Changing the civil service system depends on "getting knowledgeable people moving in the same direction," Sally Jackson recently told a meeting of university and government personnel officials in the Chicago Community Trust conference room. While describing a private sector group helping to revamp state government, the poised and polished 41-year-old woman sounded genuinely excited about bureaucratic processes. Among the inner circle in Gov. Jim Edgar's administration as his director of government operations, she had organized the Governor's Human Resources Advisory Council (GHRAC). As recommended by the Chicago Community Trust's Government Assistance Project, GHRAC is tackling reform of state personnel policies. Sally Randolph Ward Jackson no longer works for state government, however. She was one of state government's "best and brightest" who had served 18 months in the Edgar administration and the full 14 years in the James R. Thompson administration. She left state government last spring to become president and chief executive officer of the Illinois State Chamber of Commerce, the state's most broad-based business organization. In effect, she is the chamber's chief lobbyist, building consensus among other business lobby groups and facilitating change through the Edgar administration for government application of the panoply of business management principles, such as total quality management. Only the third chamber CEO in 50 years, she talks of change at the 73-year-old business association — working with government on business's nontraditional issues of education and social policy.

Photo by Showcase Photography/Terry Farmer Sally Jackson, president and chief executive officer, Illinois State Chamber of Commerce

In her new job, Jackson is still definitely "in" with the Edgar administration. When she took the chamber job, Edgar's Chief of Staff Kirk Dillard recalls "kidding her that now she'll be working for us for free." Last summer, Edgar appointed her cochair of the GHRAC, which, she says, is looking for ways to attract "the best of the best" to the public sector. "State government isn't a career students even hear about except if they live in Springfield," she says.

Why did she leave public service? She said she had considered leaving when Gov. Thompson decided not to seek a fifth term, then stayed when Edgar invited her to setup the recruitment process for his 60-person cabinet. She declined his offer to direct a department but accepted his offer to be second in command of the governor's staff. Having a prominent role in Edgar's administration was gratifying but eventually too demanding, she said. She didn't want to spend so much time in Springfield, away from her husband — Mike Jackson, a former Chicago TV newscaster who now runs his own communications business — and her four stepchildren and their home on Chicago's near northside. Last January, when a headhunter called her about a job at the chamber, she decided to make a move.

Chairman of the chamber board at the time was Harry J. Seigle, a northeastern Illinois building supplier, who said that the chamber needed a consensus builder — someone who can work with a traditional adversary like organized

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labor to contain health-care costs as well as avoid turf protection fights that hurt relations between traditional allies like the Illinois Manufacturers' Association (IMA) and the Illinois Retail Merchants Association (IRMA). The chamber, IMA and IRMA have slightly different interests, but the common denominator is that they represent employers. In-fighting among the groups, however, can hurt employers' interests, and a rift between them became public in 1991 with many blaming Jackson's predecessor at the chamber, Lester W. Brann Jr.

The chamber's search committee sought "a high-profile person who could position business interests in a proactive and integrated manner" in this era of shrunken resources, Seigle said. Jackson, he contended, wasn't hired for access to the governor but for her knowledge of how government works.

As chamber president, Jackson is working in those government processes. Besides GHRAC, she is member of the Health Care Finance Study Commission, which will study Medicaid funding and make recommendations most likely reflected in Edgar's proposed budget. Also, she says, Gov. Edgar is counting on her help for gaining access to business leaders and for facilitating the chamber's support for his proposals on job training and workplace issues during the spring session.

The chamber obviously counts on her ties to Edgar. As Dillard put it, Jackson "respectfully canvased" three top administration officials on the chamber's opposition to the proposed education amendment on the November ballot."She helped shape the governor's views on why this referendum was poorly drafted," Dillard said. He was less forthcoming though on his ex-colleague's failure to sway Edgar on legalizing casino gambling for Chicago.

