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Alien species, exotics as they are often called, are plants and animals described as invasive because they are brought here, either intentionally or accidentally, from another place, usually by humans, and they often do not have any natural enemies. "Hawaii and Florida are the only states more threatened by invasive species than Illinois is," says Robert Wiedenmann, biological control scientist with the Illinois Natural History Survey.

More than 4,500 known species of foreign origin have established free-living populations in the United States, and according to the National Park Service, invasions of non-native plants are the second greatest threat to native species after direct habitat destruction. In Illinois, survey researchers estimate that nearly one-third of the plants in the wood-lands, wetlands and grasslands are non-native. The Great Lakes, where about 140 plant and animal invaders have become established since the mid-1800s, can no longer maintain an ecological balance without human intervention. And the cost to taxpayers is substantial. A January 1999 report to Congress estimated the damage caused by exotics costs $123 billion annually.

A snapshot of the Illinois story of invasive species might be seen in a tale of two bugs.

For the past couple of years, a stowaway hitching a ride to Illinois in storage crates from Asia has been the nemesis of the state's trees, particularly those in Chicago and some of its suburbs. The Asian long-horned beetle became more hated than mosquitoes by those fighting this avaricious bug. It even garnered the attention of some lawmakers in Springfield, who granted extra money to fight the infestation. Sen. Lisa Madigan, a Chicago Democrat, says the General Assembly appropriated $1 million last year to counter exotic pests, most of which went toward fighting the tree-eating beetle.

At about the same time, another beetle was busily chewing away at a plant that is taking over wetlands, crowding out native species. This good bug was quietly, but effectively solving a problem for the state's biologists and naturalists who have been doing battle with purple loosestrife,

Illinois Issues April 2000 | 8

The good beetle, actually two almost indistinguishable species, Galerucella calmariensis and Galerucella pusilla, loves to eat purple loosestrife, which was brought to America in the 1800s by Europeans, probably in dirt used as ballast in ships. Purple loosestrife plants are tall with long, flowering spikes that turn wetlands into a sea of purple in July and August. Without a natural enemy here, purple loosestrife has infected every state in the union but Florida. The exotic plant thrives particularly well in the Midwest’s wetlands, unleashing millions of seeds that allow the plant to crowd out all other plants and the wildlife that depend on those plants.

Cultural weed control methods — mowing, digging, burning — and herbicides have proven unsuccessful because they are too expensive and labor intensive or, in the case of herbicides, end up killing plants conservationists are trying to protect. So after years of research making sure the Galerucella beetles eat only the invasive purple loosestrife, biologists at the Illinois Natural History Survey released the European beetles at several points. Results so far are promising, with large patches of loosestrife falling to the appetite of Galerucella and native plants returning to the empty spaces.

Of course, there are other aliens in Illinois. Kudzu, the fast-growing vine that envelopes much of the South, has made its way as far north as Rock Island County. Garlic mustard has invaded woodlands in the northern two-thirds of the state and is choking out many wildflowers and natural areas. The rusty crayfish is taking over streams in the northern counties, often replacing less-aggressive native crayfish. The zebra mussel is killing native mussels and clogging water intakes at power companies. And the gypsy moth may be more of a threat to Illinois trees than the Asian long-horned beetle.

Biologists have called the round goby, a small, soft-bodied fish brought to the Great Lakes from the Black and Caspian seas in ballast water, a “perfect invader.” It can adapt to a wide range of environmental conditions and is able to displace native fish from their protective environments, allowing predators to kill them before they can reproduce. The greatest danger from the round goby is yet to come, according to survey scientists. “It is highly possible they will be more successful in streams and rivers, where their greatest impacts on native species could be felt,” says survey researcher Daniel Soluk.

This alien invasion of public lands could result in the loss of a functioning natural ecosystem in Illinois, say survey scientists. And changing ecosystems have a dollars and cents effect on the state.

Last year, sport fishing in Illinois was a $3.4 billion industry, according to the Department of Natural Resources. The value of the commercial fish catch in 1998 was $1.6 million. And the value of native mussel harvests (affected by invaders like the zebra mussel) brought in $147,000 in 1997, down from $3.1 million in 1991.

The state owns about 400,000 acres and protects, through its 294 nature preserves, another 38,940 acres. Thousands more acres of natural lands are owned by the federal government, municipalities, forest preserves, park and conservation districts, private organizations and individuals. All these lands are quietly under siege by alien pests.

