By MARY C. GALLIGAN
A graduate student in the Public Affairs Reporting Program at Sangamon State University, she has worked for the Decatur Herald Review and taught school in the St. Louis area since graduating from Illinois State University with a B.A. in English. Can the Republicans stay solid and support the governor's programs?

Inside the Senate: Factions and issues

LEADERS on the Republican side of the aisle in the state Senate view their major task in the 80th session of the General Assembly as supporting Gov. James R.. Thompson's budget proposals. "There are other subtitles," said Sen. John Graham (R., Barrington), but Republican priorities are tied to the state's finances.

Sen. David C. Shapiro (R., Amboy), minority leader, said the state and the legislature must exercise fiscal responsibility and cut spending. "This is the third year of deficit spending," he noted. "We need to build up the cash balance. And one year won't solve the problems." He said the only ploy the Democrats might use is to disagree with Thompson's revenue estimates. That will be the focal point of the entire debate. Even if the governor's estimates are too low, Shapiro said, "that doesn't preclude the belt tightening. If we're not going to bite the bullet now, the state will face more severe problems next year. We know bills have been delayed and cash has been short." Shapiro said his priorities as minority leader are to "support the governor and his budget proposals and get us back on even keel so that in two years we can provide for the other services we've had to cut back on."

Other Republican leaders agree with Thompson's conservative revenue estimates and anticipate difficulties in holding back spending in certain areas. Sen. Roger A. Sommer (R., Morton), minority spokesman for the Appropriations I Committee, said education, public aid and pay raises for state employees will be areas of contention. According to Sommer, the bottom line on Thompson's budget is "not this spring but next fall during the override session."
Sen. John B. Roe(R., Rochelle), the Elections Committee minority spokesman, also forecast dissatisfaction with the budget from various interest groups. He predicted the governor "is going to have to veto a lot of measures." Sen. Stanley Weaver(R., Urbana) said there will be some priority split over some areas of the budget. Weaver, an assistant minority leader, said "there will be time in May and June to allocate additional funds" to areas such as education.

Shapiro said he thinks education came out very well in Thompson's budget. "What we did last December was a total disaster," he said, referring to the special session which former Gov. Daniel Walker called to raise additional funds for education. "The ramifications of that action," he said, will be felt this year since it took $50 million of this year's revenues through tax speedup measures to fund the school aid formula. Sen. Graham said he sees "a fight there on funding the formula. Unless we have a tremendous increase in resources, the formula will never be funded."

David C. Shapiro
Sen. John J. Nimrod (R., Skokie), minority spokesman for the Higher Education Committee, said, "The governor has pretty well indicated education is his top priority." Nimrod does not see any additional changes in the funding formula this year. Education will again be a major battle in the legislature, predicted Sen. Bradley M. Glass (R., Northfield), an assistant minority leader. "The city of Chicago is under financial stress," he said, "and will be looking to the state for help." Some of the mandated programs in education should be reevaluated and perhaps "unmandated," according to Glass.

The Republican leaders agree with Gov. Thompson's concern about the state's prison system. "More acute than most people realize is the Department of Corrections," Graham said. "We are in desperate shape." He said after working in this area for 18 years, he feels there are only two choices available to deal with additional prisoners — "provide space to incarcerate them or turn them loose." Graham said, "The past administration just was not sensitive to the real needs of the prisoners." Instead, said Graham, "We kept hearing about a bare bones budget." The problem was further complicated, according to Graham, by the fact that "most of us had demanded loudly that the courts quit using probation so liberally. I was forced to sit by and watch."

The Department of Corrections should have "high priority for emergency attention," said Sen. Harber H.

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May 1977 / Illinois issues / 11


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Hall (R., Bloomington), the Labor and Commerce Committee spokesman for the Republicans. He said there are needed improvements in the penal system, which if completed, would strengthen the entire judicial system. "That in itself should help decrease the incidence of crime. Sure and swift punishment is the best deterrent."

The prison system is a "tinderbox situation," according to Sen. Glass. "We have to act on it now. 1 consider it a major problem."

The State Board of Elections presents another immediate problem for the Republican leaders. The State Board of Elections was granted an extension from the court until May 11 when the Supreme Court's decision becomes effective and, in effect, causes the board to be without members because the method of appointment is unconstitutional. The original effective date was March 15 set by the court in its ruling in November in Walker v. State Board of Elections (see March Illinois Issues). Shapiro said he favors a four-man board, selected by the governor and confirmed by the Senate. In case of tie votes, let the board itself devise its own method of handling the situation, he said. The court also declared the board's method of breaking a tie vote was unconstitutional.

Sen. Roe said he also favored a four-man board over a five-member board composed of two Republicans, two Democrats and one independent. "There's no good way to have a fifth member," he said. Hall said, 'T don't like the designation of nonpartisan anything. I don't like that term. I don't like people selected because they're nonvoters in primary elections." The sentiment of many Senate Republicans was expressed in Sen. Sommer's appraisal of the elections board. "It's an example of one of those proposals that was just stupid." The reform intended by the new Constitution "has backfired totally," according to Sommer.

Passage of the federal Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) has a "slim-to-moderate" chance during this session, said Shapiro. He has consistently voted against it, he said, because provisions in the U.S. Constitution make ERA unnecessary. "If we need a separate article to prevent discrimination based on sex," he said, "we need separate articles for color, religion, age and the physically handicapped. No constitutional amendment will do away with discrimination. Customs and mores determine discrimination in everyday life."

