Being a legislator "is a tough job," Alan Rosenthal says, He's a professor at Rutgers who calls himself an "evangelical lobbyist" on behalf of the accomplishments in many state capitals. And Rosenthal wishes legislatures would do more to promote the positive contributions they make as institutions.

"Representative democracy and legislatures work rather well," he says, but they have allowed attacks to go unanswered for the past 25 years. He thinks a sustained effort is needed to give citizens a better appreciation for what happens in state governments.

Rosenthal made those observations last month at the annual LINKS conference in Sacramento, a gathering designed to help universities located in state capitals interact with public officials and find ways to be of greater service to state governments.

One trend apparent at the conference is how much more easily citizens can get information about policy-making in other states. On every major issue, someone is always asking for a comparison of one state to another. One new source of information about this is the Web site of the Council of State Governments: www.statesnews.org.

Every day, someone at the council compiles news stories about state governments as reported in newspapers throughout the country. So anyone can go to that site daily to find out what is happening with initiatives across the country. "Your one link to the states," the site describes itself. It is indeed a wonderful source of information.

In Illinois Issues' 24-year history, many associations have had a good relationship with us. For example, a few associations have purchased "blocks" of subscriptions for their officers or board members. Many have found our pages a good place to advertise, because we reach many of Illinois' policy-makers and decision-makers.

Also, we collaborated this year with the Illinois Society of Association Executives to jointly publish our Roster of State Government Officials and the ISAE's directory of officials.

Our common interest with associations is Illinois government. So now we've created an Association Partner program to increase the bond between associations and us. Association Partners receive several benefits and discounts. Contact Charlene Lambert at (217) 206-6084 for more information.

We also announce Illinois Issues' "Adopt a Library" program in this issue.

We invite you to pay for a year's subscription to Illinois Issues for your favorite library at a discounted rate of $27 per year. To adopt a library, complete the saddlecard in the front of this magazine. 

Illinois Issues June 1999 / 3