By JERRY MENNENGA Woman newcomer v. party powerhouse Sharp and Dixon race for secretary of state
DRIVER'S licenses, 5-year license plates, computer operations and budget efficiency — not exactly front-page news to most voters. But when you're running for the secretary of state in Illinois, they're the major issues of your campaign. Sharon Sharp, a Republican and the only woman candidate for statewide office, admits these topics are not going to interest the media nor the citizens of the state. Sharp knows the secretary of state's campaign race is never exciting, but feels the job is one of the more important in the state. Her Democratic opponent, incumbent Alan J. Dixon, contends that this office is the most exciting office in the State except for the governor's. "There are more duties and more responsibilities and more opportunities for making decisions," he said. And it's because of these two interested persons that there will be a lively campaign this fall for this major patronage office which puts 4,700 to 4,800 jobs at the winner's discretion. (There are 3,993 permanent and 753 temporary positions, 419 of which are summer jobs.) Sharp said she decided to run for the office because she believed she could do a good job. "It seems it's been the one that's been most misused-in state government," she said, "perhaps the most political office, one that was supposed to be a totally service office, but didn't actually work out that way. It seems to always benefit those persons in the office more with political clout than it does the people of Illinois with personal service." Dixon in 'syndrome' Sharp said she believes incumbent Dixon has lost track of what the Secretary of State's Office is supposed to be doing. "He's become part of the governmental syndrome. He's obviously not so interested in the Office of Secretary of State as he is in furthering his own political career in Illinois." Dixon, of course, disagrees with Sharp. "I'm going to run on my record. My motto in this campaign is that Alan Dixon is a keeper," he said, referring to his goal of keeping certain promises that he made in 1976. Those promises included the printing of medical information and rare blood types on driver's licenses, expediting the picture driver's license and the photo identification card program, inaugurating a personnel code program for the Secretary of State's Office and establishing multi-year license plates and staggered registration. Dixon says he will also be expanding a program to stop forgeries and counterfeiting of driver's licenses, titles and other papers issued by the Secretary of State's Office. Dixon pointed out, however, that all of these programs are still in developmental stages and have not been put into final form, except for the switch to five-year license plates which began in July. The promises are the major reason Dixon gave for not running for another statewide office, such as governor, although he says he is keeping his future options open. Sharp contends that Dixon is working for headlines rather than budget efficiency or cleaning up the patronage system in the Secretary of State's Office, She said the first question that a public 12/October 1978/Illinois Issues
official in this type of office should ask himself is: "Are the taxpayers in Illinois getting their dollar's worth?" She argues that the Secretary of State's Office can "be a very wasteful office. Political patronage tends to make waste, only because a county chairman calls up and says: 'Hey, you know I got a problem. I really need a job for someone.' It's very easy for someone to create another job out of the air. Not all these people are qualified; it's more favoritism." Sharp says she will pick persons to help her run the office based on qualifications. "I do not intend to go into that office and say: 'You're all out.' You know that would be very foolish of me. I need the experience that some of those people have. I only hope they will work for me." But Sharp qualifies her position when asked about seeking qualified people from among Democrats. "I'm a party person. My first inclination will be to pick the most qualified people because it will be terribly important for me to have those people around me. I am probably going to look within the circles I know [for qualified people], and those are Republican circles. You know when I go to find someone to help run the Secretary of State's Office, it's very unlikely that I'm going to run over to the Democratic party headquarters and say, 'Who have you got?'" Sharp in tough race If the campaign issues suggest an unexciting race, Dixon nevertheless says he expects a tough one. "I think all campaigns are tough campaigns," he commented. "I have a young lady of good reputation running against me, who's been working very hard and very diligently. She's been all over the state and she's obtaining a certain degree of name recognition now. I don't really know anything about her except what I hear. She's an attractive, nice-appearing young lady. Her reputation as far as I can ascertain is very good. She doesn't know anything about state government, but she has a political and village government background." Sharp also expects a vigorous campaign. "I expect a terribly tough race! I have the toughest race in the state, bar none, except for Mike Bakalis and Alex Seith," she said. She admitted that she has a name recognition problem, but she believes it's helpful that she is a woman. "I believe women add the common sense to government that we need desperately in this country," Sharp said. She did receive some name recognition when she endorsed the ERA. She said she would do what she could to aid the movement, even though she felt her decision could cost her votes. Sharp will have a tough campaign race against Dixon, who has swamped his opponents by huge margins in past elections. Dixon, though, seems to be biding his time until the opportune moment arrives and he can make his step to a higher statewide office. Letting Mike Bakalis wrangle with Gov. James Thompson in the 1978 election could prove fruitful for Dixon should Thompson win and then continue on toward the presidency. Sharp's recent endorsement of ERA did make her candidacy more visible in the news media. But that visibility was brief and rather rare in this campaign. When all is said, it's back to the basics of driver's licenses, five-year plates and budget efficiency when the campaign goal is the office of Secretary of State. October 1978/Illinois Issues/13
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