January 1. McGee, picked from nearly 100 candidates, spent more than two decades as a teacher and administrator.

Some lawmakers had urged the board not to fill the post before a new governor was elected. After the appointment was announced last month, critics worried McGee would have trouble understanding the problems of poorer downstate districts.

McGee replaces Joseph Spagnolo, who resigned last summer after four years in the post. Spagnolo was criticized for mismanagement and over-spending.

Awards
Chicago schools chief lauded for leadership
Paul G. Vallas was given the" Motorola Seventh Annual Excellence in Public Service Award last month.

The award is presented each year by the North Business and Industrial Council (NORBIC) in conjunction with Illinois Issues, the AON Corp. and Motorola's Cellular Subscriber Sector. It honors individuals in public service in metropolitan Chicago, Cook County or the state who exemplify leadership in the public sector.

Vallas was cited for ending culture of bureaucratic lethargy, waste and ineptitude" in his tenure as CEO of Chicago schools.

HONORS
Our green governor

The Nature Conservancy has granted a Lifetime Achievement Award to outgoing Gov. Jim Edgar for his administration's commitment to preserving Illinois' natural heritage. Edgar, joined here by Nature Conservancy Board Chair Guy Fraker (center) of Bloomington and Illinois' Director Bruce Boyd (right), accepted his award at a $200, 000 fund-raiser in September.

Shortly after Edgar received the honor, the administration announced the registration of two new land and water reserve areas. Sandy Ford Land and Water Reserve is a 200-acre site near Streator, and the Cedar-Draper's Bluff Land and Water Reserve is a 741-acre site in Union and Johnson counties near Goreville. The two new reserves bring the number of registered sites to 23, covering nearly 4, 000 acres in 22 counties.

Nobel scientists are Illinois scholars
Illinois can lay claim to two of the most recent Nobel laureates: John A. Pople, who won for chemistry, and Daniel Tsui, who won for physics.

Pople, a chemistry professor at Northwestern University in Evanston, was awarded the Nobel Prize for developing methods that can be used for theoretical studies of molecules.

Tsui, who is an electrical engineering professor at Princeton University, graduated from Augustana College in Rock Island and the University of Chicago. Tsui received the prize in physics for discovering that electrons, the building blocks of matter, interact with each other in new and unusual ways when subjected to a strong magnetic field. Tsui is the 70th Nobel laureate associated with the University of Chicago, either as a student, faculty member or researcher.

Judicious duty
Two Illinoisans take the spotlight as the U.S. House Judiciary Committee proceeds on impeachment hearings.

Republican U.S. Rep. Henry Hyde of Bensenville heads the committee that will consider evidence against Democratic President Bill Clinton. Hyde has been a fixture in Illinois politics for three decades. His congressional career was preceded by eight years in the Illinois House, including two as majority leader. A nationally known spokesman for conservatism, Hyde is best known for his eponymous amendment, which bars Medicaid from funding abortions for low-income women unless their pregnancies threaten their health or their lives or result from incest or rape. But in a profile of the congressman, Illinois Issues contributor Harvey Berkman noted that Hyde is more than his amendment, and not so easy to pinpoint. "His conservatism is certainly unquestioned," Berkman wrote. 'And ideologically, Hyde has accomplished the improbable task of becoming known in a positive way as a politician who is simultaneously unpredictable and principled." (See "Conservative compass," August 1995, page 22.)

Hyde tapped Chicago Democrat David Schippers as his majority chief investigative counsel. Schippers served with the Justice Department during the Kennedy Administration. He headed the Organized Crime Unit in Chicago and was responsible for the conviction of mobster Sam Giancana.

34 ¦ November 1998 Illinois Issues

OBIT

Josephine K. Oblinger
Josephine K. Oblinger was performing pro bono legal work right up until her recent death at 85.

"She developed a flourishing practice without taking a cent," says her son Carl. "She continued until the day she died."

Oblinger — whose extensive resume includes stints as state representative, Illinois Federation of Teachers president and director of the state Department on Aging — died September 27 following intestinal surgery at a Springfield hospital. Oblinger also had arterial sclerosis.

A resident of Williamsville, Oblinger was the only woman in her law school graduating class ('43) at the University of Detroit. Named valedictorian, the Chicago native was not allowed to give the speech — because she was a woman.

"She understood the obstacles she would have to overcome and it never daunted her; it was a challenge," says Carl Oblinger.

In fact, Oblinger, whom her son describes as an independent Republican, took on the challenges of others: the poor, the indigent, the powerless. Oblinger says his mother took on literally thousands of pro bono cases, many for her students when she taught at Lanphier High School in Springfield.

As a lawmaker, Oblinger sought to help the elderly. An accomplishment she was most proud of was engineering the passage of an act designed to create a funding apparatus and a service network for in-home care for seniors.

There were those whom Oblinger fought against: Chief among them was the woman Carl Oblinger calls his mother's nemesis: ultraconservative Equal Rights Amendment opponent Phyllis Schlafly.

Corruption charges brought against former state workers
The federal government charged former employees of the secretary of state's office with engaging in a racketeering conspiracy in the issuance of commercial driver's licenses.

The indictment, announced last month, charges that between $200 and $600 in bribe payments were collected from unqualified truck license applicants in return for guaranteeing passing scores on written exams. The indictment also charges that some of the bribe proceeds were used to purchase groups of political fund-raising tickets at a minimum cost of $100 each.

The indictments were announced by Scott R. Lassar, United States Attorney for the Northern District, along with representatives of the FBI, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Internal Revenue Service.

Those indicted were Mary Ann Mastrodomenico, former manager of the suburban Melrose Park facility; Phyllis Volpe, former assistant manager of that facility; and Carmen Fajdich, who was employed in the secretary of state's office until 1986. Also charged were Miodrag Dobrosavljevich, the owner of Brook- field Truck Repair, and Janusz Krzyzak, an instructor at Chicago-based Mega Driving School. They all pleaded not guilty.

In announcing the indictments, Lassar said, "Selling commercial driver's licenses to unqualified applicants goes beyond mere greed and corruption. It creates a public safety risk that the licensing process was designed to prevent."

The charges became part of the election campaign.

TRANSITIONS
Maureen Foertsch McKinney has assumed duties as projects editor at Illinois Issues. An Illinois native, McKinney holds a journalism degree from Eastern Illinois University and worked for eight years at The Daily Herald of Arlington Heights.

Burney Simpson joins Illinois Issues as its new Statehouse bureau chief. Simpson worked for The Chicago Reporter for five years. He has won a National Association of Black Journalists award and a National Press Club award.

John O'Connor has become a member of The Associated Press' Statehouse staff. He moves to the AP from the Statehouse bureau of Springfield's State Journal-Register. O'Connor is best known for his coverage of the State Board of Education.

Mary Ann Sullivan is the new executive director of the Government Assistance Program (GAP), a DePaul University-associated nonprofit that works with government agencies to improve their efficiency. Sullivan had been GAP'S program director for the past three years.

QUOTABLE
"Once set, the example of impeaching a president, for what — when the excitement of the hour shall have subsided — will be regarded as insufficient cause ... [will ensure that] no future president will be safe. "

Illinois Senator, Anti-Nebraska Democrat Lyman Trumbull. on why he voted "no" in the 1868 impeachment proceedings against Republican President Andrew Johnson.

Johnson's impeachment arose from his ouster of Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton in violation of the 1867 Tenure of Office Act, which Johnson thought unconstitutional. (Fifty-nine years later, the Supreme Court agreed with the president.) The Johnson impeachment measure failed by one vote in the Senate.

Illinois Issues November 1998 ¦ 35