ILLINOIS ISSUES is an independent publication whose publisher/editor is selected by and responsible to a board appointed by the presidents of Sangamon State University and the University of Illinois. The magazine is financially assisted by a grant from the Ford Foundation and support from the universities as well as by Illinois donations and income from sale of subscriptions. The publisher/editor is an alumnus of'the University of Illinois and a member of the faculty of Sangamon State University,but the contents of the magazine do not necessarily reflect the views of either university, the Ford Foundation, or other donors.
Publisher/editor: William. L. Day Business manager: William J. Geekie
Assistant editors: Caroline Gherardini,
J. M. (Mike) Lennon
Secretary: Louise Herndon
The Board Richard E. Carver, Mayor, Peoria
Samuel K. Gove, University of Illinois, Urbana,
Chairman
William W. Alien, Illinois Agricultural
Association, Bloomington
Robert C. Gibson, Illinois State Federation of
Philip Kendall, Sangamon State University,
Springfield
Mrs. Randall Nelson, Carbondale
Odas Nicholson, Lawyer, Chicago
James D. Nowlan, Knox College, Galesburg
James T, Otis, Lawyer, Chicago
Theodore Peterson, University of Illinois,
Urbana
Honorable Samuel H. Shapiro, Lawyer,
Kankakee
Chris Vlahoplus, Sangamon State University,
Springfield
James M. Wall, The Christian Century, Chicago
Samuel W. Witwer, Lawyer, Chicago
William L. Day, ex officio member
ILLINOIS ISSUES is published monthly (12 times per year). Editorial and business offices: 226 Capital Campus, Sangamon State University. Springfield, Illinois 62708. Telephone: (217) 786-6536.
Subscription rate: $15 a year/$27 two years/S40 three years. $1.50 individual copy.
© 1975 by ILLINOIS ISSUES, 226 CC, Sangamon State, Springfield, Illinois 62708.
Application to mail at second-class postage rates is pending at Springfield, Illinois.
Scrapbook
Legislative endorsements questioned
Nine out of twelve present or former
legislators under indictment (see Illinois
Issues, Feb. 1975, p. 61) were endorsed
by one or more of the three major
Chicago newspapers, when they were
candidates. Bill Nigut, Sr., writes in
"The Dailies' Machine,"' Chicago Journalism Review, Jan. 1975, p. 6ff.
He also cites "questionable endorsements" of five other named
legislators who figured in actions
criticized by the press and lists six
Chicago aldermen, endorsed in 1971 by
at least one major Chicago paper, who
have since been convicted of offenses
that violated their public trust.
Which paper do you read?
"Cop Killer Takes Part in Work
Release Pian" (Chicago Tribune, Sunday, 2/2/75)
"Success Now, He One Faced Chaird" (Chicago Sun-Times, same date)
The subject of the story was William
Witherspoon, 48, who was convicted of
killing a Chicago policeman in 1959,
sentenced to death in 1960, and saved
from execution by the U.S. and Illinois
Supreme Courts — with the latter
reducing his death sentence to a prison
term, making him eligible for parole in
July 1971. Witherspoon had been participating in a work release program in
Peoria where he served as a counselor at
an alcoholic treatment center.
The Tribune quoted Cook County State's Attorney Bernard Carey: "It was the intention of the court to keep him in the penitentiary for the rest of his life. The work release program was not intended for people like him . . . ."
The Sun-Times quoted Daniel Simons, an administrator in the Department of Corrections: "Witherspoon has been one of our real success stories. I've heard only superlative things about him since he entered the work-release program last year."
(The Department of Corrections has both a prison furlough program, allowing temporary release from prison to prepare for parole, and the work release program in which Witherspoon participated. With the latter, selected inmates live under supervision in residential centers, work in the community, or participate in a release program and.. support themselves and their families, The department claims a 99 per cent success rate for the programs.)
How did Witherspoon play in Peoria? The Journal Star on Monday carried a story ("Slayer of Chicago Policeman Participating in Jubilee Work-Release Program") in which the resident counselor for the program defended Witherspoon and said Carey "doesn't know what type of person Witherspoon
State pay compared to private sector
The average salaries of state employees in Illinois compared to
average salaries paid nationwide to employees holding corresponding jobs in private industry tend to show that the state paid better, according to a survey made in October 1973. Key punch operators were the only classification surveyed where Illinois ranked lower.
However, average state pay was lower when compared to the Chicago area private industry, except for maintenance, custodial, and trades occupations; data processing occupations; and typists.
Read the details in State Government Wage Survey Illinois October 1973, a study made by Woodrow C. Linn, North Central Regional Office, U.S. ,Department of Labor, Room 944, 230 S. Dearborn St., Chicago, 111. 60604. The study relates to more than 57,000 full-time employees under the Illinois Personnel Code but provides comparisons only for selected types of positions.
Engineers were in the highest average monthly pay brackets, led by Engine,VII, paid $2,209 by the state, $2,140 nationally in private industry. Otherhigh paying jobs were Computer Systems Analysts, Class A, $1,563 by the state, $ 1,295 in Chicago area private industry.
98/Illinois Issues/April 1975