A conversation with our readers

Readers:

Our cover story this month may surprise you a bit. I hope so. The entertaining and informative article discusses the influence of the few full-time editorial cartoonists working at Illinois newspapers and magazines. Three of the Illinois cartoonists have won the Pulitzer Prize.

These journalists are a different breed, as they should be. Mike Cramer, a cartoonist himself for publications including Illinois Issues, wrote the article and drew the illustration for the cover. I chuckled several times in reading the piece, noting, for example, how one cartoonist said his job is to stand on the sidelines and throw mud. Are such criticisms based on objectivity? Of course not! They are opinions. The best ones are inflammatory. Expressing strong opinions has long been the duty of editorial writers, columnists and cartoonists. Such opinions are designed to evoke strong responses and get people talking more passionately about issues, problems and personalities.

In the article, Cramer reveals why Springfield cartoonist Mike Thompson always includes a "price tag" in Gov. Edgar's hair. But I won't divulge that here. See the article that begins on page 12.

This year's session of the General Assembly was most notable for its absence of major activity. Our bureau chief, Jennifer Halperin, provides a recap beginning on page 27.

The issue of crime has risen to the top of the charts in many public opinion polls in the last year or so. That makes this magazine particularly interesting as the 1994 campaign season is about to get into high gear. In one article (see page 18), Donald Sevener points out that fear of crime among citizens has risen far more significantly than actual incidents of crime in the last few years. The fear results in more political responses to the issue, but the effect of these political responses on reducing crime is highly debatable. One "answer" to the prison overcrowding problem has been the establishment of boot camps where inmates experience an intensive disciplinary regiment, with the hope that they'll never return to prison. But are the boot camps really effective? See the article on page 23.

I was delighted to announce last month that Peggy Boyer Long will be the new editor of Illinois Issues. She has an insatiable interest in state government and politics, and comes to the magazine with a wealth of journalism experience. She worked in the Statehouse as bureau chief for public radio station WSSU-FM (Springfield), and is now teaching at one of the best journalism schools in the diffuclt on readers, because we gave them twice as much material in September, just at the time when all of those "put-it-off-till-the- end-of-summer" activities were gearing up again. So enjoy this issue, and the rest of your summer, too. country, the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, Evanston.

Her teaching commitments will keep her at Northwestern through August; then she'll move to Springfield and assume the editor's chair Sept. 1. We're excited to have attracted such a high-quality, energetic journalist.

Don't forget that you can now write to us and read Illinois Issues articles from past magazines on a new electronic forum called Access Illinois. You can register for this service and use it at no charge and also gain access to lots of online information about Illinois state government. Use your computer modem to dial (217) 787-6255. For more information, see the Access Illinois ad on page 31

Finally, I know that longtime readers of Illinois Issues might be surprised to receive this "August" issue. In past years we skipped August and then published a much longer "double issue" in September. We now believe that such a publication schedule made it more difficult on readers, because we gave them twice as much material in September, just at the time when all those "put-it-off-till-the-end-of-the-summer" activities were gearing up again. So enjoy this issue, and the rest of your summer, too.

In June our Question of the Month dealt with the needs of small business. The question was:

What is the primary action the Illinois General Assembly should take on behalf of small businesses this year?

Topping the list of suggestions were tort reform and changes in worker's compensation regulations.

"Tort liability is costing small businesses and local governments millions of dollars a year," wrote one Springfield reader. "Pate Philip should be commended and Mike Madigan should start looking over his shoulder."

A Chicago reader also wanted changes in tort and worker's comp laws. "If they need casinos to be tied in, so be it. I do not want to see casinos go through without pro-small business measures, too." This comment offered an unusual twist. Most of the time this spring, it was during conversations about casinos for Chicago that we heard that business reforms would have to be part of the deal. But this reader started with business reforms as her primary concern, and then declared she would go along with casinos to get what she really wanted.

Several readers also commented about the growing burden of health care, especially for very small businesses. "We are a family business (mom and pop)," wrote one. "We have to buy health insurance, which is very high. We had to go to a $5,000 deductible to keep the premiums down. We might as well not have health insurance."

A Rockford reader raised a "fairness" issue when it comes to professional people and ministers. "Small businesses offering professional services should pay a service tax," said this reader. "And ministers are nothing more than small businesspersons who should pay income taxes on their housing expenses and a service fee for their wedding and funeral fees."

A couple of Chicago readers found a direct connection between spending for education and helping small businesses. One simply asked for more education funding to improve the entire system, while another is so discouraged by the school system that he resurrected an old idea: education vouchers for private school students. "Why? The city public schools are not turning out students who are capable of meeting today's business challenges. We are wasting money on many of these schools. Integration of kids into high-standard private schools would help." 

Ed Wojcicki

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