A special Your Turn

There were plenty of signs that the spring legislative session would not bode well for Chicago. For the first time in nearly 40 years, the GOP controlled the governor's office and both houses of the Illinois General Assembly. Republicans didn't need Democrats, particularly Chicago Democrats.

"We have a Republican-dominated House and Senate down here with a huge anti-Chicago sentiment," freshman state Rep. Howard Kenner, a Chicago Democrat, said as the session heated up. "We're just trying to keep it to a minimum on our side of the aisle, but it's not looking very good right now."

Prospects for the city turned grim in April, when Mayor Richard M. Daley formed an airport authority with Gary, Ind., to protect Chicago's airports from a threatened Republican takeover. Republican Senate President James "Pate" Philip of Wood Dale and House Speaker Lee Daniels of Elmhurst made it clear that the move hurt Daley's chances to win riverboat gambling for Chicago and more money for the city's public schools.

In the session's final weeks, Chicago Democrats braced for the worst, certain that the Republicans were out to get Daley and would take their anger out on the city. State Sen. Arthur Berman, a Chicago Democrat, complained that the legislature was "addressing a suburban agenda to the detriment of Chicago." He asked: "Has the General Assembly addressed the needs of the 3 million people who live in [Chicago]? The answer is no." Berman was right. But despite GOP retaliation for the airport deal and some decidedly anti-Chicago legislation, Republican lawmakers seemed more interested in ending their first legislative session on time than punishing Chicago. Here's a recap of what the Republicans did and didn't get done regarding the Windy City:

Republican lawmakers seemed more interested in ending their first session on time than punishing Chicago

Airports. Suburban Republican lawmakers and Gov. Jim Edgar had hoped to create a regional airport authority to give state officials and suburban residents more control over noise and expansion at Chicago-controlled O'Hare International Airport. But negotiations came to a halt after Daley made his pact with Gary, and lawmakers instead authorized construction of a toll road on the west side of O'Hare that would cut off further runway expansion. They also launched investigations into the Daley administration's awarding of contracts and other spending decisions at the airport.

Democrats argued in vain that the Republicans were singling out O'Hare contracts while ignoring charges of patronage and deal-making at the Philip-created DuPage County Airport Authority.

State Rep. Tom Ryder, a Republican from Jerseyville, said the city would have been better off to have negotiated with House Republicans. "But they went off and did the Gary, Indiana, thing while the House was bargaining in good faith," Ryder said. "I am not going to accuse and point fingers ... but

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we really need their participation more than I have seen it."

City Council Pay Raise. Relations between Chicago and Springfield reached their nadir when the General Assembly voted to repeal a pay raise passed by the Chicago City Council on April 15. Even Edgar thought that was overdoing it, and he vetoed the bill, leaving in place hefty salary and benefit increases for the mayor and Chicago aldermen. The mayor's salary rose from $115,000 to $170,000; aldermanic pay climbed from $55,000 to $75,000.

Schools. Lawmakers handed Daley near-total control of the Chicago public schools, though pundits disagreed whether the move was a gift or a curse.

The law gives the mayor power to appoint his own five-member school board, imposes a limit on teacher strikes and eliminates the balanced budget requirement for schools. But the General Assembly refused to give Daley any more money for a school system that already claimed to be $150 million in the red.

"I don't think there has been any negative legislation toward Chicago," said state Rep. Jack O'Connor, a Republican from southwest suburban Palos Heights. "From what I understand with the revamping of the school board in Chicago, I think Mayor Daley is kind of happy with that, because he's finally going to get the full control that he's wanted to improve things there."

Democrats did manage to beat back a Republican plan to create a pilot school voucher program on Chicago's South Side. The plan would have granted 2,000 public school children a $2,500 voucher toward tuition expenses at a private school chosen by their parents.

State Rep. Lovana "Lou" Jones, a Chicago Democrat, said suburban legislators were unfairly targeting city students. "I love all the concern for the children of Chicago," she said. "But why experiment with poor, minority children first? Why not try it in your own backyard before you try it in ours? If it works for you, then maybe we'll expand the program."

Responded state Rep. Al Salvi, a Libertyville Republican: "We're not talking about the cream of the crop here, we're talking about poor families. The schools aren't going to get worse if these students choose to leave. It will make the Chicago schools more accountable for what they do."

Stint in the Capitol pressroom Every spring the Illinois Statehouse becomes a laboratory for student journalists who are interested in reporting on government and politics. This year, six graduate students from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism in Evanston traveled to Springfield near the end of the legislative session to spend three days reporting on the action at the Capitol. Medill's urban reporting class spends a term in the school's downtown newsroom covering government and politics in the city of Chicago. While on assignment in Springfield for Illinois Issues, the students reported to their instructor, James Ylisela, our newest contributing editor. They were guided by the magazine's editor, Peggy Boyer Long, a former Medill urban reporting instructor, and by Illinois Issues columnist Charles N. Wheeler III, the director of the Public Affairs Reporting program at the University of Illinois at Springfield. The PAR program assigns its own graduate students to television, radio and newspaper bureaus in the Statehouse pressroom during the spring session of the General Assembly. PAR students report on state government for Capitol media outlets from January to the end of June.

Circulator. The Republicans eliminated the state's $23 million contribution to the city's proposed downtown trolley system, called the circulator, even though Edgar's initial budget funded the project. The move was widely seen as direct retribution for Daley's airport deal, and the mayor has since vowed to press on with the project using federal and city funds.

Ethics. Under ethics reform legislation now on the governor's desk, ward and township committeemen in Cook County will be subject to campaign finance reporting laws. Again, Chicago lawmakers complained that the law primarily targets the war chests of city committeemen, while ignoring those in other counties. Both Philip and Daniels are township committeemen in DuPage County.

Riverboat Gambling. GOP lawmakers had pushed a bill to ease restrictions on riverboat gambling for current operators, while putting a statewide referendum on the ballot asking voters if riverboat gambling should be expanded. Chicago lawmakers blasted the bill in committee, calling it a maneuver that would effectively exclude riverboat gambling in Chicago while protecting current operators. Ultimately, the bill never made it out of the House.

As the session came to a close, Democrats blasted Republicans for shutting them out of the legislative process and violating their own rules. But Republican lawmakers blamed Daley for Chicago's poor showing in the legislature, saying the mayor's efforts were too little and too late.

"The mayor's response to Springfield has been kind of confusing to me," Ryder said. "He came down after the November elections and met with the speaker and others, and I think there was a start of a relationship there. ... But somewhere along the line Chicago decided to withdraw participation."

Added state Sen. Kirk Dillard, a Downers Grove Republican: "I wish the mayor would work as hard at his relationships in Springfield as he does [on those] in Washington and Chicago." *

Susan Yvette Agapy, Monee Fields, Kate Lipsitz, Richelle Rogers and Robbin Simmons contributed to this report.