The chamber supports Chicago casino gambling. The governor does not, which pits Jackson against her ex-boss. The issue also illustrates the inner workings of the group which Jackson now heads. Siegle hints at debate within the chamber itself: He said the chamber was wrong to "sit on its hands" last spring during the third Chicago airport debate. By not wanting to anger local factions vying for different sites, the chamber, he said, helped cripple a vital economic development initiative. He said the chamber decided not to sit out the next big development project, putting Jackson at odds with Edgar when its 60-member board decided before her arrival to support Chicago casino gambling. The board itself had members representing downstate gambling interests.

Jackson said, "Casino gambling never would have been touched by the board two years ago," adding that controversies that split the membership were avoided often enough that exceptions like chamber support for branch banking were so isolated as to seem inexplicable. "The diversity of the chamber is its strength, and the challenge is to make sure to adopt strategies that allow members to express their opinions," Jackson said, completing the sentence as she often does in a questioning tone as if the hint of uncertainty encourages agreement.

Jackson appears to be a genuine supporter for change within the chamber and for its changing views of government. She didn't disagree with state Sen. John J. Cullerton's (D-6, Chicago) assertion that the chamber has a "late 19th century outlook on government," viewing the public sector as an enemy. Business must view government as a partner that benefits from private sector expertise, she said. "I believe and the board believes that business needs to be more involved in things like education and social services,"she said, adding that chamber publications will soon reflect a shift from "this old perspective of getting government off my back. Getting government off your back may not result in good long-term solutions." One of state government's first champions of total quality management, Jackson speaks of building better channels of communication between business and government, various business associations and chamber staff and members. As Siegle put it:

"Sally's remarkably good at bringing people together. As one politician told me, 'she can charm a pit bull.' "

Shifting from Springfield maneuverer to private sector mouthpiece wasn't difficult. "The concerns of our board are major public policy issues — education, health care, tax reform and economic development," she said in an interview in her corner office on the 19th floor of Chicago's Civic Opera House. "These are the same issues that I dealt with on the governor's staff."

'I believe and the board believes that business must be more involved in things like education and social services'

Critics say the chamber caves in to the wishes of its largest members: Illinois Bell shaped the chamber's position on the telephone deregulation bill that many small companies opposed; large banks shaped the chamber's support for a branch banking bill that led 170 small banks to drop their membership; and insurance companies shape the chamber's position on health care and workers' compensation issues. Large employers are quite good at creating persuasive arguments to support their point of view, Jackson conceded, but adds that most chamber dues-paying members are small firms. "We have to listen to them and look out for the good of the state as a whole," she said. Annual chamber dues are based on employment numbers and range from $250 to $25,000. Dues generate about $3.5 million of chamber revenues; about $1.5 million comes from the chamber's for-profit seminar and workshop business. The chamber currently has 6,000 members representing 7,000 companies statewide as well as 300 affiliated

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local chambers. Jackson heads a staff of 50, including 14 full-time registered lobbyists, the largest of all groups lobbying state government.

When Jackson's predecessor Brann retired last June after 25 years as chamber president, he left a legacy for both innovation and controversy. Innovations include the Illinois Chamber Action Line on Legislation (ICALL), a telephone network that can produce 800 contacts to legislators within a matter of hours. A chamber hotline for direct service to members takes 8,000 to 10,000 calls a year wanting information on such things as workers' compensation and federal equal employment regulations.

Brann disputes his successor's characterization of the chamber's past: "Working with government was a chamber strong point for a long, long time." He recalled how he and then AFL-CIO President Bob Gibson cochaired a task force to replenish the Department of Employment Security's (DES) unemployment insurance trust fund, which by 1982 had a $2.3 billion debt with the federal government. The task force prepared a plan to pay off the debt, which was carried out by Jackson when she was director of DES under Thompson. Today, the unemployment insurance fund has a $1 billion surplus. "If there is a better example of business working with government, I'd have to be told what it is,"Brann said. "We worked with DES every step of the way. I'm told that that paper is still the bible of the department. Of course, cleaning up DES is one of her [Jackson's] claims to fame."

Brann's statement is evidence of his "lack of respect" for Illinois' business trade associations, said David Vite, president of IRMA, which represents 23,000 retailers statewide.

