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BRIEFLY
Edited by Donald Sevener
CAN'T KICK THE HABIT
Slate leaders draw big bucks
from tobacco interests while tobacco
firms lure big dollars from stale pension systems
Attorney General Jim Ryan earned kudos recently for his decision to join other states suing to recover billions of taxpayer dollars spent on smoking-related health care costs. Defendants include tobacco product manufacturers R.J. Reynolds and Philip Morris.
People relying on state pensions may have mixed feelings on the matter. According to the most recent annual report for the state retirement systems, $20.5 million of the holdings is invested in Philip Morris, and $8 million is invested in RJR Nabisco, which owns R.J. Reynolds.
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Meanwhile, Philip Morris,R.J. Reynolds and the Tobacco Institute, the cigarette companies' PAC, have contributed heavily to state political leaders, including a $5,000 contribution to Ryan from Philip Morris and another $1,500 from R.J. Reynolds that does not show up in the elections board report. Ryan chose to return the contributions. According to figures obtained from the State Board of Elections' searchable database, Lee Daniels, a Republican from Elmhurst, received the largest chunk in campaign donations from tobacco interests between October 1994 and June 1996: $63,000. Daniels, House speaker in the 89th General Assembly, will become that chamber's minority leader when the new General Assembly is sworn in this month. Mike Cys, spokesman for Daniels, says, "We have never made a connection between legislative policy and campaign contributions. A lot of tobacco companies are parts of huge conglomerates. If we take money from Philip Morris, which owns Kraft, does that mean we're pro- or anti-cheese? What happens in terms of campaign contributions has no bearing on public policy." |
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Gov. Jim Edgar was second in tobacco donations at $38,000 in contributions.
Four statewide officials received no donations from the tobacco industry.
The third highest recipient of tobacco contributions was Chicago Democrat Michael Madigan, who will replace Daniels as House speaker in the new General Assembly. He received $21,000 in tobacco contributions. Meanwhile, Senate Democratic Leader Emil Jones of Chicago received $15,500 from tobacco interests. Senate President James "Pate" Philip received $13,000.
Jennifer Halperin and Brian Lee
8/ January 1997 Illinois Issues
HIGH ON TAXES
It doesn't matter what they do
in Arizona — you still can't do it in Illinois
The war on drugs has taken peculiar twists in Arizona, but Illinoisans can rest assured that it's still illegal to smoke marijuana.
An Arizona judge has ruled that that state cannot outlaw marijuana on the one hand and, on the other hand, impose a tax on it. Arizona, like many states, including Illinois, had adopted both measures as crime-fighting devices designed to raise the cost of doing business in illicit drugs. But the Arizona judge ruled that if the sale of marijuana were to be taxed, then it had to be legal, making for an interesting trade-off for those who oppose drugs as well as higher taxes.
Illinois had a similar tax law on the books aimed at fighting drugs, says Mike Klemens, public information officer for the Department of Revenue. "It was a war-on-drugs kind of measure," Klemens says, explaining the purpose was to hit big-time dealers in the wallet. "The thought was there were people making hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal assets and we'd be able to seize some of that."
Dealers were to buy a $5 stamp — picturing a green marijuana leaf covered by a red circle and slash with the slogan "Just Say No" beneath it — for each gram of marijuana to be sold. If they didn't and later were caught selling the drug, the state could go after the tax, Klemens says.
That is the same sort of law an Arizona judge ruled had, in effect, legalized the sale of marijuana.
But Illinois' tax on marijuana was struck down last year by the Illinois Supreme Court. Unlike Arizona, Illinois courts did not find the tax allowed the sale of marijuana. Rather, the court ruled the law was used to punish the dealers twice and constituted double jeopardy, Klemens says.
The ruling mirrored a 1994 U.S. Supreme Court decision that found a Montana tax on marijuana constituted double jeopardy. Illinois tried to fight that argument by not keeping track of who purchased the stamps beforehand, Klemens says.
