s a lot of Jamey Dunn education for volunteers and people who maybe aren’t full-time,” he says. The report recommends that the in Afghanistan and in civilian life was an EMT basic. state shift to a model that measures competency Upon arrival in Afghanistan, he was asked to take instead of focusing on hours spent in training. battlefield rescue training ... and yet he cannot use “Nationally, we have been moving to this competency those same skills in civilian life,” Moffitt says. “If it’s model for education for some time,” DeTienne says. good enough to save a life on the battlefield, it should “Hours are not really supposed to be what you shoot be good enough to save a life in civilian life.” for; it’s how you do the job.” The task force also Dugan and Moffitt both say they hope to pass bills recommends more online training to reach EMTs in in the spring legislative session to address some of the rural areas. In such distance-learning scenarios, problems. They are also proposing the creation of a trainers would still be on hand for clinical demos. committee and legislative caucus that focuses on EMS The task force also urges that volunteers with and fire departments. “We’re talking about the lives of certified skills beyond their EMT training should be people, and it’s not something that can just be put off. allowed to use that knowledge when responding to It’s not a Republican or a Democrat issue. It is an issue emergencies. Currently, they are limited to their levels about the people of this state being able to have EMS of EMT training. “I talked to a solider who had served service,” Dugan says. 1

www.illinoisissues.uis.edu 1 Illinois Issues 1 January 2013 29 Feature

Nearly every time a new inmate takes up a bed sanctions and rewards based on parolee behaviors by Molly inside an Illinois Department of Corrections in the community that were modeled after best Parker facility, another is released into society with about practices across the United States, says Stacey 50-50 odds of returning to a life behind bars Solano, IDOC spokeswoman. within the next three years. But ex-convicts and advocates for prisoner re- Returning citizens face substance abuse entry reform say it takes combined effort to set a problems, mental health issues, low job prospects, former prisoner back on the straight and narrow difficulty with finding housing and accessing after he or she has worn out the welcome mat at public aid and a host of other problems that come the state’s correctional system. with the stigma of the ex-convict label. Many are “It’s terribly disruptive to a person’s life. I’m not unable or unwilling — or a combination of both arguing against prison, but we’ve not hooked up a — to break free from a life of crime. They cycle in positive result with anything,” says Bob and out of prisons year after year, decade after Dougherty, executive director of St. Leonard’s decade. Despite the Illinois Department of Ministries in Chicago, which operates residential, Corrections’ best efforts to slow the revolving addiction treatment and job placement programs door, the state’s recidivism rate has hovered for men and women. “It’s the only business I around 50 percent for years. know with a 50 percent failure rate. … It’s a For Thomas White, 58, it took a long, hard look monster, and we try to take apart the whole and at his aging face to decide he’d had enough. the ear and the elbow, but in the vernacular, it just Originally of Chicago, now of downstate Marion, sucks. I don’t want to say criminals shouldn’t be White says a life of drug abuse and prison finally punished, but we have to find a better re-entry wore him out. “I realized one day in the jail cell process.” that I’m too old for this,” he says. “You get to the Convicted criminals are allowed to return to point where you’re 50 years old and you just society after serving their time. That may sound might end up dying in prison.” obvious. But often the society they know doesn’t The state has implemented a series of programs exist. Friends and family may have severed ties, and procedures to assist offenders with re-entry and halfway houses are often full, returning ex- and rehabilitative strategies, such as graduated convicts say, so finding a place to live is a primary

