Holy Cow!
Another Thompson inaugural

On January 11 Springfield's Prairie Capital Convention Center showed off shiny custom cars to the jeans and T-shirt set. The auto show spotlighted Adam West, the caped crusader of television's Batman series. A day later the center was transformed into the showcase for a crusader who appealed to an older and fleshier, but no less appreciative, set. It was the 50th inaugural of an Illinois governor, and the fourth for Gov. James R. Thompson, earning him near superhero status. It presented, as such events are wont to do, something for everyone: parties, politics and lots of contrast.

Outside the convention center, next to a vendor hawking Thompson souvenir buttons, a man passed out notices urging increased welfare payments for the 1.1 million Illinoisans on public aid.

Inside, Thompson pledged to crusade for welfare reform, not payment hikes. He called welfare for all but the most needy "hurtful to our economy and world competitiveness, unfair to recipients and unaffordable to taxpayers."

Thompson, now the nation's senior governor at age 50, said he was as proud, enthusiastic and scared as at his 1977 inaugural. In his address he touched all bases. He mentioned Chicago and Cairo, business and labor, and farmers and school teachers. He talked about children and taxes. He quoted Abraham Lincoln once. The address was short on specifics and looked back on his 10 years in office and forward to 1997:

"Today I challenge us to help build the infrastructure of every child . . . ."

"We must reform our tax system — from top to bottom ....."

"We need to build and sell our economic climate . . . ."

"We must take Illinois to the forefront of the debate in Washington over welfare reform . . . ."

More watched the proceedings than did in 1983. Thompson's press office put attendance at 4,800, an increase of 500 over the previous inaugural. As usual (and this includes inaugurals before Thompson if you can remember that far back), the largest number of empty seats were in the block reserved for General Assembly members. Legislators may have been scarce, but there was no shortage of pageantry. A National Guard band from Chicago provided the required military florish. Eagle Scouts marched singly down the center aisle carrying reproductions of flags that flew over the bloody battlefields of Bennington, Bunker Hill and Iwo Jima. The Carl Sandburg College Chiildren's Choir, sang "Let There Be Peace on Earth." An interpreter signed the ceremony for the deaf.

As usual everyone was noticing what everyone else was wearing. For women red dresses were the uniform of the day with fur coats as the accessory for a select few. Ladies in high heels picked their way down narrow upper balcony stairs better suited to Nikes.

And, probably also in the grand inaugural tradition, the ceremony was formal but not flawless. Comptroller Roland W. Burris, introduced as being sworn in for his second term, took the microphone to tell the audience it was his third. And Thomas A. Reynolds, chairman of the inauguration committee, slipped and called the constitutional officers "constitutional lawyers." There were other light moments. Lt. Gov. George Ryan quoted Yogi Berra and Poor Richard's Almanac. Thompson drew his loudest applause when he praised his daughter Samantha., who he said "walked more parades and stickered more cars, people and frontdoors than any other eight-year-old in history."

Later that night the convention center was the site of the inaugural ball. Music was provided by Michael Lerichi Orchestra, and by Bobby Short, a Danville native and cabaret performer dubbed the "miniature king of swing." Although the entertainment was top drawer, performers followed in some pretty impressive footsteps. Duke Ellington played at Otto Kerner's second inaugural and Louis Armstrong provided music at Adlai E. Stevenson's.

6/February 1987/Illinois Issues

At a cost of about $180,000, the 1978 inaugural and attendant events were Thompson's most expensive. The 1983 ceremonies cost $107,000. Those in 1979 cost $100,000 and the 1977 affair cost $126,000. Money for this year's events was raised by subscription and sales of event tickets, bronze and silver commemorative coins bearing Thompson's profile and lithographs.

On inauguration day the state coffers could have used some fattening, but there was no sign of collection boxes. When Thompson took his oath the state's genital funds available balance stood at $98.0 million, nearly $225 million less than it had a year before. At the start of Thompson's third term in 1983, the January 12 balance was $59.8 million. It was $162.6 million at the start of his second in 1979, and $144.3 million in 1977, when Thompson first took office.

But the fund balance went unmentioned for a day and celebrants enjoyed the parties except for some state workers on Sunday night. A crew of staffers labored in the treasurer's office upstairs in the Capitol while partygoers dined and listened to music at Secretary of State Jim Edgar's buffet. By the time the workers in the treasurer's office had completed the audit required before Jerry Cosentino could take office, it was 1:40 a.m. Everybody had left the party. Only the potted ferns remained. Is there a trend? The fund balances are down, but the price of inaugurals is up and so are the salaries of the officers sworn in. A pay raise approved last year that became effective with the inauguration boosts Thompson's salary from $58,000 to 88,825. Other increases were Ryan, from $45,500 to $62,700; Edgar and Atty. Gen. Neil F. Hartigan, from $50,500 to $78,375; aind Burris from $48,000 to $67,925. Cosentino's salary is the same as Burris'. Although the inauguration was clearly Thompson's day, he wasn't the only crusader to speak up during his swearing-in ceremony. Cosentino railed against credit card interest rates and Ryan pledged a campaign against drug and substance abuse. Could they have the big crusader's job in mind? Were the "Cosentino for Governer" buttons a crude blunder or a publicity ploy? Holy 1990!

Contributing to this column was Deborah L. Gertz.

7/February 1987/Illinois Issues