Paul Vallas, Chicago's school chief, is the winner of this year's Motorola Excellence in Public Service Award. Illinois Issues co-sponsors the award with the North Business and Industrial Council, the Motorola Cellular Subscriber Sector and the AON Corp. The award goes to an appointed official who heads an agency and works for the city of Chicago, the state of Illinois or Cook County government. Vallas, chief executive officer of the Chicago Public Schools, received his award at a luncheon in October.

My role in the process is to help gather nominations and chair the Selection Committee. I wish everyone could have heard the diverse members of our committee praising Vallas, not only for taking on what most people considered an impossible task, but for implementing wide-sweeping reforms in a short amount of time. They cited his energy and his drive in bringing people together in new ways to help Chicago children.

It is difficult to shake up any bureaucracy, but Vallas has a passion for his job that never quits. I'm sure he would say there is still much work to be done. It is significant, though, that not only in Chicago, but throughout Illinois, people are now looking to Chicago schools as places where good things can happen, not as examples of one of the worst school systems in the country.

You may recall that last year's winner of this award was Jess McDonald, director of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. We are happy to be part of a process that honors public servants for the positive contributions they make.

Just a few words that amount to a sneak preview. In January 2000, Illinois Issues will mark its 25th anniversary. With the help of our board, we are already making plans for some special articles beginning next fall. It is an important milestone for us.

Well. I asked, and so I'll give you the results. In last month's Question of the Month we asked what should be the next step in matters related to the investigation of President Bill Clinton. Readers had a few days to respond before the U.S. House voted to authorize the Judiciary Committee to begin impeachment hearings without restrictions on its investigation.

Our readers were almost evenly divided among four possibilities: Let the matter drop; begin impeachment hearings; have the president resign; or have the House censure him. A slight majority, though, favored either impeachment hearings or a call for his resignation. One interesting comment with a different angle came from a Moline reader: "No one seems to mind or care that Monica Lewinsky is being destroyed by this mess." 

Illinois Issues November 1998 ¦ 3