Sally Jackson: government insider at helm for big business lobby Robert Heuer 10 State employment roller coaster headed down, again Kraig Lounsberry 14 Public Aid recipients turned into bank account owners Beverley Scobell 18 Minority enrollments disappointingly static at public universities Jennifer Halperin 22

Columns Politics Nettlesome issues to test mettle of new players Charles N. Wheeler III                 6 The state of the State Days of 'glory' while the lions and unicorns fight for the crown Caroline A. Gherardini                 8 The Pulse Tracking voter sentiment in presidential, U.S. Senate races Nick Panagakis                 32 Chicago Cook County subcircuit select their first judges Manuel Galvan                 36 Departments Letters                 9 Legislative Action Lame-duck session ends meekly: no casino for Chicago Jennifer Halperin                24 New faces in the Senate James Pollock                 25 Judicial Rulings F. Mark Siebert                28 Names                 29 Book Reviews Lincoln or Douglas more politically motivated? James M. McPherson                30 State Reports Anna J. Merritt                34 State Stix Margaret S. Knoepfle                 35 Esprit de Pol Legislative laugh-in Jill O'Shea Dykema                40 Cover illustration: Sally Jackson, the new president and CEO of the Illinois State Chamber of Commerce. The photograph is by Terry Farmer/Showcase Photography of Springfield. The article featuring Jackson in her new role as lobbyist begins on page 10.

January 1993/Illinois Issues/5

Readers:

Sometimes the obvious has to be stated clearly.

It's a historic month in Illinois. The Republicans will control the state Senate for the first time in 18 years. And the number of new senators and representatives who will serve their first terms in the legislature is unprecedented in recent Illinois history. In this issue we begin our look at who the new senators are. We will continue with profiles of new House members next month.

Our editorial staff has been preparing for this transition since before the November elections. Editor Caroline Gherardini is leading the project. Handling the detail work are student editorial assistant Jim Pollock and Statehouse Bureau Chief Jennifer Halperin. (Jim then graduated in December with a degree in English.) We also owe a tip of the cap to the General Assembly's Legislative Research Unit. We depended heavily on that office for biographical information and most of the photos published in this issue. This collaborative effort saved the new legislators the hassle of duplicating a lot of information for both of us, and saved a lot of time for all of our staffs.

We know you are vitally interested in the makeup of the new legislature. Providing perspective on critical legislation is one of Illinois Issues' hallmarks. That's why you — and we— need to know more about who the players are. That's why we're giving them so much attention as the new session gets under way.

Elsewhere in the magazine, we continue to respond to your interest in more information about the inner workings of state government and people who affect state government significantly.

Hence our cover story on Sally Jackson, formerly a high-ranking official in the Thompson and Edgar administrations and now the president and CEO of the Illinois State Chamber of Commerce. See what she has to say about the chamber's agenda. Are we seeing the beginning of a "new" business outlook on government?