THE NEVER-ENDING STORY
Plot thickens in Topinka's hotel deal

This could become a top-rated political soap opera; call it "Strange Bedfellows." The characters: Two Republican office-holders who were once at odds united, a pair of politically potent hotel owners who owe the state a lot of money and a trio of lawyers with the highest of clout credentials.

The plot: Last spring state Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka offered to settle a $40.3 million debt to the state for 25 cents on the dollar. The state loans — to the politically connected owners of the Springfield Renaissance hotel and the Collinsville Holiday Inn — were made in the early 1980s. Topinka offered to settle the debts for $10 million, saying the deal was better for the state than recouping nothing at all.

But Attorney General Jim Ryan, who had to agree to the debt settlement, quashed the deal, saying the state could do better. He cited a report by University of Illinois real estate experts that found the two hotels are worth up to $19.2 million.

Now, the hotel owners have sued Topinka, asking a Madison County judge to order the treasurer to honor the original deal. The suit argues that Topinka's settlement was legally binding, and that failing to follow through would be a "derogation of [the treasurer's] constitutional duties. ..." Meanwhile, Ryan's office serves as the legal counsel for state officials, and so will defend Topinka in the lawsuit.

Ryan will face a formidable force of lawyers — former Illinois Senate President Phil Rock, former U.S. Attorney Dan Webb and Granite City attorney Morris Chapman represent the hotel owners. Rock says the suit was filed in Madison County because the chief plaintiffs, including well-known Democratic and Republican fund-raiser Gary Fears, are investors in the Collinsville Holiday Inn. Bill Cellini, who holds a license for a riverboat casino in Alton and is a prominent fund-raiser for Gov. Jim Edgar and other Republicans, is a key partner in the Springfield Renaissance.

In the wake of this latest twist, state Sen. Penny Severns, a Democrat from Decatur, says she will reintroduce legislation this year to bar the state from granting or renewing any type of licenses to deadbeats who owe the state money. She says it is an insult to taxpayers that two politically entrenched hotel owners have filed suit to enforce the 25-cents-on-the-dollar deal when one of them holds a lucrative state riverboat license and can more than afford to pay his debt in full.

Jennifer Halperin

MAKING KIDS COUNT
Child advocacy group accentuates the positive

Four years ago, Illinois was judged to be on the verge of failure; now, a leading child advocacy group is talking about success. Recently, Voices for Illinois Children released its annual Kids Count assessment. In past years, the report charged that the state was inadequately caring for children. A report card that accompanied the group's first report in 1992 gave state policy-makers a D- for the dismal condition of children. A year later, Voices' report complained that little progress had been made.

But in its 1995 survey, Voices has taken on a decidedly different tone, though statistics still point to the grim circumstances facing many children.

Entitled Building the Future, the 1995 report highlights what it calls "strategies at work." Some of the strategies are big, and involve public agencies and substantial dollars, such as the recommendation to "tailor schools to today's students." But other ideas entail private efforts, even personal ones, such as the suggestion to establish one-on-one relationships with children in need.

"Building a success story in your hometown may be easier than you think," the report notes. "Spending time with a child, registering to vote or simply encouraging family-friendly policies at work are actions we can all take to help kids."

To be sure. Voices does not gloss over disturbing statistics or trends. Its report notes, for instance, that in 10 essential areas of childhood well-being — such as health and safety, poverty rate, high school dropouts — Illinois ranked 38th, up one place from last year. And, it points out, "Illinois continues to hold the lowest childhood well-being rank of its seven Midwestern neighbors."

Nor does the organization abandon its conviction from earlier reports that government has a significant role to play in bettering the lives of children. One of the "building blocks" of effective and child-friendly state policies, the group says, is building a bridge from welfare to work. And it cites two programs of the Illinois Department of Public Aid as models of success — the Teen Parent Initiative, which helps teens stay in school, and Work Pays,

8 * February 1996 Illinois Issues

which encourages self-sufficiency but permits welfare recipients to keep a portion of benefits when they go to work.

