APPOINTMENTS
James S. Montana of Chicago was appointed to the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority. Formerly Gov. Jim Edgar's chief counsel, Montana is senior vice president and general counsel of Bally Entertainment Corp.

Another alumna of Gov. Edgar's inner circle, Susan A. Leonis of Chicago, was appointed to the Chicago Transit Authority. Formerly the governor's special assistant for local government, Leonis is senior vice president of The Prime Group Inc. Her position at the authority pays $25,000 a year.

Victor E. Blackwell of Olympia Fields is the new executive director of the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board. Prior to his appointment, Blackwell was chief of prosecutions at the Department of Professional Regulation.

Harry L. Crisp of Marion was reappointed chair of the Illinois Community College Board, a position he has held since 1989. Crisp is president and CEO of the Marion Pespi-Cola Bottling Co.

Guy C. Fraker of Bloomington, a partner at Costigan & Wollrab PC. was appointed to the Nature Preserves Commission.

Robert W. Depke of Gurney, supervisor of Warren Township and chair of the Lake County Board, was appointed to the Rural Bond Bank. Also appointed was Sandra K. Gulden, president of the Village of Romeoville.

Keith Rigsby of Cave-in-Rock, vice president of Rigsby and Barnard Quarry Inc., was appointed to the Illinois Development Finance Authority.

HONORS
The 50-year-old law firm of Miller, Shakman, Hamilton, Kurtzon and Schlitke will honor four of its past partners at a reception April 18. The four are Milton I. Shadur, Abner J. Mikva, Judge Ronald Barliant and Judge Elaine E. Bucklo. Miller Shakman has been involved in such issues as racial integration and open government. Over the years its partners have served at all five levels of the federal judiciary: Arthur J. Goldberg served on the U.S. Supreme Court; Mikva served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia; Shadur is on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois; Bucklo is a judge on U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (and was formerly a U.S. Magistrate Judge); and Barliant is a judge on the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Mikva also served in the Illinois General Assembly and in all three branches of the federal government.

An Illinois graduate student has earned national recognition for her version of what happened 250 million years ago to kill the plants and animals that later became coal deposits. Ellin Beltz, a master's degree candidate at Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago, presented her research paper, "Late Permian — Early Triassic Mass Extinctions: Catastrophes or Gradual Events," at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America. Beltz posits that plate tectonics raised the level of the continent and eliminated the swampy habitat of millions of plants and animals. She shares the honor with her advisor and co-author, Parvinder Sethi, an assistant professor of earth science at NEIU.

Federal judges uphold constitutionality of state's first Hispanic majority district
The state's 4th Congressional District meets constitutional standards, though it was drawn to create a Hispanic majority district.

U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Michael S. Kanne and District Judges David H. Coar and Charles R. Norgle Sr. ruled March 11 that the C-shaped district is a constitutionally valid remedy to discrimination against Hispanics.

The 4th District, created after a 1991 court decision, connects the predominantly Mexican-American population on the Southwest Side to the predominantly Puerto Rican population living on the Northwest Side, forming a district that is 65 percent Hispanic.

Rep. Luis Gutierrez was first elected in 1992. The lawsuit challenging the drawing of the 4th District map was filed more than a year ago.

Plaintiffs say they will appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, which last June struck down a Georgia redistricting plan, saying districts cannot be drawn using race as the "predominant factor."

Realignment of the congressional map could have affected two Chicago districts. Democratic Rep. William 0. Lipinski's 3rd District might have taken in more of the city. Republican Rep. Michael Patrick Flanagan's 5th District might have taken in more of the suburbs.

Rep. Richard J. Durbin, who helped draw the 4th, is confident it will remain a Hispanic district in some form or another.

40 ¦ April 1996 Illinois Issues

Donald C. Ames

New president for business group
The Illinois Business Roundtable, a nonprofit organization of Illinois chief executives, has named Donald C. Ames president. He succeeds the retiring Thomas McHugh, the group's first president.