But a pretty purple plant destroying a far-off wetland doesn’t gain the attention that a big tree-eating beetle in the suburbs gets. So the aliens likely will be in control before many Illinoisans notice.
Beverley Scobell

Chicago celebrates Earth Day 2000 April 22 marks the 30th anniversary of Earth Day, the demonstrations that awakened the nation to environmentalism, the movement that led to the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act and the Endangered Species Act. Chicago is celebrating with an Earth Day festival in Lincoln Park. Presentations will focus on sharing information about the impact people’s choices have on the environment. Set to speak are journalist Bill Curtis, a former Chicago-based reporter for CBS News who now hosts the Young Explorers show on the Arts and Entertainment cable network, and author Amory Lovins, co-founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute, a Colorado-based environmental think tank, and co-author of Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution and Green Development: Integrating Ecology and Real Estate. Curtis will talk about global warming and Lovins will discuss consum-ing by choice to change the environment. For more information about environmental programs planned for April, go to www.Chicagoearthmonth.com. Beverley Scobell

Illinois Issues April 2000 | 9

Advocates of the river and its nine tributaries, including the Chicago, Fox, Spoon and Sangamon rivers, hope to launch a new restoration effort called “Illinois Rivers 2020.”

The Illinois River Coordinating Council, chaired by Lt. Gov. Corinne Wood and several state agencies, crafted a proposed $2.5 billion, 20-year partnership between the federal and state governments.

The “2020” initiative would tackle the problems of soil erosion and sediment buildup. Due to siltation, parts of the Illinois River are so shallow they must be dredged to make way for barge traffic. And aquatic plants and other forms of life find it difficult — if not impossible — to survive.

In mid-February and again in early March, Wood traveled to Washington, D.C., to drum up congressional support for the “2020” plan.

Federal backing will be key. Two years ago, another river restoration effort collapsed when two of this state’s Republican congressmen expressed reservations. House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Yorkville and Rep. John Shimkus of Collinsville worried that selecting the Illinois River watershed for federal designation as an “American Heritage River” would threaten the rights of property owners.

But last month, Shimkus and Hastert joined the rest of Illinois’ 20-member congressional delegation in support of a long-term federal financial commitment to restoring the Illinois River.

Clearly, the lesson from the Heritage program was not lost on Wood: “One thing that was clear with the other program,” she says, “was if you don’t have everyone on board, it’s simply not going to fly.”
Adriana Colindres
Copley Illinois Newspapers, Statehouse bureau

Changes in Freedom to Farm law unlikely to take root this year
It’s planting season. And with the farm economy still languishing in Illinois and elsewhere, Congress is sure to intervene this year as it has in the past. The question is how far it will go.

Another multibillion dollar infusion of emergency aid is almost a certainty. But Democrats are also clamoring for far-reaching changes in the 1996 “Freedom to Farm” law that guides national agricultural policy. Democrats blame the law for aggravating the current farm crisis. As the name implies, the law gave farmers more freedom to plant what they wanted, free of government production restraints. In return, they had to give up guaranteed subsidies.

But a combination of bumper crops, low commodity prices and sagging export markets exposed the pitfalls of the bill’s free-market approach, sending farm income plummeting. Congress responded with $16 billion in emergency aid over the past two years, and another bailout is in the works. In the meantime, congressional Democrats and President Bill Clinton’s administration are advocating a stronger economic safety net for farmers under the 1996 law. The heart of their plan is a system of federal pay-ments that would kick in if commodity prices fall below a certain level.

Republicans are loath to change the law. They say the key to recovery in farm coun-try is an aggressive push by the United States to open more export markets for agricul-tural goods.

“I don’t think that we will do anything to tinker with the farm program in a structur-al or systematic way,” says Rep. Ray LaHood, a Peoria Republican scheduled to host a House Agriculture Committee hearing on the farm crisis on May 13 in Peoria.

Even advocates of changes in the law, including the American Farm Bureau Federation, acknowledge the chances for an overhaul are slim this year. The reasons: The complexity of the issue, the politics surrounding it in an election year and the fact that the law will have to be revisited anyway when it expires in 2002.
Toby Eckert
Copley News Service, Washington, D.C.