Still, the emphasis of the 1995 Voices report is on public-private partnerships to restore vitality to run-down neighborhoods in Chicago, to open an early childhood center in Peoria, to link health services in southern Illinois and in DuPage County.

It also urges a personal commitment to become involved in the lives of children, as in volunteering for a tutoring or mentoring program. And it lists "simple things" people can do to make a difference in the life of a child: volunteer time in a classroom or after school, donate materials to a library or child care center or write a legislator on a children's issue.

Donald Sevener

SPEAKING IN TONGUES
Department on Aging leaps language barrier

One need not go abroad to encounter Ugly Americans these days. Xenophobia seems to guide much public policy, from immigration to bilingual education to welfare.

Which makes a program of the Illinois Department on Aging not just worthy but laudable. The agency's Community Care Program helps needy senior citizens find assistance with personal care like bathing or dusting and vacuuming, and with basic needs like getting to the grocery store or a doctor's appointment. To qualify, a person must be over 60, have $10,000 or less in cash-convertible assets and demonstrate a need for help with care or transportation.

In 1990, only about 20 non-Enghsh-speaking clients were served through the program. As of September 1995, however, the number jumped nearly 100-fold — to 1,891. That's because the program started paying for translation costs, allowing case managers to assess needs in homes that previously declined services because of a language barrier, says Suzanne Grubb, with the department's long-term care division.

Now the program assists clients who speak Spanish, Hebrew, Russian, Korean, Romanian, Greek, Chinese, Cambodian and Assyrian, among other languages.

Jennifer Halperin

THE HOME FRONT

As G.I.s from Illinois headed to Bosnia as part of the peacekeeping force sent by President Bill Clinton, traffic was steady in this direction.

According to the Heartland Alliance for Human Needs and Human Rights, nearly 2,500 Bosnian refugees and medical evacuees have settled in the Chicago area during the last three years.

"It's one of the larger cities for Bosnian resettlement in the United States," says Sid Mohn, chief executive officer for the alliance, "probably because of the already large population — 2,000 to 3,000 former Yugoslavs — Serbs, Croats and Bosnian Muslims." Among other programs, the Heartland Alliance provides immigrant and refugee settlement and legal services.

At first, many of the refugees needed medical care because of injuries suffered in the war, he says. Now there's more need for mental health care, as refugees begin coming to terms with the losses they suffered back home — as well as coping with life in a new country.

"Early on, we had to rely on donated services," Mohn says. "Now, with the establishment of a federal refugee program for Bosnians, they're entitled to federally funded services through the Illinois Department of Public Aid."

Jennifer Halperin

ACADEMIC STANDARDS
Don't build levees; lower the river!

DePaul University's law graduates have been passed over for jobs in favor of lower-qualified candidates from other schools. The reason: DePaul's strict grading curve means that its graduates with high class standing may have lower grade point averages than students from schools with easier grading policies. Unfortunately, many law firms only look at GPA and ignore class standing. Either should be simple enough to interpret that even lawyers could do it. Notwithstanding, DePaul has felt forced to ease its standards.

F. Mark Siebert

Illinois Issues February 1996 * 9

BRIEFLY

Ante up: High court takes a pass on legal fees

O.J. Simpson's pricey legal help clearly earned their million-dollar keep, but the suspicion persists among many Americans that hiring a lawyer ranks with shooting craps on any sort of cost-benefit scale.

Lawyers' fees are such a delicate — and often controversial — issue that the Illinois Supreme Court recently joined the fray. The high court, well, passed the buck.

The court's decision concerned an out-of-court settlement in a class action case in which a bank admitted to overcharging escrow payments. It set up a fund to pay the plaintiff's lawyers; the dispute centered on the computation of their fees.