The issue has been handled differently throughout the nation, according to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. "There are very mixed signals being sent," says Paul Armentano, NORMAL'S publication director. Many of the 23 states that taxed marijuana sales have struck down the law, but some, like Arizona, have kept it intact by saying tax evasion is more of a civil prosecution, he says. Others, including Indiana, have ruled the state can either criminally prosecute drug sales or go after the tax, Armentano says.
All in all, the inconsistency sends a clear message that there is a need for decisions to be made on the federal level, he says.
"It sends a mandate to Washington to take some immediate action."
Meanwhile, the Grand Canyon State recently passed an initiative decriminalizing marijuana.
Kristy Kennedy
Shutdown of nuke plant leads to U.S. scrutiny of Illinois Power Company
Contending that Illinois Power Co. may have placed production ahead of safety, federal regulators have directed the Decatur-based utility to account for alleged safety violations at its Clinton nuclear power plant. Illinois Power faces scrutiny from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission after a federal inspection of its Clinton station illuminated potential safety problems at the plant.
Inspectors from the NRC stepped in after the utility shut down the reactor in September when a recirculation pump seal failed. The agency says there was no direct danger to the public, but the inspection did find "serious lapses in safety focus."
Jan Strasma of the NRC says regulators will meet with the company in the next few weeks to discuss the situation. John Dewey, a spokesperson for Illinois Power, says the company agrees in large part with the majority of the findings, and is already taking steps to correct them, including training sessions for staff and enhancing the engineering program.
Some of the problems include the staff's leaving the controls without obtaining relief, failure to perform safety evaluations and "inappropriately protracted" delays in shutting down the reactor once it was determined the seal was leaking.
But Dewey says IP disagreed with one of the more serious accusations, which read, "It appears that plant management and staff made decisions which placed plant production ahead of plant operational safety." He says placing production over safety "has never been acceptable to Illinois Power."
The company could face up to $100,000 in fines for each violation. Meanwhile, the plant remains shut down while the company works to correct the problems. Dewey says the start-up won't take place "until our plant manager feels that employees have a much stronger safety focus."
Margie Schroeder
Illinois Issues January 1997 / 9
PRESIDENTIAL POLITICS
Clinton sweeps Illinois ... but GOP
might see a silver lining
When examining the numbers of the 1996 presidential race within Illinois, the adage "looks may be deceiving" may actually be true for the Republican Party. Although President Bill Clinton swept the state with a substantial popular vote margin, Republicans may be able to salvage some consolation in the embarrassing defeat.
In 1992 the Bush/Quayle presidential team won only 34 percent of the total votes cast, while Bob Dole and Jack Kemp captured 36 percent in 1996. Meanwhile, Clinton and Al Gore obtained 48 percent in 1992 and increased their popular vote even more by garnering 54 percent of the total vote count in the 1996 election.
While these numbers reveal bad news for Republicans, a county-by-county examination of the results of the November election may provide some solace for the GOP. The adjoining maps show that in 1992 Clinton swept the state by capturing 73 of 102 Illinois counties. Four years later, the Democrats suffered a net loss of eight counties — picking up three in northern Illinois but losing 11, noticeably in southern and central Illinois.
Brian Lee
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WEB SITE OF THE MONTH I firmly resolve... Happy New Year! Now the bad news: It's that time of year for your annual rendezvous with self-improvement. That's right: the New Year's Resolution. If you need any help with your resolve to get thin, eat healthier, quit smoking, start exercising... whatever, then check out what others are resolving to do for 1997. Boston.Com at http://www.boston.com/common/cres.htm has a New Year's Resolution contest. Plus you can check out a listing of resolutions others have made. To wit: Cathy: "To become as wonderful a person as my dog thinks I am." Ed: "Lose 20 pounds, exercise 3/4 [times] a week, earn $30,000 additional, write 10 hours per week, meditate 2 times per day, live and let live, look for opportunity to serve each day" ' Louis: "As much as I hate government intervention, I resolve to try and get a law passed that requires every person on the face of this earth to have to use their common sense at least once a day!!!!" Jack: "Through education I intend to help local people become small business entrepreneurs so that their lives cannot be turned upside down by one phone call by a downsized employer." And finally from Stephanie, who might speak for all of us when she resolves: "To get right to the point with people... no bullshit!" Donald Sevener |
10 / January 1997 Illinois Issues
COURT WATCH
Madigan readies defensive posture in case
GOP seeks to redraw high court boundaries
Some of the Republicans' most prized legislative initiatives have found a place on a three-page, typed outline prepared by incoming Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan. On this list are myriad legal battles challenging GOP policies, like the state's short-lived two-tiered voter registration system. Also listed are Republican-written laws muscled through the 89th General Assembly, like lawsuit caps and abortion parental notification. In each case, a Democratically controlled court system killed or partly invalidated the GOP measures.