Court ruling on Illinois case may affect states’ ability to regulate HMOs The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to issue a decision later this spring that could have a far-reaching impact on the managed care industry, as well as the more than 200,000 downstate Illinois and Iowa residents covered by Health Alliance Medical Plans. The case involves a former Bloomington woman who blamed her burst appendix on an eight-day delay in diagnostic tests. Cynthia Herdrich, who now lives in Colorado, sued Health Alliance, the largest managed health care organization in downstate Illinois, and Carle Clinic Association after she discovered her HMO’s doctors received bonuses for ordering fewer such tests. The HMO wants the Supreme Court to overturn a federal appeals court ruling giving Herdrich the right to bring her case to trial. If the high court allows such suits, HMOs won’t be able to survive, Health Alliance’s attorney argues, because they’re designed to control costs. If Herdrich goes to trial and wins, any monetary damages would go back into the health plan to benefit all of the HMO’s members. The court’s decision also could affect states’ ability to regulate health maintenance organizations, argues a brief in the case filed by Illinois Attorney General Jim Ryan and 17 other attorneys general. They have urged the court to uphold the lower decision granting Herdrich the right to prove at trial that her HMO placed profits ahead of patient care. The case will turn on the justices’ interpretation of a 1974 federal law that regulates employer-sponsored health plans and has until recently shielded HMOs from lawsuits in state courts. The states want to ensure that shield isn’t extended, though some attorneys believe the officials are misreading the implications of the case. Meanwhile, the debate over HMO liability has shifted in Illinois. A state law approved last August failed to give patients a right to sue their HMOs in state court, but the Illinois Supreme Court ruled last October that they could. Dori Meinert Copley News Service, Washington, D.C.

Illinois Issues April 2000 | 10

Lawmakers are set to adjourn their spring session by the middle of this month, ending the most compressed session in recent history. As of presstime, they were debating the following policy questions, and had yet to settle on a budget or tax relief measures.

RACIAL PROFILING
The House agreed to look into charges that minority motorists have been unfairly targeted by Illinois law enforcement officials, a practice called “racial profiling.”

Last month, that chamber approved a measure to conduct a statewide study of the allegations. The proposal, sponsored by Chicago Democratic Rep. Monique Davis, is now in the Senate, where it has received bipartisan support, including the co-sponsorship of Hinsdale Republican Sen. Kirk Dillard. A similar measure, sponsored by Chicago Democratic Sen. Barack Obama, has been held in a Senate committee. But Obama has also agreed to co-sponsor the House measure.

The issue has been getting attention across the nation. Here in Illinois, the northwest suburban Village of Mount Prospect settled three federal discrimination lawsuits filed by police officers against that community. The suits alleged that the police department targeted Hispanic drivers. Though village officials admitted no wrongdoing, they paid the three officers a total of $900,000 and agreed to take steps to ensure that racial profiling doesn’t happen. Village officers will be required to record the race of each person they stop.

Meanwhile, an investigation continues in Highland Park where three current and two former police officers claim they were ordered to target minorities, specifically Hispanics and blacks, for traffic stops.

The House measure requires a statewide study of traffic stops. It would require State Police troopers to record, as best they can without asking, the race of drivers they stop.

Perception is the key, Davis says, because some officers stop vehicles based on assumptions about race and crime. “That’s what racial profiling is. It’s the indiscriminate, insidious belief that these two groups — African Americans and Latinos — commit the most crimes.”

Paul Dollins, governmental relations manager for the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police, says police should not be put in the position of having to record perceptual information. Instead, racial information should be printed on driver’s licenses. That “gets the police officer out of having to identify and record race,” Dollins says.

DRUG DISCOUNTS
The cost of prescription drugs for seniors continues to be the most contentious — and politicized — issue in the House this session.

Rep. Jack Franks’ proposal aims to reduce prescription costs for Illinoisans age 65 and older by creating a state buying group that could purchase medicine more cheaply in bulk.

But House Republicans attacked the Woodstock Democrat’s idea, charging it would violate federal interstate commerce regulations and encourage drug companies to shift the cost of the program to consumers. Gregg Durham, press secretary to House Republican Leader Lee Daniels of Elmhurst, says, “Yo u ’re going to create a new class of people who can’t afford to pay for their prescriptions.”

The Republicans are promoting their own plan to expand eligibility for the tax Circuit Breaker and the Aid to the Aged, Blind and Disabled programs. Thus far GOP efforts have been held up in the Democrat-controlled House.

Under the GOP plan, eligibility for Aid to the Aged, Blind and Disabled would be extended to an additional 85,600 people and income eligibility for the Circuit Breaker program, which provides tax breaks for health care costs, would be increased to $28,000 for a family of two.