Until the early 1970s courts awarded lawyers a percentage of the settlement amount. This practice had several weaknesses. Lawyers were perceived as rushing to settlement to get a good fee for minimum work, when further effort might have gotten more for clients. In class actions, participants sometimes received very small amounts due to the big bite given to lawyers; plus, the arrangement was not something they had agreed to, as it is when a lawyer takes a case with an individual on a contingency basis.

So a new method — called "lodestar" — was instituted. It determines lawyers' fees by calculating hours spent on the case, throwing in "other considerations" and applying a weighted multiplier. Soon a different problem emerged: Lawyers were encouraged to drag out proceedings to run up hours. Courts, however, have felt constrained to use this method because of landmark cases in the 1970s.

In November, the Illinois Supreme Court spoke on the matter for the first time in two decades and settled things equivocally. Hereafter, lower courts will have discretion to use either method, based on the characteristics of the individual case.

A roll of the dice, perhaps.

F. Mark Siebert

Photograph courtesy of Northeast Illinois Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. The Batavia Park District renovated its limestone quarry swimming pool before tax caps were imposed on the collar counties. The facility then saw a threefold increase in visitors.

Blending old and new at popular swimming holes As controversy swirls in the collar counties over the effects of tax caps on the ability of park districts to finance new projects, the users of this swimming pool are glad the Batavia Park District beat the tax cap gun. Originally a mid-19th century limestone quarry adjacent to the Fox River, the Quarry Beach Aquatic Facility has been a favorite swimming spot since the 1930s, when a diving platform and park shelter were built out of the native stone as a WPA project. Now, it has become even more popular as a result of an extensive renovation.

Beverley Scobell

File under: No Good Deed Will Go Unpunished.

In 1993 some Baptists from Durham, N.C., came to Illinois to help with flood relief.

At a relief site to feed homeless victims, a 76-year-old volunteer cooked on a charcoal grill all morning. He dumped the hot coals on the ground and two children ran through them, causing one girl to receive burns so severe that skin grafts were needed.

A lawsuit followed. An out-of-court settlement followed that.

A Baptist spokesman said the legal fracas would not discourage future relief efforts.

F. Mark Siebert

10 * February 1996 Illinois Issues

WIRED TEENS
STUDENTS SEARCH CYBERSPACE FOR ENERGY SAVINGS

Unleash teenagers in cyberspace and you can't be sure what they might find.

Nokomis High School in Montgomery County hopes they find money. It is one of 60 schools across the state to win a $5,000 grant from the Illinois State Board of Education to participate in Energy Net, one of four online projects funded by the board to encourage schools to hook onto the Internet.

Energy Net draws resources from various academic disciplines solve problems. In Nokomis, teams of students will look for savings by conducting an energy audit of the school, its lighting system and its boiler under the supervision of teachers from the business, English and physics departments. They'll use the Internet to gather information from experts and then will write up their results and present their findings to their local school board for consideration.

The other projects funded by the State Board of Education are IllinoisSpin, which will be a student compilation of data on issues that face Illinois lawmakers; Museum in the Classroom, which involves the Internet and interactive videoconferencing to study museum treasures and artifacts; and "Tried and True," a project connect students to other online projects that may be either school-based or commercial.

The online projects are funded as part of a $15 million appropriation passed by the General Assembly last spring. That is a $10 million increase over the previous year's allotment to bring technology to the state's schools. Part of the funds will help schools like Nokomis pay for the costs of hooking up to the Internet.

Beverly Scobell

Scientists search for gaps in species protection

Illinois scientists are trying to map the gaps.

Specifically, the state Natural History Survey, part of the Department of Natural Resources, has joined a national effort to pinpoint where animals live. The Gap Analysis Project was conceived by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as a way to identify gaps in the protection of animals.

Using satellite imagery and geographic computer programming, biologists in each state create a landcover map that shows vegetation. From that map they derive an animal map (vertebrates only, no insects allowed) by predicting where animals should live, given their habitat requirements. The scientists can then overlay land ownership maps that identify any "gaps" in the protection of some animals.