30 January 2013 1 Illinois Issues 1 www.illinoisissues.uis.edu challenge because a prisoner must have an approved home site prior The state has made nominal gains in reducing recidivism since to release. that report. The recidivism rate for fiscal year 2011 in Illinois was 47 “I was homeless and I didn’t have anywhere to go. Being at my age, percent, a six-year low. Though a long way from ideal, that’s a 7 I hadn’t spoken to any of my family in 12 years,” says White, who percentage point drop from 2004’s historic high of 54 percent. spent most of his adult life addicted to drugs until he cleaned up in Reforms include community-based sanctions for nonviolent 2000. offenders, a new sentence credit law and efforts to reduce the state’s Returning citizens say they come out with few clothes, no prison footprint by downsizing or closing facilities, among other identification, no transportation and, perhaps most frightening, no efforts. idea about how the world has changed. White found housing at Last spring, the General Assembly passed a sentence credit law Lighthouse Shelter in Marion but says he returned to a dizzying that sets new guidelines for IDOC to award and revoke sentence society with its “Google” and online job applications and online, credits based on an offender’s behavior following at least 60 days of well, everything, when he was released for the final time on incarceration. It was awaiting approval of proposed administrative November 19, 2009. rules at press time. “I wasn’t real literate with the computer, but I’m a lot better now,” Despite heavy resistance from unions and local community says White, who is an instructor trainee at the Lutheran Social residents, Gov. Pat Quinn is forging ahead with plans to close Services of Illinois’ Employment Skills School, which is based in correctional centers in Tamms and Dwight. Marion. And Solano says IDOC continues to work with local entities to White says he is committed to making good on lost time by find alternatives to incarceration when appropriate. Adult Redeploy helping others return to society and avoid his same pitfalls. Illinois is a funding and technical assistance program for local The vicious cycle that characterizes the system comes with a huge governments to create community-based alternatives for treating cost to the state. A 2006 state-commissioned report titled “Inside and supervising nonviolent offenders locally instead of sending Out: A Plan to Reduce Recidivism and Improve Public Safety,” noted them to state prisons. The counties participating include DuPage, the state spent $3 billion over 16 years, primarily in the 1990s, to Knox, Macon and St. Clair. Cook County, the largest committing build, operate, repair and maintain new state prisons and expand county, has also recently signed on with the program. their capacity — at a cost “simply too high to sustain.” Still, the sheer numbers are hard to manage, as the prison “Funds are far better spent breaking this vicious cycle than population has boomed over the last decades and so many inmates supporting it,” says the report, co-authored by the Rev. Jesse Jackson have complicated addiction and mental health problems that make and Kevin Lyons, then Peoria County’s state’s attorney and now a the return to citizenship all the more difficult. About 7,700 offenders circuit court judge. are on medication related to mental health needs, roughly 15 Photograph courtesy of Lutheran Social Services of Illinois

Former inmates participate in the Employment Skills School at Lutheran Social Services of Illinois. Pictured from left to right are Luther Williams, Jeff Chenoweth, Joseph Swift and Alvin Smallwood. The men are learning how to type without looking at the screen or the keyboard.