Daniels also would raise the annual prescription drug cap to $2,000 and add to the list of covered drugs. He estimates the expanded programs would cost Illinois taxpayers $46 million.

Franks, whose seat will be a top target for Republicans next November, maintains the cost to Illinois taxpayers under his program would be nil. The estimated start-up cost of $27 million would be paid back during the first year of the program, he argues. The plan would require participants to pay a $25 annual membership fee and drug manufacturers to sell to the state-run buying group.

But Republican Rep. Gwenn Klingler of Springfield counters the proposal is based on the false premise that it would be cost-free. The $27 million would have to be shifted from other programs, says Klingler, and that is “a mistake we can’t afford to make.”

Franks’ proposal was approved by the House but is likely to be halted in the Senate.

Another drug discount proposal sponsored by Coal City Democratic Rep. Mary Kay O’Brien would make lower-priced generic drugs available to consumers more quickly. A reprise of controversial legislation she sponsored last year, O’Brien’s plan would allow most generic drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to bypass a state regulatory council.

AGRICULTURE
The recently revived Downstate Democratic Caucus, arguing the number of Illinois farm families has dropped by more than 5 percent since 1992, is calling for a task force to study methods that could expand markets for agricultural products. The sponsor of that measure is Carterville Rep. Larry Woolard.

Other agriculture initiatives being debated in the General Assembly:
• Mount Zion Democratic Rep. Julie Curry wants to label motor fuel that contains more than 2 percent MTBE, a chemical fuel additive that is an alternative to corn-based ethanol. MTBE has been banned in California because it contaminates groundwater. Curry’s bill got a boost when U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman told Illinois legislators in a teleconference last February that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has recommended reducing the use of MTBEs.
• Springfield Rep. Raymond Poe and Sen. Larry Bomke, both Republicans, propose a task force to study ways to use the Chicago Board of Trade to

Illinois Issues April 2000 | 12

Meanwhile,Woolard wants to retrain farmers who have left or are leaving the profession. And Sen. Evelyn Bowles, an Edwardsville Democrat, wants to study the potential benefits of growing industrial hemp.

With the exception of Woolard's task force resolution, which is still in committee, the rest of these initiatives were approved in their chambers of origin.

GAMBLING
The House approved a measure to prohibit gambling establishments from cashing postdated and welfare checks.

The measure is a scaled-down version of a now-defunct plan that would have banned automated teller machines from riverboat casinos and off-track betting facilities.

The House also approved Gilson Republican Rep. Donald Moffitt's proposal to ban persons under 21 from buying lottery tickets and betting on horse races. Murphysboro Republican Rep. Mike Bost's measure to take ATMs out of casinos and raise the gambling age to 21 stalled in committee.

ABORTION
The House approved a measure to restrict state funding of abortions. The measure, sponsored by Republican Rep. Mary Lou Cowlishaw of Naperville, would ban public funding of abortions except to save the mother's life or in cases of rape and incest.

Currently, the state also pays for abortions to preserve the health of the mother. Supporters of the change say most Illinoisans don't want their tax dollars paying for abortions. Opponents argue the restrictions would discriminate against women who can't afford to pay for an abortion.

The state financed eight abortions in 1999 to preserve the mother's health, according to the Department of Public Aid.

Lawmakers approved the restriction during Gov. Jim Edgar's administration, but Edgar vetoed it.

FOI
The House approved two measures to encourage compliance with the state's Freedom of Information Act.

The proposals came in response to an investigation last year that showed local officials were slow to comply or did not comply with the law allowing access to public records. The statewide investigation, conducted by 15 news outlets, found that local officials turned down two out of three requests for immediate access to public information.

Chicago Democratic Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie is proposing that anyone denied access to public records be awarded attorney's fees if they sue and can prove the denial was unlawful.

The other proposal, developed by state Attorney General Jim Ryan, would offer his office as an arbiter for cases of contested access. Currently, the only recourse is a court suit. "If a public body denies a request, then [the requester] can come to us," says Dan Curry, Ryan's spokesman. "If we agree, we can mediate with the public body." That proposal is sponsored by Republican Rep. Dan Rutherford of Chenoa.

INTERNET VOTING
It's looking like the Greatest Generation vs. Generation X in the debate over two proposals allowing for expanded access to government through the Internet.