The Natural History Survey has just finished this state's landcover map. During the next three years of the four-year project, biologists will map the wildlife and assemble information on land ownership.

"We know that an animal like the fox has a range that covers the entire state. But we also know the fox doesn't live in downtown Chicago," says Warren Brigham, who was instrumental in bringing the Gap project to Illinois. The mapping, he says, allows biologists to learn more precisely where certain animals live and whether their habitat is supporting them. Policy-makers can then set land-use priorities for preservation. Brigham says Illinois is ahead of many other states in that it has collected data on the state's flora and fauna since the Natural History Survey began in 1858. That information will be used to affirm the credibility of the state's ecological map.

Illinois received federal funding for the current fiscal year. But Brigham says much work toward the landcover map had already been done because state agencies had started similar research three years earlier.

However, the current budget-cutting mood in Washington, particularly in the National Biological Survey, could create a budget gap for Gap.

Beverley Scobell

Illinois Issues February 1996 * 11

BRIEFLY

QUILTING IN ILLINOIS Stories in cloth: a rich history, a promising future Quiltmaking has been a treasured art form in America since early colonial days. Quilting continues to have a special hold on many people — for the historical significance of the craft and its messages and for its engaging power of expression. Two years ago, in conjunction with a traveling exhibit, Connecting Stitches: Transition and Innovation in Illinois Quilts, the Illinois State Museum sponsored a symposium in Springfield, and later in Chicago, that examined recent research on quiltmaking. The five papers presented at that symposium, together with 30 color plates of quilts and 22 black-and-white photographs of quilts and quiltmakers, have now been published by the State Museum.

This photograph of Gallantry by Linda LoBianco of South Elgin was taken by Caryl Bryer Fallert. It appears in Connecting Stitches: Quilts in Illinois Life, published by the Illinois State Museum in 1995. The collection also includes five essays on quiltmaking.

This slim, 64-page soft cover volume should be savored on a quiet afternoon, preferably in front of a crackling fire while snow is gently falling outside.

The first essay describes the "Illinois Quilt Research Project," and the second looks at "Quilt Stories as History." The third, "A Covenant in Cloth: The Visible and the Tangible in African-American Quilts," discusses the special role played by quilts in the history of black Americans and suggests quilts may have been used as signals along the Underground Railroad.

"Frugal and Fashionable: Quiltmaking During the Great Depression" focuses especially on the lives of women during the '30s and on the renewed interest in quiltmaking brought about by a quilting contest sponsored by Sears, Roebuck and Co., which promised to display the winning quilt at the Chicago World's Fair. The final essay in this collection is entitled "Beyond Tradition: Modern Expressions by Quilt Artists." The oldest quilt pictured in this section is dated 1989; each photo is accompanied by a statement by the artist.

The text, together with the photographs in this book, make clear that the rich history of American quiltmaking has a bright future in this country.

Anna Merritt

Would that be contempt of court?

Fashion notes are not the ordinary stuff of the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, but then again, judges usually are not fashion models. In December, however, 19 Cook County judges temporarily swapped their black robes for high fashion, serving as models in a show presented by the Women's Bar Association of Illinois to raise money for scholarships to women law students. The largely female audience forgot to be politically correct and wolf-whistled Associate Judge Sam L. Amirante.

F. Mark Siebert

For those whose entrepreneurial enthusiasm exceeds their business acumen, a new government publication offers help.

The Illinois Department of Commerce and Community Affairs, in partnership with the U.S. Small Business Administration, has published a 39-page handbook to assist those hoping to open a business in Illinois. Given its brevity, Starting A Business in Illinois cannot be expected to provide complete answers to all questions, but it does cover (briefly) all of the major issues that are likely to come up. It also lists the addresses and telephone numbers of many state agencies that can offer more in-depth information on specific questions.