www.illinoisissues.uis.edu 1 Illinois Issues 1 January 2013 31 “I had a good life. I managed a grocery store. My father was a Chicago cop for 34 years. I went to private schools. I had a wife and Returning citizens say they come three children. I had everything. … It wasn’t supposed to happen to out with few clothes, no me, but drugs and alcohol got in the way.” John Maki, executive director of the John Howard Association of identification, no transportation Illinois, a nonpartisan prison watchdog group, says there are several and, perhaps most frightening, no systemic things to think about when it comes to reducing Illinois’ recidivism rate. idea about how the world has “Depending on where you are in the state, there are more changed. resources available to you, and you’ll have a parole officer in your neighborhood.” Maki says much of what IDOC officials do is an impossible job, but parole agents have it particularly hard, carrying percent of the prison population have mental health diagnoses, and caseloads of nearly 100 parolees in some rural areas. IDOC the ratio of mental health staff to offenders in need of mental health graduated 30 parole agents from the Training Academy in fiscal services is 1:62. At any given time, 3,800 inmates are being treated 2011 and employs a total of roughly 400. The statewide average for substance abuse. caseload of parole agent to parolee is about 1:88, according to White says he stopped using drugs November 4, 2000, but he IDOC. continued to struggle with behaviors related to the addiction that got “You don’t get much individual attention,” Maki says of parolees. him into trouble and put him behind bars. Another problem is that many prisons are downstate, and the “When you are addicted to drugs, you have a lot more problems. majority of the population is coming from the Chicago area, so There’s more to addictions than to just stop using drugs. I hung on “there’s a bit of a disconnect,” Maki says. “They’re not dealing with to the behaviors for years,” he says. their neighbors or their neighbors’ kids. They’re coming from Solano says the department works with members of the Prisoner Chicago, and they’re going back to Chicago.” Review Board to identify treatment needs in the areas of substance Jennifer Bishop-Jenkins, director of Illinois Victims.org, says she abuse and mental health. thinks most nonviolent offenders “shouldn’t be incarcerated at all.” “The department also makes every effort to link inmates with “That’s not the best use of our money, and that’s not the best use of appropriate community-based treatment and other re-entry services our state. If there’s pressure to close, use the facilities for rapists and upon release to parole and encourages parolees to comply with all child abusers,” she says. “We don’t need the prisons for mentally ill appointments and treatment regimens,” she says. people or low-level drug offenders. We need more prevention But returning former convicts often find it difficult to stay on money because it’s far cheaper to treat people in the community.” treatment regimens and medications while navigating the other Bishop’s 25-year-old sister and her brother-in-law were murdered factors of their release, says Tim O’Boyle, an intake program in their Winnetka home in 1990. Offenders like the one who shot coordinator at Lutheran Social Services of Illinois. In and out of her loved ones should never be released, she says. But she believes in prison for years himself, O’Boyle says he is sensitive to the often second chances for low-level crime perpetrators. overlooked needs of those making the transition. “Illinois just warehouses prisoners, and it’s a waste of humanity,” “Seventy percent of our clients have substance abuse problems, so she says. “I speak from the point of view of a murder victim’s family we have a support group or refer them to AA,” O’Boyle says. “A lot of member, and I do believe in life without parole.” them have mental health needs.” Former convicts say reform requires a personal conviction to Lutheran Social Services works with a nearby pharmacy to make change — but it also helps when there’s someone there to lean on. sure individuals can access an ongoing supply of medications. “The “I’ve been in and out of institutions since I was 18,” says Joseph last thing we need is someone with schizophrenia who’s off their Crowder, now 46, of Chicago, whose long rap sheet of felonies and medication,” he says. misdemeanors concludes with his latest conviction of aggravated O’Boyle and De Anne Fitzenreider, a case manager with the battery on November 20, 2009. “Given a real opportunity and people organization, say they also work to make sure individuals have willing to invest time into helping that person, I think that speaks access to hygiene kits, clothes, transportation, housing, job training volumes.” programs and other essential needs. Lutheran Social Services offers Crowder has been in correctional facilities on seven occasions. He a Bicycles to Work program, where former convicts who have was last paroled June 30, 2012, after 36 months behind bars, and already gone through the programs rehabilitate bicycles for new participates in a residential program at St. Leonard’s Ministries in clients looking for a fresh start in the workplace. Chicago. “I’ve never completed a full year on parole, but so far, I’m “Our biggest motto is we don’t work harder than the clients,” doing pretty good. I think my whole mind-set has changed. I just O’Boyle says. “We meet them in the middle because I can’t work don’t have the desire or will to go back. This was the last time,” he harder than you. When you’re ready to change and ready for help, I says. can work with you.” Ivory Smith, 56, of Chicago was released on parole on October 23 O’Boyle has been incarcerated four different times over a 13-year after serving 29 years and 9 months in prison for murder. period — all for drug-related convictions — and was released from “I did not prepare for this rude awakening,” he says of life on the his last five-and-a-half-year prison stint in September 2008. other side. “I didn’t know how to use a cell phone. I’ve never seen a “I was doing life on the installment plan,” says the 45-year-old, CD. I don’t have any computer skills. … It’s a culture shock to me who grew up in Chicago and planted roots downstate after his because I’ve been gone so long.” 1 release. His first conviction came at age 27. Molly Parker is a free-lance writer who lives in Simpson.