The House approved a measure by Skokie Democrat Rep. Lou Lang to create a commission that will study voting over the Net and come back with recommendations on setting up a system. But Senate President James "Pate" Philip slammed the idea, saying it was "the dumbest suggestion I've ever heard." The 69-year-old former Marine says the stay-at-home vote could be rife with abuse.

Philip, a Wood Dale Republican, questioned another measure that would put more of the General Assembly's daily doings online. The proposal from Liberty Republican Rep. Art Tenhouse would "stream" floor debate live over the Net. Legislative roll call votes also would be available in an online database after two days, and debate transcripts could be searched 10 days after the start of the next legislative session. Philip is worried that hackers could tamper with the site.

TOLLWAY FEES
Gov. George Ryan's call for administrative changes in the state's tollway system may have boosted chances for a proposal to give lawmakers more over-sight of the toll roads.

Legislators would need to approve increases in tolls and any plans to issue bonds for new construction, under a proposal sponsored by Rep. Jeffrey Schoenberg, a Democrat from Evanston. "The governor's support for reform gives significant political cover to suburban Republicans to support tollway reform," Schoenberg says.

The measure moved to the Senate, where President Philip has been less open to changes in the tollways. His brother Arthur is chairman of the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority.

TOBACCO MONEY
A slew of ideas on ways to spend the $9.1 billion tobacco settlement proceeds were put on hold as legislators debated how best to fit the extra dollars into next year's budget.

But a proposal by Reps. John Fritchey and Sara Feigenholtz, both Chicago Democrats, advanced from the House to the Senate. Under that plan, half of the proceeds will go to health care and a variety of smoking cessation programs.

Their Health First plan could infuse $509 million into these efforts during the next three fiscal years, according to a review by the state treasurer's office.

But Illinois Attorney General Jim Ryan, who negotiated the settlement, has watched a measure he promoted, similar to Health First, slowed in legislative committee. And he's in court with four law firms that worked with his office on the tobacco suits. The firms argue their contract entitles them to 10 percent of the total proceeds. Ryan counters that a federal arbitration panel already awarded the firms $121 million from the national proceeds.
Burney Simpson
and Heather Nickel

Illinois Issues April 2000 | 13

Gov. George Ryan hired the private management firm Deloitte and Touche to oversee temporarily the state’s centralized system for distributing child support checks beginning June 30. The move came as two highly critical audits of that system were released to the public, the first by Bank One at the governor’s request and the second by the state auditor general at the legislature’s request.

“Our top priority remains getting child support checks to the parents and children who are entitled to them,” Ryan said in a printed statement as he announced that the Department of Public Aid will accept proposals this summer to run the centralized system, called the State Disbursement Unit. The department will award the contract later this year. According to the release, the bidding process should take about six to eight months. In the meantime, Deloitte and Touche will operate the system. The state’s circuit clerks, a group of employers and child support advocates will guide the transition.

Ryan said the agency will seek a $12 million supplemental appropriation in this year’s budget to offset emergency payments made to custodial parents and to clean up “bad data” on support cases coming into the centralized unit.

The DuPage County circuit court clerk’s office in Wheaton has been running the centralized system under contract since last October. But the operation was plagued with problems from the beginning, leaving thousands of Illinois families without checks ( see Illinois Issues, January, page 11). DuPage County Circuit Clerk Joel Kagann says he’s had enough and announced his decision to opt out.

Kagann came in for his share of the blame in both audits. But so did Public Aid, as did the circuit clerks and employers who were to provide data.

Among the findings by Auditor General William Holland:

Poor planning: Public Aid took two and a half years after the feds required the states to create the centralized units to execute a contract to run it. That was just seven months before it had to be operational. The system was not ade-quately tested and, at startup, only 25 staff were assigned to do the job. The revised plan now calls for 201.

Inadequate technology: Five months before the centralized unit had to be operational, the computer system designed to link the unit with Public Aid and circuit clerks had to be scrapped and an alternative system devised.

Inaccurate information: Conflicting data from the circuit clerks and employers was not reconciled.

Holland’s audit also contends the contract to run the system should have been competitively bid. That contract has been amended four times since it was first signed in February 1999, and its cost has increased from $8.5 million to a total of $17.5 million. Through January, Public Aid had paid the disbursement unit $13.6 million.

Beyond that, the audit notes, Public Aid has incurred “extraordinary and unplanned costs due to the SDU’s implementation problems,” including emergency payments to parents and overtime payments to staff a hotline.