Two crucial questions facing a would-be entrepreneur must be answered before anything else is done: Is the idea feasible? How will the business be financed? Given the critical nature of these questions, it is not surprising that almost a third of this handbook is devoted to a "Feasibility Checklist" and an "Outline of a Business Plan." Sample forms for such things as a projected income statement and a projected balance sheet are also included.

Anna Merrill

12 * February 1996 Illinois Issues

WEB SITES OF THE MONTH
Take your political temperature, then spout off

One astute observer of American politics once observed that Americans are not smart enough to govern themselves, a notion that seems increasingly difficult to refute. Nonetheless, we continue to harbor high hopes, if not great expectations, that as this interminable presidential campaign finally reaches the stage of voter participation (in Louisiana, Iowa and New Hampshire this month) we'll prove ourselves smart enough to run a democracy.

Toward that end, Briefly dedicates the inaugural of a new feature — Web sites of the month — to the proposition that we all must be active (or interactive, as the case may be) if this democracy thing is going to work. Each month we'll select two sites — one indisputably useful, the other sort of funky — for your edification and entertainment. For February, don't miss these sites, chosen to help you with the daunting task of self-government.

First, stop by the World's Smallest Political Quiz, located at http://www.self-gov.org/quiz.html. The quiz asks 10 questions to help you take the measure of your political identity. Once you submit your answers, they are tabulated and your political disposition is plotted on a philosophical map — from left-liberal to right-conservative, from libertarian to authoritarian.

Some sample questions: Should military service be voluntary? Should regulations on sex for consenting adults be repealed? Should businesses and farms operate without government subsidies? Should taxation be eliminated in favor of user fees for government services? Don't forget to study.

Once you've found your niche on the political spec trum, head for Interactive Democracy, located at http://www.cgx.com/id.html. This is a gateway to sound off on a wide range of important and influential people and institutions that shape your government.

Tired of the budget impasse? Click "Government" to find the e-mail addresses for Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich and give them an electronic piece of your mind. There also are links to newspapers and magazines, television networks and talk show hosts, federal agencies and congressional committees.

Some of the links are rather sparsely populated, but all members of Congress are listed, as well as some major movers and shakers outside the government from Rush Limbaugh to Ross Perot to Jesse Jackson (who is listed under the "Government" link). The site provides not just e-mail addresses, but a handy e-mail message form you can use to, in Interactive Democracy's words, "Let Them Know What YOU Think." So get interactive — it's your government.

Donald Sevener

Amtrak Rail Passenger Routes Source: Illinois Department of Transportation

Shift jeopardizes passenger rail service The shift of power from Washington to the states may derail passenger train service from Chicago to dozens of downstate Illinois communities. Unless the state pumps in $2.5 million for the rest of this fiscal year and between $7.5 million and $8.9 million in fiscal 1997, Amtrak service may end February 28 on the Illinois Zephyr to Quincy, the Loop to Springfield, the Statehouse to St. Louis and the Illini to Carbondale. Gov. Jim Edgar is not enthusiastic about increasing the state's commitment. "There are going to be many programs that in the past the federal government has funded that are either going to be eliminated or reduced. I'm just very hesitant to jump in and start taking over all these programs." Many legislators whose districts have Amtrak service, especially those with large state universities and a sizable number of students from Chicago, want to save it. Sen. Harry "Babe" Woodyard, a Chrisman Republican, for example, has Amtrak in Mattoon and Eastern Illinois University in Charleston. Woodyard considers Amtrak so important that he says he would support a one-cent-per-gallon increase in the state gasoline tax to pay for it. But others raise philosophical objections. State Sen. Frank Watson, a Republican from Greenville, has Amtrak service in Centralia, but does not favor subsidies. "I would think that a service that many people find is necessary could sustain itself. In other words, let the riders pay for it." Tony Man

Illinois Issues February 1996 * 13