Names

Jim Edgar named secretary of state

Jim Edgar, Springfield, has been appointed Illinois' 35th secretary of state by Gov. James R. Thompson, effective in January when Alan J. Dixon officially takes his newly won U.S. Senate seat. Edgar will complete Dixon's unexpired term, which runs through 1982.

Edgar, 34, has been Thompson's chief lobbyist with the General Assembly since March 1979. Edgar was in the middle of his second term in the Illinois House (R., 53rd District) when he joined the Thompson administration.

Prior to his election as state representative in 1976, Edgar was on the staff of House Minority Leader Bud Washburn. He was director of state service for the National Conference of State Legislatures, 1975-76; on the staff of Senate President William Harris, 1974; on the staff of House Speaker W. Robert Blair, 1972-73; and worked for Senate President W. Russell Arrington in 1968-71, serving initially as a legislative intern.

Edgar holds a bachelor's degree in history from Eastern Illinois University where he was student body president, and he has done graduate work in political science at the University of Illinois and at Sangamon State University. He is married to the former Brenda Smith, and they have two children.

State Teachers' Retirement Fund Board of Trustees

Gov. James R. Thompson's reappointment in September of John Robert Barr, a Decatur attorney, as a public member of the Board of Trustees of the Teachers' Retirement System sparked a controversy that has smoldered since 1979 over alleged control of the board by the Illinois Education Association (IEA), an organization which (like the Illinois Federation of Teachers), represents Illinois teachers in collective bargaining. The nine-member board is composed of the superintendent of education, who serves as president; four public members appointed by the governor and four members elected by teachers. The board administers the teachers' retirement system and is trustee of the $2.4 billion retirement fund which is funded by teacher contributions and by the state.

At the board's October 18 meeting, Executive Director Roy A. Baker, Petersburg, announced his retirement from active service after 11 years as director. The board appointed Associate Director Samuel W. Anderson, Springfield, as acting director. Two days later, public members Don S. Browning, Decatur, and Donald V. McCann, Bourbonnais, resigned to protest Barr's appointment. In his letter of resignation Browning said the reappointment of Barr would weight the board in favor of the IEA. The Coalition for the Security of Teacher Retirement, a coalition of school administrator, business, farm and taxpayer organizations, criticized Barr's appointment and an earlier appointment by Thompson of IEA business manager Robert Daniels as public member. The coalition does not want public members of the board to be tied to special interest groups and may propose legislation that would provide for more checks and balances in the appointment of public members. The coalition also wants more business people on the board. The governor's office said that Barr was appointed on his merits and has said he does not vote from the IEA mentality. The governor said he will fill the vacancies caused by the two resignations with persons entirely outside the field of education.

George King, IEA's executive secretary of public relations, said the IEA cannot see what all the hullaballo is about: "Our concern with the board is in terms of how the fund is invested to best benefit the teacher members because the fund exists for them." Teachers have welcomed more teacher representation on the board, he ) said. "They welcome business persons too, but not business [as a special interest]."

ERA bribery conviction

Wanda Brandstetter, Chicago businesswoman and NOW volunteer, convicted of attempting to bribe an Illinois legislator to vote for the proposed Equal Rights Amendment, was fined $500 and ordered to do 150 hours of public service work. The sentence was imposed November 7 by Sangamon County Circuit Judge Jeanne E. Scott. Scott did not require a prison sentence or probation but made use of the conditional discharge: over the next year Brandstetter must pay the fine and donate 150 hours to teaching the mentally handicapped or tutoring low-income students.

Brandstetter, who was convicted August 22 of offering $1,000 to Rep. Nord Swanstrom (R., Petonica) if he voted in favor of the ERA, said she is innocent and will appeal. She also said she will continue to work for the ERA. Swanstrom easily won reelection in November.

Registration and Education

The Department of Registration and Education's acting director Gary L. Clayton has made the following appointments:

Glen D. Crick, Chicago, as deputy director of statewide investigations, and Edward Bruno, Midlothian, as assistant deputy director of statewide investigations, effective in October. A former Illinois State Police officer, Crick joined the Department of Law Enforcement in 1978 and most recently headed the fraud section of DLE's financial fraud and forgery bureau. Bruno has worked for the U.S. Internal Revenue Service since 1974 and was field audit group manager and acting chief of training in the Chicago area since 1979.