Ames retired at the end of January from CNA Insurance Companies after a 40-year career in its law department.

New inspector general in treasurer's office
Robert D. Steere joined state Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka's office in mid-March as inspector general. He replaced Jack Lanigan, who retired.

Prior to his appointment, Steere was general counsel and director of tax policy with the Illinois State Chamber of Commerce. He also served as counsel to former Gov. James R. Thompson and as assistant director for the Illinois Department of Revenue.

Which side are you on?
When it comes to legislative proposals that could benefit the University of Illinois, one would think Thomas Lamont, the school's board of trustees chair, would be among the staunchest supporters.

But that's not necessarily so. Besides his university role, the Springfield attorney also is a registered lobbyist for several groups, including Hollywood Casinos. The company owns a gambling riverboat in Aurora.

As a representative of the betting boat, Lamont recently signed a witness slip opposing a bill under consideration by members of the state Senate Executive Committee. The measure would have raised taxes on riverboat gambling proceeds and devoted some of the increased revenue to state university athletic departments, which could allow the U of I to pay off improvements made to its stadium.

Lamont told The State Journal-Register of Springfield he doesn't consider himself in a bind on the issue. "I have to earn a living," he told the paper.

He later gave an interview to the University's public radio station WILL in Urbana.

"Quite obviously I was certainly not ... appearing in the state legislature as a member of the board of trustees," he said. "Maybe it's very hard to divorce yourself from your other ... public positions, but sometimes you have to make that kind of effort."

U of I board appointments

Members of the University of Illinois Board of Trustees may be appointed by the governor after current trustees' terms expire, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled.

Previously the trustees were elected.

Obituaries
Former state Rep. John R. "Jack" Lauer, 66, died March 12 in his home in Rochester.

Formerly from Broadwell, Lauer farmed in Logan County for more than 30 years. He served three terms in the Illinois House of Representatives from 1973 to 1979.

After leaving the House, he was deputy director of the former Department of Local Government Affairs, which became part of the Department of Commerce and Community Affairs. He remained at DCCA until his retirement from government service in 1994.

Ann Dee Harper, an activist for the homeless in the Uptown community of Chicago, died February 11 in her home. She was the widow of James Harper, the founder of the Center for Street People, now called Harper House, on North Broadway.

Playing the blame game
You can blame bad weather, the religious right and media biases, but when the votes were counted, the candidates who ran the best campaigns for U.S. Senate won in the March 19 Illinois primary.

On the Republican side of the ticket, conservative state Rep. Al Salvi of suburban Wauconda stunned GOP regulars by defeating the annointed candidate, Lt. Gov. Bob Kustra.

Pundits inside and outside the GOP were scrambling to explain the victory of a fiscal and social conservative in a state where Republican officeholders are generally moderates.

But Salvi's campaign gave voters a clear picture of his stand on issues: He is against gun control, abortions and taxes. Kustra's positions were less well defined.

Voters will get a chance to make a clear choice in November, when Salvi faces the socially liberal Democrat Richard Durbin, who beat former state treasurer Patrick Quinn for the Democratic nomination by a surprising 2-to-1 margin. Durbin overcame Quinn's name recognition with a well-funded, positive message.

In the contested congressional districts, Republican John Shimkus of Collinsville will oppose Democrat Jay Hoffman in the race for Durbin's 20th District seat. Democrat Danny K. Davis won the nomination in the 7th District on Chicago's West Side, while fellow Democrat Rod R. Blagojevich will face incumbent Republican Rep. Michael Flanagan in Chicago's 5th District in November.

Primary night gave state Senate Democrats "cause for celebration," spokesman David Rudd says. That party was buoyed by Barbara Brown's victory for the Democratic nomination in the 58th District in southern Illinois, and the defeat of incumbent GOP Sen. Bob Raica in Chicago's 24th District, which encompasses portions of the city and the suburbs.

Illinois Issues April 1996 ¦ 41