32 January 2013 1 Illinois Issues 1 www.illinoisissues.uis.edu Available now! Illinois Issues 2012 Roster of State Government Officials

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Board goes with Quinn pick for sports authority Kelly Kraft, former communications director for Quinn’s actions to Gov. Pat Quinn, is now the chief executive officer of replace Sanchez the day the Illinois Sports Facility Authority, despite before the vote raised opposition from three members of the agency’s board questions. Says David of directors. Morrison, deputy director The sports authority operates U.S. Cellular Field. of the Illinois Campaign The 4-3 vote came a day after Quinn replaced for Political Reform: “I Manny Sanchez, a board appointee who indicated he don’t think she’s any more was in favor of another candidate. Sanchez’s term or less qualified than many expired in the summer. He was replaced by Dr. people who’ve been Quentin Young, whose vote effectively gave the job to appointed to that board or Kelly Kraft Kraft, a former television reporter. Three appointees similar boards. What struck to the board nominated by Chicago Mayor Rahm me about the process that put her there was how Emanuel voted against Kraft, while those tapped by boldly naked it was … Quinn stepping in in a very Quinn supported her nomination. public way to name a new member to the commission “This appointment had expired and the governor who would support his choice for executive director. decided to go in a new direction,’’ Brooke Anderson, “The reason that the governor doesn’t serve on the who now manages communications for Quinn, wrote board, but rather appoints people, is because you want in an email. people with specialized expertise that the governor “Kelly Kraft’s unique combination of budget and may not have who are going to exercise their own communications expertise, intergovernmental judgment on how the agency is run in the public experience and commitment to protecting taxpayers interest, and not how the agency is run in the will be a strong benefit to the Illinois Sports Facilities governor’s best interest or the mayor of Chicago’s best Authority,” Board Chairman Emil Jones said in a interest. ... But this was such a public demonstration of prepared statement. how appointing authorities control or dominate Kraft received a bachelor’s degree in journalism boards they appoint people to. And in that sense, I and political science from Indiana University. thought it was very educational.”

Ex-Dixon comptroller pleads illegal money laundering. guilty to fraud She is expected to be sentenced February 14. Rita Crundwell, the former comptroller of Dixon According to the U.S. attorney’s office for the accused of bilking the small northern Illinois town Northern District of Illinois, Crundwell faces up to out of $53 million, pleaded guilty to a federal fraud 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. She agreed charge. she owes Dixon restitution, and as of her Federal officials contended that since the late sentencing, the U.S. Marshals Service has recovered 1990s, the 59-year-old Crundwell extorted a sum approximately $7.4 million from the online and live equal to $3,300 for every resident of Dixon, the auctions of approximately 400 quarter horses, boyhood home of former President Ronald Reagan. vehicles, trailers, tack and a luxury motor home. As part of her plea agreement, Crundwell, For more information, see the November 2012 arrested in April, acknowledged that she engaged in edition of Illinois Issues, page 26.

34 January 2013 1 Illinois Issues 1 www.illinoisissues.uis.edu Shifts at the top Adam Pollet is the acting director of the Illinois Berman succeeds George Reid, who stepped Department of Commerce and Economic down. Opportunity, replacing David Vaught, who retired. “Dr. Berman is an excellent choice to be director of Previously, Pollet, 34, was deputy director for the IBHE while the board searches for a new director,’’ Illinois Office of Trade and Investment within DCEO, Gov. Pat Quinn said in a prepared statement. “He has where he led the state’s export and foreign direct a strong commitment to the Illinois public agenda investment activities. Before joining the state in 2011, and many years of experience in higher education in Pollet worked in the Chicago office of the our state.” management consulting firm McKinsey & Co. A IBHE chairwoman Carrie Hightman said in a graduate of Harvard Law School, Pollet previously prepared statement: “The board is looking forward to worked for the United Nations, focusing on trade working with a seasoned higher education facilitation, poverty reduction and environmental professional like Dr. Berman, pending completion of protection initiatives. a nationwide search for a permanent executive Pollet received his undergraduate degree at director.” Stanford University, where he studied international relations. Manny Flores is secretary of the Illinois Vaught was director of the Governor’s Office of Department of Financial and Professional Management and Budget for three years prior to Regulation. being named director of DCEO. Flores previously served as director for the Vaught is a graduate of the Southern Illinois Division of Banking for the department. A former University School of Law and the U.S. Military Chicago alderman and prosecutor in the Cook Academy at West Point, where he studied County State’s Attorney’s Office, Flores also engineering. previously served as chairman of the Illinois Commerce Commission. He holds a law degree from Harry Berman, former University of Illinois George Washington University. Springfield provost and interim chancellor, is now the Flores replaces Brent Adams, who left “to pursue a interim executive director of the Illinois Board of new career path in New York,’’ according to Gov. Pat Higher Education. Quinn’s office.