Collective bargaining for public employees may be a major point of disagreement between the Senate Republicans and the governor. While Thompson has said he would sign a reasonable collective bargaining bill, most Republicans are opposed to it. "Twenty-one of the 25 [Senate Republicans] are opposed to any collective bargaining," said Sen. Roe. "1 am one of those four who would generally support collective bargaining. We tend to feel public employees should have the right to strike." Roe noted that the Democrats in the Senate are also divided on the issue. "It's less than unanimous among the Democrats," he said. "If the

12 / May 1977 / Illinois Issues


Daley organization as it exists remains less than enthused, that won't make 30 votes."

As chairman of the subcommittee that studied collective bargaining during the 79th General Assembly, Sen. Hall said he had "a feeling a vast majority of our citizens don't approve of the concept of any public employee striking." He predicted a very active session in this area, noting certain lobby groups such as the Illinois Education Association addressed the question specifically in the last election.

"Unions are concentrating on this area," said Nimrod. "It presents a great opportunity since union enrollment in the private sector is declining." Republican opposition to collective bargaining centers around the right of public employees to strike. "1 don't think there should be strikes in the public sector," said Sen. Glass. "1 don't think the law should authorize it."

Sen. Shapiro said the results of the struggle of the Democratic factions for the Senate presidency at the beginning of the session were "a mixed bag," with no real winners or losers. "Some individuals might have gained," .he said, "but what they came up with in the final analysis is difficult to say." Roe said the Democratic struggle for the presidency was worthwhile. "The whole thing was very constructive. It's the best thing that ever happened here." The Democrats in the Senate "will be much more solid as a group of 34" because of the leadership fight, according to Roe. "It was probably the worst thing that ever happened to Thompson."

Graham said he was happy the Republicans stayed unified behind their candidate. Sen. Shapiro, and let the majority party settle its own differences. He said he was ready to negotiate with the Democrats, however, because "we weren't getting anywhere and the image of elected officials is not that good now." Nimrod said he hopes Republican unity during the balloting is a sign of continued party unity. So far, he said, "we have been able to discuss things and arrive at consensus efforts."

Senate Republicans

Karl Berning, Deerfield
Prescott E. Bloom, Peoria
Jack E. Bowers, Downers Grove
Max E. Coffey, Charleston
John A. Davidson, Springfield
Bradley M. Glass, Northbrook
John A. Graham, Barrington
John E. Grotberg, St. Charles
Harber H, Hall, Bloomington
Kenneth G. McMillan, Bushnell
Robert W. Mitchler, Oswego
Don A. Moore, Midlothian
John J. Nimrod, Park Ridge
Frank M. Ozinga, Evergreen Park
James Philip, Elmhurst
David J. Regner, Mt. Prospect
Mark Q. Rhoads, Western Springs
John B. Roe, Rochelle
James H. Rupp, Decatur
Jack Schaffer, Crystal Lake
David C. Shapiro, Amboy
Roger A. Sommer, Pekin
James C. Soper, Cicero
Richard A. Walsh, River Forest
Stanley B. Weaver, Urbana

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Shapiro said he was not happy to see extra leadership positions created in the Senate as one of the results of the presidency negotiations. "We are only creating problems for ourselves," he said. What happens when the leadership is expanded is that "the leadership could start bidding-wars. If you run into a roadblock and need four or five votes, trade-offs occur." The same thing has happened in the House in the past to the point where "the House is all leadership now," according to Shapiro. Sen. Hall said he was discouraged "when the Republicans did not recognize this expanded leadership is not good for our party." There is no real function for the added leaders, "no work for them to do."

Nimrod said now 20 per cent of the Senate members are in leadership positions. This only "destroys the effectiveness of leadership," He also opposed "the proliferation and expansion of committees in the Senate." It was a bad compromise among the Democratic factions, he said, "which became very clear, very obvious." Shapiro was also displeased with the division of the Appropriations, Judiciary and Education committees. He said, "The result will be that the Higher Education Committee is not going to get much assigned to it and will not improve its lot."

Shapiro said he does not foresee any difficulties in the confirmation of Thompson's cabinet appointments. "The Republicans are going to like Jim Thompson," he said. "The Republican party will be proud of him and the way he's conducted himself." With Thompson, Sen. Charles Percy and Atty. Gen. Williams Scott leading the Republican ticket in 1978, Shapiro said the Republican party should experience a resurgence of strength in the legislature.

Graham said if Thompson "does a good job" during this term, he should not have any problem getting reelected unless he "gets off the beam. We're kind of hinged on this guy," he said, and added he hopes Thompson continues to call up on experienced legislators for advice and not make the disastrous mistake of surrounding himself with yes-men.

"It is difficult to function in a minority role," Nimrod said, but expressed confidence in looking at Republican prospects in 1978. "If we begin now," he said, "we can recapture the seats we lost four years ago." Shapiro said discussion of the governor's presidential ambitions should not hurt his effectiveness. "He's going to tend to business here in Illinois," he said. Democrats will probably receive better cooperation from Thompson than they experienced with former Gov. Walker. This is because Thompson is "willing to talk to them, compromise and reach agreements."

14 / May 1977 / Illinois Issues


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