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BOOK REVIEW By RICHARD B. OGILVIE The web of government Inside State Government: A Primer for Illinois Managers. YOU HAVE just been appointed director of one of the large state cabinet departments. While you are quite knowledgeable in your field, you have never been in Illinois nor do you know anything about Illinois government. Where can you turn for help before you board the plane to come here? With the publication of this "primer" by the Institute of Government and Public Affairs of the University of Illinois, future (and present) department heads now have a place to turn for a succinct, well-written, practical guide to how Illinois government really works, and what the cabinet level managers need to know to properly manage their departments or agencies. The institute has provided a real service, as no such a publication has previously existed. The book is divided into seven chapters on components of state government that an executive must master if he is to run his agency properly. There are chapters on the governor's office, the budgetary process, patronage and personnel, the legislature, lobbyists and interest groups, the press, and an excellent final chapter, "Practical Guidance for New Agency Heads." There is an in depth introductory chapter on Illinois state government plus a lengthy bibliographic essay on Illinois history and government — both of which I would recommend not only to state government managers but also to students of Illinois history and government, especially graduate students who plan to go into state government. In addition to editing the book, Nowlan coauthored two chapters and contributed the introductory and summary chapters. The remaining chapters are written by professionals who have years of direct experience in the parts of state government about which they write; they include one of Gov. James R. Thompson's cabinet members, the state auditor general and one of the state's top lobbyists. And Nowlan combines the academic and practical backgrounds necessary to speak with authority on the issues: Prior to his present post as director of graduate programs in public administration at the University of Illinois, he was a journalist, a state legislator, my running mate (for lieutenant governor in 1972) and acting director of two major state agencies in the Thompson administration. Even those of us intimately involved in state government tend to forget how large and expensive Illinois government is. Our state government has 117,000 employees (the state's largest private employer has only 86,000) and annual expeditures of over $14 billion. Under the governor there are 23 cabinet-level "code" departments, 47 boards and commissions plus scores of special dedicated and limited state funds. The head of each of these executive agencies must operate within what Nowlan calls "a web of government" that includes the governor's office, the Bureau of the Budget, the patronage office, the Department of Central Management Services and the legislature and its permanent staff. Nowlan quotes one agency head in the Thompson cabinet as explaining the "web" as follows: May 1983 | Illinois Issues | 24 "The biggest burden in running an agency is that created by many people who have fingers in our pie. For example you have:
– the governor's liaison to the rate review board (which sets purchase of service rates paid by the state), – the patronage director, – the legislative liaison office, – the Bureau of the Budget, which is 'knee-deep in what we can and can't do,' – the appropriations staffs in both houses, as well as between the parties, each of which wants to be its own Bureau of the Budget, and each of which has different forms for us to use in presenting our budget. – several key legislators who have an interest in the agency, – Art Quern and Paula Wolff in the governor's office, – and the interest groups." Nowlan and his co-authors not only explain each component of this "web of government," but do so in easy-to-read English completely free of the governmentalese that seems to afflict most writers on governmerit. It is refreshing to read a technical work on government without one "parameter" or "interfacing," and especially no "interfacing parameters"! I have but two minor reservations and one major concern about this book. First, while the book claims to treat all of state government, it seems to focus on that part that delivers social services. Second, state government is treated in somewhat of a vacuum; there is almost no discussion about the relationship with the federal government and its various staffs above, and with local and county officials below. Finally, I was disappointed that, except for two short asides, the subject of proper ethical behavior is not discussed. While it is important that senior state government officials be as efficient as possible, it is just as important — if not more important — that they set an example for their own employees, the rest of state government, and for the citizenry that in the final analysis they serve.□ Richard B. Ogilvie served as governor of Illinois, 1969-1973. He is now chairman, managing council, Isham, Lincoln & Beale, in Chicago. May 1983 | Illinois Issues | 25 |
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