By JERRY MENNENGA
Should the lieutenant governor O'Neal or Durbin — A real choice
IN THE RACE for the office of lieutenant governor, the candidates are, happily, truly opposite. To recall a slogan from Barry Goldwater's 1964 campaign there is really a choice, not an echo. But since the candidates for lieutenant governor and governor must run as a team, lieutenant governor candidates must determine the method which best helps the No. 1 man on the team — the gubernatorial candidate. The two men running for the second highest office in Illinois' state government see the office differently. Incumbent Lt. Gov. Dave O'Neal said, "It's like a president of a company and a vice-president of a company. You are second in command. The governor is number one." O'Neal's Democratic opponent, Dick Durbin, sees the lieutenant governor's office as a place to be creative and dynamic. "[Mike] Bakalis," Durbin said, "indicated that under his administration, the lieutenant governor would play an active role in the administration of state government and be involved in cabinet decisions and policymaking. He would have some free rein to initiate some programs and to show a little more creativity than what the office presently has." O'Neal believes Durbin is dreaming when he says he is going to use the office of lieutenant governor to initiate a number of programs and be more dynamic. "I got tickled when my opponent first announced his candidacy. He said he was going to be consumer advocate for the people of the state; he was going to be ombudsman for the people of the state; he was going to be the governor's liaison between the legislature and the governor; he was going to be the liaison between the Congress in Washington and the governor. And all these things he was going to do with 16 people [the size of O'Neal's present staff]. He's insulting my intelligence," O'Neal says. Durbin, of course, thinks O'Neal could do more with the lieutenant governor's office than he is presently doing. And he has some opinions as to why O'Neal hasn't been more active. "I don't believe the governor trusts the lieutenant governor's judgment, and as a result has not brought him an opportunity to expand that office. And I don't mean expansion in terms of dollars spent, but expansion in terms of services offered to the people of this state. An obvious example is the fact that in the administration's first 14 months in office, the only assignment of any significance given to the lieutenant governor was as chairman to the Commission on State Mandated Programs. I don't believe Gov. Thompson really views Lt. Gov. O'Neal as an important part of his administration. And as a result, the lieutenant governor's office has been a very inactive office," Durbin charges. Lt. Gov. O'Neal believes his performance as lieutenant governor reflects a "better job than has ever been done before. There really hasn't been a viable lieutenant governor until I came along." As he puts it, "When you're a team 4/July 1978/Illinois Issues player, and you're helping the administration, and your criticism is effective but private, as it should be, then you can be as successful in your operation of the lieutenant governor's office as the governor would have you be. But a candidate that tells you how much he's going to do above and beyond the governor just shows either a tremendous ego that had better be more controlled, or it shows a complete lack of knowledge of the lieutenant governor's office."
Clearly, the two disagree on the degree of activism appropriate to the office they seek. And while both feel that the lieutenant governor should take leadership roles in some areas, their disagreement as to what those areas should be reflects their fundamentally different perspectives. Durbin said he would like to strengthen the lieutenant governor's role in the area of senior citizens' affairs and abandoned mine reclamation. In addition, he would like to act as an advocate for consumer and citizen groups, helping them get a hearing in the legislature. O'Neal sees jobs, the criminal justice system, transportation and education as major issues for the lieutenant governor. He says that a balanced budget without a tax increase is going to be Thompson's and O'Neal's rallying cry. O'Neal contends that during his first term in office as lieutenant governor, he and his staff have initiated a number of policies, but added, "I'm not about to go down and list the policies because the ultimate decision is the governor's, not the lieutenant governor's . . . . We haven't gone around blowing our own horn, which a lot of politicos would say we should have done. We take a low profile approach. You won't see a lot of flamboyant gamesmanship coming out of this office, as has come out of this office before." O'Neal explains that if a lieutenant governor becomes too flamboyant and outspoken, he may become a political threat to the governor and not a supportive subordinate. The incumbent's low profile has, inevitably, left him open to Durbin's charges that O'Neal has been ineffective. Durbin contends, for example, that O'Neal never testified before any committees in relation to the generic drug bill, a bill designed to especially help senior citizens on fixed incomes by enabling them to buy prescription drugs by their generic names rather than brand names. "Lt. Gov. Dave O'Neal, who is supposed to be the senior citizens' advocate, never once appeared to testify in favor of that bill," Durbin said. But O'Neal, admitting that he hadn't testified, said he saw no great problems confronting the bill and had gone to the governor and explained the two sides of the issue. He said he felt he would be more effective talking to the governor in private. The bill was, in fact, passed and signed by Gov. Thompson. Durbin also criticizes O'Neal for taking 15 months to prepare a plan with the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Council for the legislature. O'Neal responds by saying Durbin had never criticized former Lt. Gov. Neil Hartigan, a Democrat, for not preparing a plan during his entire term in office. "Durbin's running for office. That's the only way I can describe any of his criticism. I doubt if he's going to go around this state praising the accomplishments of this administration," says O'Neal. Both men agree that the lieutenant governor must be ready to serve as the governor needs him. But they disagree about how much one should only stand and wait. O'Neal, the incumbent, defends his generally behind-the-scenes style: "The lieutenant governor is really at the beck and call of the governor . . . . His authority comes from the governor. And as long as he trusts you, then you can be as active and effective as we have been. If he doesn't trust the lieutenant governor, then all you get is a lot of lip service." Durbin, the challenger, disagrees, of course: "To wait at the beck and call of the governor could lead, as it has in this administration, to inaction— where there's no call, and no beckoning, and as a result you wait and wait and get your appropriation each year and hope that maybe next year there'll be something to do." Both candidates see a tough campaign ahead of them. Durbin has been campaigning since January, driving every night and on weekends. O'Neal said he won't start his campaigning until after the General Assembly wraps up its session June 30. Durbin is firm about his and Bakalis' campaign. He thinks they can win. "Mike Bakalis' history as an underdog candidate . . . will come through again and show the people he can work hard and close a gap very dramatically. There was no announced candidate against Jim Thompson for quite a period of time. The honeymoon is definitely over." O'Neal believes Thompson will win the gubernatorial election by quite a wide margin because of the good job Thompson's done. "But," he said, "both Mike Bakalis and Dick Durbin are bright, aggressive men. I don't think they consider themselves pushovers. I don't think Jim Thompson considers them pushovers. And I certainly don't consider them pushovers." Campaign coverage will continue next month July 1978/ Illinois Issues /5
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