Madigan had the list compiled and ready to distribute midway through the fall veto session to illustrate why the GOP, frustrated by the courts, might move to draw new state Supreme Court boundaries and take over the court during the party's closing hours of total legislative control.
"They tried to grab O'Hare and Midway airports and couldn't do that," Madigan said. "They passed a bill to grab Meigs. If they can grab a Supreme Court district, they will do that. They will do whatever they think they can get away with."
Democrats now hold four seats on the seven-member high court. A swing of one seat would enable Republicans to dominate the court.
The court last had new boundaries drawn in 1964, when most of the state's political power was centered in Chicago, and suburbs like Schaumburg, Vernon Hills and Naperville were remote outposts.
Fourteen years later, in 1978, the court suggested that the legislature consider redrawing boundaries to better reflect the state's changing demographics. Ever since, the legislature ignored the issue, while suburban Chicago continued to boom, economically and politically.
Senate President James "Pate" Philip, a Wood Dale Republican, says his main motive in trying to push the issue is not to tilt the high court to the GOP, but rather to boost suburban clout on the court.
"A person who lives in Cook County is represented by three Supreme Court justices," Philip says. "I'm only represented by one, and my district is over twice as large as the southern [court] district in population. When you say twice as many people, I'd say that would be an example where we ought to do something."
Nevertheless, political scientist Jack Van Der Slik argues the court was never meant to be a representative body in the same sense as the legislature or Congress. Van Der Slik, who heads the Legislative Studies Center at the University of Illinois at Springfield, says dividing the court by district is convenient, but not required. "The legislature is representative in its powers to make laws, tax and spend, while the Illinois Supreme Court is designed to reflect justice for the whole state," he says. "I don't think we want to think — and I would resent thinking — of the Supreme Court as a representative body."
The state Constitution, which does call for comparably populated court districts, requires that three justices be elected from within Cook County. The remaining four justices each come from districts outside Cook.
Philip says the legislature could draw the four non-Cook districts on its own. But there is little hope Republicans could find a way of gaining control in all four districts, short of creating what Philip calls "catty-wompus-looking" districts.
The party could pick up a seat if Cook County were carved into three districts, with one of those districts comprising Republican-leaning suburbs.
Historically, Democrats have won each of the three court seats in at-large balloting in Cook County. But that step undoubtedly would hinge on how the federal and state courts interpret the state Constitution's requirement of three justices from Cook County, Philip says. "I think the only remedy is to go through the courts and have the court tell us, 'You're right. We ought to reapportion Cook County.'"
Drawing new state Supreme Court boundaries also would involve creating new state appellate court districts, which further muddies an already divisive issue.
Dealing with appellate districts might come down to a series of local turf battles that do not necessarily fall along partisan lines. Outside of Cook, the argument could be driven by something as simple as how long it takes to travel to appellate court.
"If I'm in Kendall County and am used to going to appellate court in Elgin, do I all of a sudden want to go to Ottawa?" says state Rep. Tom Cross, an Oswego Republican, who is chairman of the House Judiciary-Civil Law Committee.
Before lawmakers left for their holiday break in early December, as many as five versions of redrawn court districts had been reviewed by Philip and his GOP counterpart. House Speaker Lee A. Daniels of Elmhurst.
But Daniels cautioned the move might be too complicated an issue to resolve in such a short time. "It is an issue we'd look at," Daniels says.
Dave McKinney
Illinois Issues January 1997 / 11
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