Sally Jackson: from teacher to CEO for largest business lobby Sally Jackson, a Springfield native,was the third of four children of Ransom and Marian Randolph, a Public Health Department civil engineer and nurse, respectively. Her grandfather, Verdun Randolph, was a Harrisburg grocer and insurance man elected as a Republican state representative after the Depression. He didn't inspire his granddaughter's career in public affairs though. "My grandfather looked like a politician, always smoking cigars, but he was old and cranky and scared us kids," she recalled.The inspiration was her father, the lifelong bureaucrat, who encouraged her to do whatever she wanted in life. She graduated from Southern Illinois University in 1973 with a bachelor's degree in the administration of justice, earning her master's degree two years later. She joined Western Illinois University's law enforcement faculty. She was the only woman. At WIU, one of the 200 students taking her introductory law enforcement course in 1973 was Kirk Dillard, then a freshman thinking of becoming a doctor and now chief of staff to Gov. Jim Edgar. Her class helped convince him, he said, to pursue a law degree instead. "She made street life real and exciting and made the field of law enforcement come to life," Dillard said. Sally Randolph became Sally Ward when she was married in 1974; she was divorced in 1986 and was married to Chicago TV commentator Mike Jackson in 1988, becoming Sally Jackson. During her first marriage, she commuted between her university job in Macomb and Springfield where her husband, an economist, worked in the governor's Bureau of the Budget (BOB). She left teaching in July 1976 to become a BOB law enforcement program analyst under lame-duck Gov. Dan Walker, hoping, she said, that James R. Thompson, the former U.S. prosecutor, would win the November gubernatorial election. A bipartisan commission had presented to both gubernatorial candidates — Republican Thompson and Democrat Michael J. Hewlett — a reorganization plan to streamline the Department of Law Enforcement. She was delighted when Thompson won. "I knew Thompson's interests and wanted to be part of what he had in store," she said. She also related the typical story most professional women experience in their careers. She attended the Springfield news conference where Gov. Thompson named Ty Fahner as his director of law enforcement (predecessor to the Department of State Police), approaching Fahner afterwards to suggest that he delay his return to Chicago because his agency's new budget was about to be decided. "That evening, as he and I sat waiting our turn at the executive mansion, Jim Thompson came out to chat with Ty," Jackson recalled. "The governor told him he was on the ball because he'd brought a secretary. Ty said: 'Sally isn't my staff, she's yours. She's your budget expert.' " She wound up as Thompson's assistant for government administration, focusing on an array of personnel and computerization issues. She and Edgar met in the mid-1970s when he was a legislator on the House Select Committee for Government Organization. She worked again with him in the early 1980s when she was on Thompson's program staff and Edgar was Thompson's legislative affairs director. She made her mark in the Thompson administration with the Illinois Department of Employment Security (DES). Her efforts started in 1981 when the 4,000-person bureau of employment security was located within the Illinois Department of Labor, which only had 90 staff outside of the bureau. "It was a classic case of the tail wagging the dog," Jackson says. One critical issue needing resolution with the agency was unemployment insurance, whose funding via taxes on employers was running deficits with the federal government. DES was created in 1984, and Jackson was its first director, a full-fledged member of the governor's cabinet for the remainder of the Thompson administration. She says that during the unemployment insurance funding crisis, when Illinois was facing a billion-dollar debt to the federal government, she worked closely with Thompson, going to Washington to testify before the House Ways and Means Committee. In the transition to the Edgar administration, Jackson worked on assembling his cabinet and other key appointments. She stayed on in the new administration as Edgar's director of government operations. Last spring she ended her state government career to become president and chief executive officer of the Illinois State Chamber of Commerce. Robert Heuer

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Brann did indeed help make the unemployment insurance trust fund solvent, but he did so in concert with many others, Vite said, adding that the chamber isolated itself by "taking credit for everything that happened in Springfield."

