Edited by Rodd Whelpley
DISTINGUISHED FELLOW
Jim Edgar headed for the U of I
The governor wants "to help educate people on the workings and realities of our democratic system." And he'll get the chance to do that after he leaves office in January. Edgar accepted a two-year renewable appointment with the University of Illinois' Institute of Government and Public Affairs, where he'll lecture and conduct seminars. In announcing the appointment, Edgar said colleges and universities "cannot be isolated in ivory towers. They must be active participants in the real world." He said he accepted the U of I post because it will enable him to teach throughout the state. Edgar will be paid $135,000 a year. (He gets $130,000 a year as governor.) He and his wife Brenda bought a house outside Champaign.

IT'S A GOVERNMENT JOB
Transportation's snake man
When Illinois Department of Transportation engineers widen Willow Road in Cook County, their plans will include a unique feature: a snakewall designed to protect the eastern massasauga rattlesnake, an endangered species in this state. Chris Phillips of the Illinois Natural History Survey is instrumental in the effort to keep the rare snake off the road.

In fact, state and federal endangered species laws require Transportation to hire several biologists to assess areas around construction sites. That's how Phillips got the unusual job as the department's snake expert.

Phillips, 37, heads up a team of 15 biologists who gather data on wildlife that may be affected by transportation projects. The data he developed for the Willow Road project showed engineers that urban development has driven this species to an island of prairie. Now the native rattlesnake, once common in Illinois, lives in just six other locations, only four of which are in somewhat protected areas. Phillips says he would be surprised if the animals are not extinct in all but the protected areas within the next 20 years. Crossing roads is a snake's number one health hazard. So "the snakewall is a desperate measure in a desperate situation."

Shifts at the Top
Phillip Gonet took a four-month leave from his state job to work for the city of Springfield. Gonet moves from the Department of Children and Family Services to become interim manager of City Water, Light and Power. He replaces Lynn Frasco, who departs in the wake of the public utility's venture into the electric futures market and a subsequent audit revealing questionable practices and poor record keeping in the company's electric marketing division. The city was sued after the utility failed to provide the power it promised to other companies.

Thomas Hardy is now with Burson-Marsteller, a Chicago communications consulting firm. Hardy served as Gov. Jim Edgar's press secretary for the past 18 months. Edgar named Eric Robinson to fill Hardy's position. Robinson was deputy press secretary

Kim Clarke Maisch is the new Illinois state director of the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB). Maisch left her job as the director of communications at the state Comptroller's office to join the federation.

38 ¦ October 1998 Illinois Issues

The State Board of Elections certified the ballot for the November general election August 28, but "with objections pending." As of mid-September, Elections' staff was still sorting through the Libertarians' 60,000 and the U.S. Taxpayers' 42, 000 signatures to validate each party's petitions.

If candidates of either party are invalidated, their names must be removed from ballots that, in most cases, are already printed. "Procedurally it is easier to take names off than add them," says Ron Michaelson, executive director of the State Board of Elections.

However, the impact of removing names closer to the election is felt more directly by absentee voters. By law, absentee ballots are to be ready 40 days before an election, or September 24 for this general election. Just prior to the absentee ballot deadline, Michaelson said it was conceivable that the decision to remove candidates would come after some voters had already turned in absentee ballots.

"We are instructing county clerks to keep accurate records so that voters who may have voted for candidates who were subsequently taken off the ballot can be contacted and offered the opportunity to recast their vote," Michaelson said.

The Cook County clerk sent absentee ballots to military personnel before September 24 because of the time lag for mailing. But, the county was waiting for a final decision from the State Board of Elections before printing as many as 10,000 ballots for their 2,500 precincts. In Sangamon County, which uses a punch-card system, a spokesperson said that if candidates must be removed, the staff will Wite-Out the names on about 1,000 ballots. Cook County will use a similar labor-intensive tactic: pasting decals.

O'Connor replaces Kubik
State Rep. William O'Connor now represents the 43rd District. The North Riverside Republican replaced Rep. Jack Kubik, who retired in mid-August.

O'Connor, 48, an attorney with the Chicago firm of Sachnoff & Weaver, was the first director of the state Department of Nuclear Safety. He served as Gov. James R, Thompson's chief legal counsel for two years and has been a counsel to the Illinois Gaming Board for the past eight years.

He faces Democrat Mark Kuchler of LaGrange Park in the November election. Democrats have targeted the district, which includes portions of Berwyn and Cicero.

OBIT
Samuel W. Witwer Sr. Constitutional reformer Samuel W. Witwer Sr. died September 13 in Evanston. He was 90. An attorney, Witwer presided over the convention that drafted the state's 1970 Constitution. He also helped found Illinois Issues magazine in 1974.

"He represented public service at its best," says Sam Gove of the University of Illinois' Institute of Government and Public Affairs. Gove, also a founder of the magazine, headed the U of I's institute during the constitutional convention. He credits Witwer with outstanding mastery of the elected delegates. As a result, he says, a lot of advances were made in this state's Constitution, including clear separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches, and creation of the auditor general's post, the elections board and the judicial inquiry board. But Gove highlights one change Witwer helped keep out of the Constitution: general citizen initiative and referendum powers, which have caused government gridlock in California. "That is impressive because [the new Constitution] came at a time of great unrest, when the state was politically divided."

Illinois Issues October 1998 ¦ 39