Big people on campus Al Bowman, president of Illinois State University John Peters, president of Northern Illinois in Normal, announced December 3 that he will University in DeKalb, announced that he will retire retire once a successor can be found. on June 30 after 13 years at the helm. Bowman cited health concerns as the reason for his Peters made the announcement during his annual decision. State of the University Address. “I can’t express in “Several years ago, I underwent a significant words my love for this university and its people — for surgical procedure to address a serious medical its faculty, staff and students who every day issue,” Bowman said in a prepared release. “Although invigorate and inspire me. We’ve shared triumph and my current condition is good, I have been advised tragedy, and in some ways, I feel we’ve experienced that as I approach my 60th birthday, stepping away an entire lifetime together. But a university from a high-pressure, seven-day-a-week position presidency isn’t a lifetime appointment.” is the best thing I can do for my long-term The Northern Illinois University Board of Trustees well-being.” formed a 28-person Presidential Search Advisory Al Bowman He has been at ISU for 34 years and took the helm Committee to advise the board and submit as president in 2004 after serving in that role in an candidates. The board also appointed Atlanta-based interim capacity. Parker Executive Search. Prior to becoming president, he had served as “Initiating the search for a new leader for NIU is interim provost and as chairman of what is now bittersweet,” board chairwoman Cherilyn Murer said known as the Department of Communication in a prepared statement. Sciences and Disorders. “President Peters has served with distinction for “Although this is a sad day for the university more than 12 years. His decision to step aside and community, I respect Dr. Bowman’s difficult pass the mantle of leadership and responsibility to a decision,” said Board of Trustees chairman new president is both a challenge and an opportunity. Michael McCuskey in a prepared statement. “His Make no mistake, the success of the search process leadership has left this institution in a great place, we are beginning today will have a direct and and we are positioned for continued success moving profound impact on the future of our great forward.” university.” John Peters

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36 January 2013 1 Illinois Issues 1 www.illinoisissues.uis.edu Ends and Neophyte lawmakers face Means a bunch of tough issues

When the 98th Illinois General Assembly takes And as the freshmen end their first terms in the Charles N. Wheeler III office in a few days, almost one out of every five lame duck session following the 2014 election, they lawmakers will be a newcomer with no previous might be asked to make permanent current income legislative experience, the largest batch of rookies in tax rates, rather than allow most of the increases to more than a decade. sunset, as current law provides. Two years may be a So many new faces — 11 in the Senate and 22 in long time in the legislature’s scheme of things, but the House — might be expected in the aftermath of you can be sure that some folks are looking ahead the first election following redistricting, when to that possibility. candidates for all 177 legislative seats are running Not every challenge comes with a price tag, of under a new map. Ten years ago, 32 newcomers course, and perhaps the influx of fresh blood can were sworn into office in the wake of the 2001 help the state move forward in a number of remap and the 2002 election. important areas that don’t require spending any That three-quarters of the neophytes — nine in money. the Senate and 16 in the House — are Democrats Consider, for example, the state’s business also should be no surprise; after all, party climate, routinely trashed by neighboring states’ operatives drew the new district boundaries to elect governors hoping to pirate away Illinois jobs and Democrats, a task which they accomplished on a investment and just as regularly criticized by record-setting scale. Illinois business leaders as being unattractive — if Will the newbies bring fresh ideas and new not downright hostile — to their companies’ needs. perspectives to some of the state’s long-standing Corporate chieftains may like to complain about problems? Perhaps more to the point, will their more the higher income tax rates, but one suspects other senior colleagues pay them much heed if they do? costs — such as workers’ compensation — are a far Certainly, vexing issues abound, none more so greater concern, especially given that roughly two- than crafting a budget for the fiscal year starting thirds of Illinois corporations pay no state income July 1. Most daunting, the state’s employee pension tax, according to state revenue officials, presumably payment is projected to jump to $6.8 billion, $966 because they have no taxable income. million more than this budget year, according to In recent years, lawmakers approved what they the most recent report from the Commission on billed as cost-saving changes to the state’s workers’ Government Forecasting and Accountability. The compensation program, mostly by cutting mandated increase would outstrip current payments to medical providers and by improving projected revenue growth for FY 2014, meaning program administration. But employers in Illinois members new and old would be called on to still face significantly higher insurance costs — by approve new revenues (read higher taxes and/or some measures the nation’s third highest — than fees); to support further cuts in key programs such competitors elsewhere. as education, health care and human services, Business leaders say more changes are needed, which consume the lion’s share of state general particularly in three areas: requiring that the funds; or to vote for some combination of the two. workplace be the primary cause of an injury, rather Looking further ahead, FY 2015 is the final year than a contributing cause, a tougher standard that for Illinois Jobs Now!, Gov. Pat Quinn’s $31 billion most states already follow; adopting American public works program initiated in 2009, so a year Medical Association guidelines for determining from now, the rookies — with a year of service disability; and providing employers with more under their belts — will be challenged with helping control over an injured worker’s medical care. their elders figure out a new way to fund the state’s Their concerns deserve attention, and while ongoing need to build and maintain roads, bridges Republicans, who have been business’ traditional and other capital projects, all in the midst of the allies, will be vastly outnumbered in the new 2014 election season. session, majority Democrats would do well to make

