Names/Esprit de Pol                            

Continued from page 32

Vaughn began teaching elementary school in 1956 and joined the union. She rose through the ranks of the CTU, becoming its first female president and first African-American president.

Thomas H. Reece, 56, of Chicago was elected president of the CTU on February 2. He is a candidate for reelection in May when the full membership elects a slate of officers. Reece, a teacher for 23 years, was financial secretary for the CTU from 1982 to 1987, when he became vice president. He has also served as a vice president of the Illinois Federation of Teachers since 1982, and in 1990 he was named a vice president and a member of the Executive Council of the American Federation of Teachers. After attending Chicago public schools, Reece earned his bachelor's degree from Chicago Teachers College and a master's degree from Chicago State University.

Kanter disbarred

Arnold Kanter, former chief counsel to Gov. Edgar (see Illinois Issues, February 1993, page 32), was granted voluntary disbarment by the Illinois Supreme Court in late January. Accused of misconduct in his private law practice before joining Edgar's administration, Kanter agreed to have his name stricken from the list of licensed attorneys in Illinois. He will be prevented from practicing law for at least three years.

Allegations against Kanter charge that he cost a client, Buckeye Products Corp., more than $5 million in fines and other penalties because he missed a court hearing to attend Edgar's inauguration.

Beverley Scobell and Julie A. Detrick

Next month in Illinois Issues Welfare and work: What's working and what's not in the state's various programs encouraging work instead of welfare Second of two-article series By Donald Sevener Gangs in our cities — not just Chicago By Jennifer Halperin

Great Chicago political quotations

One reader in the governmental relations business in Chicago keeps the following quotations posted on his bulletin board to keep his work in perspective:

"There was no direction, so we voted our conscience."

— Alderman Edwin Eisendrath, explaining why his
vote contradicted the mayor's unexpressed preference

"We're not a bunch of thieves, low-lifes, and ignoramuses,"

— Alderman Anna Langford on the
Chicago City Council

"I need this for my own personal growth,"

— State Rep. Ann Stepan, on why she
appointed herself to the state legislature

Who says our Supreme Court justices
don't have a sense of humor?

Illinois Supreme Court Justice James D. Heiple, whose opinions are frequently very terse, has shown a willingness to extend his dissents in order to zing his colleagues with humor. You might call his latest a shaggy horse story, or to conform to the point of his story, a shaggy bird story from a case in the Canadian courts:

To wit: An Indian riding his pony through the park one day was so poor that he had no saddle and had substituted a down pillow. Then his pony broke its right leg, and in keeping with Indian custom, he shot the pony to relieve its suffering. The Indian was charged with having breached the Small Birds Act.

The story ends with the finding that a horse with feathers on its back must be deemed for the purposes of this Act to be a bird, and a fortiori, a pony with feathers on its back is a small bird.

Lottery out of order

Revenue projections for the lottery are always important. Why then was the lottery terminal in the James R. Thompson Center in Chicago not available at least for one day last month? The sign read "out of order."

Send any items — nosey, newsy or smart-alecky about Illinois government, politics or politicians — to:
March 1994/Illinois Issues/3