Quotable
"The department can outsource its duties, but the department cannot outsource its responsibilities. And the responsibility for this contract is the Department of Public Aid's.

" Illinois Auditor General William Holland caught by Springfield public radio station WUIS/WIPA in a rare display of emotion after the release of his audit of the state's Child Support Disbursement Unit.

• Major gunmaker Smith & Wesson signed an agreement with a group of federal, state and local officials that requires the installation of safety locks and sets restrictions on handgun purchases, though that settlement won't affect a suit by the city of Chicago charging the industry with using subterfuge to get guns into the hands of criminals (see Illinois Issues, April, page 6).

• Congress voted to phase out restrictions on flights into O'Hare International Airport (see Illinois Issues, March, page 28).

WEBSOURCE
Legislatures on the Web: How other states do it.
It’s not a novel idea. In one form or another, some 30 other states put their legislature’s debates and votes online. But Illinois could do it better and take the lead in giving information to the people, says Jim Howard of Illinois Common Cause. If a measure sponsored by Liberty Republican Rep. Art Tenhouse becomes law, Illinois could be among the first states to have live debates, roll call votes and full transcripts, all at the click of a mouse.

For just $35,000, according to Howard, the state of Missouri put House and Senate debates on their Web site (check out www.state.mo.us). For other models, Illinois might look to these states that have put legislative informa-tion and live debates (in audio or video) on their sites:
• Arizona at www.azleg.state.az.us
• Nebraska at www.unicam.state.ne.us
• Nevada at www.leg.state.nv.us
• Washington at www.tvw.org
Look under the “Resources” section of the Washington site to see what other states are doing on TV and online.
Beverley Scobell

Illinois Issues April 2000 | 14

Jeanne Hurley Simon valued substance over style, a characteristic she shared with her husband, the former presidential candidate and U.S. senator, Paul Simon.

She resigned herself to the words “wife of,’’ but the “inevitable introduction,’’ as she called it, was never an adequate assessment of Jeanne, who died February 20 at the age of 77.

The daughter of Irish-Catholic Democrats from Chicago, she grew up immersed in the politics of FDR. She collected a law degree, like her father, and worked her way up to assistant Cook County state’s attorney. In 1956, she was elected to the first of her two terms in the state House of Representatives.

When she married fellow House member Paul Simon in 1960, she put her days in elective office behind her. She did not put political activity aside, though.

Voters saw her driving down the campaign trail in a station wagon with the Simons’ two children in the back. But behind the scenes, she worked to influence Democratic politics, advocating for women candidates and for issues such as abortion rights.

Most recently, she chaired the U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Informational Science.

At Dick Durbin’s request, Jeanne Simon helped his wife Loretta get the hang of campaigning in 1996 when he sought to succeed the retiring Paul Simon in the Senate.

A veteran national campaigner, Jeanne Simon made it clear she didn’t care for the term first lady when her husband kicked off his run for the presidency. “It was decorative and a putdown of other women,’’ Jeanne wrote in Codename: Scarlett, her book about the campaign. If she wanted a title, she explained to reporters, she’d earn it.

Wearing white orchids and waving in parades was harder for her than debates. And opponents found in her a ferocity belied by her seemingly grandmotherly nature.

For instance, she stood her ground against a Michael Dukakis team that wanted candidates to speak sitting at the table. Jeanne Simon insisted that as a lawyer, she preferred to make her case standing at the podium. When a local TV talk show host got insulting, she wrote, she summoned up new courage and “moved to unhook my lapel microphone, and said I had better uses for my time.’’

She may have vexed some reporters in response to a “condescending’’ question about what her big project would be as the president’s wife. She didn’t have a project. She had a list that included civil rights, pay equity for women, health and safety of coal miners, adult literacy and the reunification of Soviet families as established in the Helsinki Accord.

A bit of background checking would have clued those reporters in. Always, for Jeanne Simon, substance outweighed style: She was unimpressed with the Valentine’s Day roses her husband sent in 1988 at the urging of a campaign staffer. “Since his sentiment is rarely given to such extravagant displays, I dismissed the flowers, but cherished the card that read: ‘Love, Today and Always, Your Paul.’’’

Her Paul, in his autobiography, wrote, “Marrying Jeanne was the wisest thing I have ever done. We have been partners in the fullest sense. ...Whatever I have been able to accomplish has Jeanne’s stamp on it as much as mine.’’

Maureen Foertsch McKinney

Illinois Issues April 2000 | 16