www.illinoisissues.uis.edu 1 Illinois Issues 1 January 2013 37 strengthening the state’s business climate a top and other information that would help people priority. Revisiting workers’ compensation is a good assess whether a lawmaker or other official might place to start, ideally with both business and labor have a conflict of interest on a given issue. Its involved in fashioning a reform package, similar to passage would mark another step in the long road the old agreed bill process. to restoring Illinois citizens’ faith in their As sketchy as Illinois’ reputation might be as a government, again at no cost to the state. place to do business, though, few would dispute Of course, dozens if not hundreds of other good that it’s much better than the general impression of ideas will emerge during the new legislature’s two- the state’s ethical climate. Here, too, significant year tenure, no doubt many introduced by the improvements have been made over the last several incoming freshman class. In fact, current years, most of them in direct response to abuses lawmakers are still introducing bills as they’re on under former Gov. Rod Blagojevich. their way out the door. Kotowski’s measure, for One item left untouched, however, has been the example, went into the hopper on November 29, state’s woefully inadequate economic disclosure and other bills have followed, for a grand total of rules for public officials, so vague and open-ended more than 10,200 since the 97th General Assembly that most of those covered routinely respond “not took office in January 2011. applicable” to the eight questions posed, making Safe to say their successors will be as prolific. the forms virtually useless to anyone wanting to Let’s hope they’re also willing to tackle the tough garner any idea about an official’s outside interests. issues facing Illinois in a bipartisan manner to A remedy is in the offing, though, in the form of move the state forward. And if not? Well, the filing legislation proposed by Sen. Dan Kotowski, a Park date for the March 2014 primary is only about a Ridge Democrat, with strong support from Lt. Gov. year away ... 1 Sheila Simon. The proposal would require more Charles N. Wheeler III is director of the Public thorough disclosure of outside income sources, Affairs Reporting program at the University of relationships to lobbyists, favorable terms on loans Illinois Springfield.

38 January 2013 1 Illinois Issues 1 www.illinoisissues.uis.edu Governing Revised & Updated Illinois CONTENTS Chapter 1 Governing Illinois Government: People, Places, and Politics Available Chapter 2 Illinois for Fall 2012 The Powers and Duties of Fourth Edition Government: How People Fit In Chapter 3 Constitutionalism: A Contract with the People Chapter 4 The Legislative Game: How to Pass Your Law Chapter 5 The Governor and the Executive Branch Chapter 6 The Courts and the Conceptof Law Chapter 7 Illinois Local Government: Counties, Cities, Villages, Townships, Schools, and More Chapter 8 The Way it Works: State Finances Chapter 9 Politics in Illinois: A Case Study of Corruption Chapter 10 Getting Involved: Your Influence on Governing Illinois

Governing Illinois is a compact – but complete – description of how Illinois government works. This classic text – first published in 1991 – prepares secondary school pupils for the state Constitution test and provides college students in the public affairs and political science fields with a fundamental understanding of state government.