IMA problems with Brann became public knowledge in 1991 when a chamber bill to create a decision making board over the Department of Commerce and Community Affairs was undercut by the IMA on the General Assembly floor. The IMA represents 4,700 manufacturing companies and plants state wide. Its president is Greg Baise, who worked with Jackson in the Thompson administration. He was secretary of transportation and also a Thompson campaign manager. "After Sally announced her move, I saw Jim Thompson at a dinner, tapped him on the shoulder and said,'I bet you smiled to yourself when you heard about Sally Jackson,' " said Baise. The chamber also fought Thompson for years, most notably on his tax increases. Relations became so strained that eventually, according to Jackson, the governor didn't give Brann "the time of day."

Illinois' leading business groups — the chamber, IMA and IRMA — talk about sending a more consistent message to the political leadership by ironing out differences on issues before they reach a legislative form. Historically, they have pooled resources on an array of issues. For example, the chamber led negotiations on unemployment insurance, the IMA on workers' compensation issues and IRMA on the state response to the federal Clean Air Act amendments requiring employers to reduce their employees' auto trips to and from work. AFL-CIO President Richard Walsh, labor's leading lobbyist in Springfield, said there isn't too much difference among the three as it is.

"What's different from the past," Jackson said, "is that now we're agreeing that one person take the lead and we all take the credit. Before, one association took all the credit."Vite and Baise had been meeting regularly before Jackson joined the chamber. Vite, who had applied for the chamber presidency, had lunch with Jackson on her first day on the job. He recalled her asking: "When the boys get together do I get to come along?" She does. Vite, Baise and Jackson made a statewide fly-around the Wednesday before the November 3 election to promote the business groups' united front opposing the education amendment. On election night, the three had an after-work drink to toast the promise of future collaborations.

With its first woman president, the Illinois State Chamber of Commerce has come a long way since it was formed in 1919 with 24 members and a budget of $18,500. In 1920, the Chicago-based group opened an office in Springfield to lobby for such things as a state police force, a standard set of statewide traffic laws, state regulation of public utilities and a state highway plan. By 1924, the state chamber counted 47,000 businessmen and establishments through the membershp of 118 local chambers and 10 trade associations.

In 1967, Ormand Lyman retired after 25 years as chamber president and was replaced by Brann, then chief lobbyist of the Milwaukee Association of Commerce. "Republicans totally controlled the General Assembly," Brann recalled, until 1974 brought Democratic control and a rise in the influence of organized labor. "That Watergate election hit us between the eyes. The threats to business have grown ever since."

For the first time since that 1974 election. Republicans have gained control of the Illinois Senate, and Sally Jackson has the chamber's top priorities in order for the 88th General Assembly when it convenes January 13: education, economic development and health costs. On education funding, Jackson says the chamber representative on the school finance task force will press the chamber agenda, tying increased funding to performance and accountability. On economic development, she says the chamber will support the governor's new advisory director for economic development for the Department of Commerce and Community Affairs and his emphasis on promoting local economic development efforts. On health care, the chamber will fight to prevent further cost-shifting to business.

How will Jackson tip-toe through the mine field of Illinois partisan politics? The chamber may count generally on a Republican governor and a Republican-controlled Senate as pro-business, but Democrats and labor interests have their own agendas in Springfield. House Speaker Michael J. Madigan (D-22, Chicago) still controls a Democratic majority. Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley has his agenda, including the casino project backed by the chamber.

He recalled her asking: 'When the boys get together,do I get to come along?'

Jackson says she sees little difference between the bureaucratic and political processes: Greed and ego bog down each. Ten years ago, she said, the unemployment insurance trust fund went bankrupt partly because labor and business hadn't sat down at the state's advisory board for two years. Casino gambling failed in the fall session, partly because Mayor Daley and Gov. Edgar hadn't spoken to each other about it, she said. "The key to political maneuvering,"Jackson said, "is to get decision makers involved early enough so they buy into the idea and can come out winners.You want to create winners all the way around. But I'm realistic enough to know that often times people want winners and losers." *

Robert Heuer is a Chicago writer.

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