Dr. Michael Void, Chicago, a licensed dentist and an attorney, was named by Clayton to fill the newly created post of dental coordinator, effective in November. Under Illinois law the department is now required to have a coordinator in charge of investigations of the dental profession. Void is paid on an hourly basis, with a limit of $27,000 to $29,000 a year.

Other appointments

J. William Hammel, Springfield, as regional coordinator for the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency's office of public and intergovernmental programs, by program coordinator Gloria Craven effective in November. Hammel, who is headquartered in Springfield, works with elected officials and the general public in east central Illinois to encourage public participation in solving local pollution problems and to answer questions about state and federal regulatory programs. Other regional coordinators are: Carol Bein, Springfield, west central Illinois; Robert Hagele, Collinsville, southern Illinois; Patrick McCarthy, Rockford, northwestern Illinois, and Vanessa Musgrave, Maywood, Chicago metropolitan area.

Samuel K. Gove, Urbana, was sworn in as a member of the National Academy of Public Administration in November. The academy, which has 250 elected members, was formed in 1967 as a source of advice and counsel to governments and public officials on public administration. Gove is director of the Institute of Government and Public Affairs, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and chairman of the Illinois Issues board.

Stanley G. Rives, Normal, as vice president for academic affairs at Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, effective in January. Rives' appointment was recommended by EIU President Daniel E. Marvin Jr. and approved by the Board of Governors of State Colleges and Universities October 30. Rives is professor of speech communication and associate provost and dean of instruction at Illinois State University, Normal. He will succeed Thomas Bond, who resigned to become president of Clarion State College, Clarion, Pa.

David J. Maurer, Charleston, was elected president of the Illinois State Historical Society at its 81st annual meeting in October. Maurer is a professor of history at Eastern Illinois University, Charleston. Robert P. Howard, Springfield, retired Springfield correspondent for the Chicago Tribune was elected senior vice president. Both will serve for one year.

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Frank H. Bailey, Lexington, Ky., as executive director of the Council of State Governments (CSG), by the executive committee of the council's governing board, effective September 21. Bailey was chosen by a selection committee of governors and state legislators, including Illinois Senate President Philip J. Rock (D., Chicago). Bailey had been acting executive director of CSG since July 1980. He became deputy executive director in 1979, having served as assistant director since 1975. He replaced William J. "Pepe" Page, who took a job as professor of public administration and social work at Florida State University, Tallahassee.

Robert E. May, Marlboro, Mass., was recently reelected secretary to the International Association of Arson Investigators. May, an independent arson investigator, was Illinois state fire marshal from 1970 to 1973 and assistant to the director of the Department of Law Enforcement from 1973 to 1975.

Honors

W. Clement Stone, Chicago businessman, philanthropist and civic leader, received the International Leadership Award for Business Entrepreneurship from the College of Business and Administration of Southern Illinois University at Carbondale December 2. Stone is founder and chairman of the board of Combined International Corp. and Combined Insurance Company of America, one of the nation's leading insurance companies.

Penny Edwards, Blue Mound, was named 1980-81 Illinois Teacher of the Year at the State Board of Education's annual "Those Who Excel" awards banquet in Springfield October 17. Edwards has taught 4th grade in Shelby County's Tower Hill Elementary District #10 for eight years. One of her basic tenets is "to teach so that if I were a student, I would want to learn." She also seeks to get parents involved in their child's education through homework assignments.

Deaths

Rep. Vincent E. Molloy, 56, in Oak Park Hospital on November 16. Molloy (R., Oak Park) had just been elected to a fifth term in the Illinois House from the 21st Legislative District. He had been Oak Park Township Republican committeeman since 1973. A real estate dealer, Molloy had also served as head of the credit union division of the Department of Financial Institutions. He was active in credit union legislation in the General Assembly and was a member of the House committees on financial institutions and public utilities.

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