More bad news for taxpayers
The more things change, the more things stay the same in Illinois politics.
The business of state government in Illinois doesn't really change all that much, however enthusiastically members of the political elite might argue otherwise.
Issues may come and go, but politicians' real interests remain predictable.
Here's an example.
A couple of months ago, Gov. Pat Quinn received a lot of heat for appointing defeated Democratic state Rep. Careen Gordon to an $80,000-plus job on the state's Prisoner Review Board.
It turned out that there was substantial reason to think that the Quinn appointment was a reward for Gordon's January vote to raise personal and corporate income taxes.
Having been defeated for re-election in January, Gordon was suspected of trading her yes vote in exchange for Quinn's promise of a job. They both denied the quid pro quo, of course, but the controversy caused such an embarrassment that Gordon decided not to force a confirmation vote from the Illinois Senate and withdrew from consideration.
Quinn later appointed Gordon to a state job that didn't require Senate confirmation.
It should have been an embarrassment that taught Quinn a lesson. But Illinois politicians don't embarrass easily.
Now Quinn has appointed a second defeated Democratic legislator to another lucrative state job. This time it's former state Rep. Michael Smith of Canton.
Quinn has nominated Smith, who also voted for Quinn's tax hike after being defeated for re-election, to a $94,000-a-year post on the state Educational Labor Relations Board.
As a recent St. Louis Post-Dispatch investigation revealed, many of these appointments to state boards and commissions are lucrative pay-backs to connected pols that require little to no work.
Here's how the Post-Distatch described board members' duties. They meet "once a month" to approve regulations and investigate collective bargaining disputes.
The board includes "the spouse of an Illinois senator; one former gubernatorial aide; one ex-legislative staff member; one ex-Springfield lobbyist; and four political donors."
To that group can now be added Smith, a former state legislator who insists his tax vote had nothing to do with Quinn's proposed appointment.
As I understand it, Smith had been advocating for a tax hike since before his lost re-election. I believe he also served as chair of the House education committee. If those are true, I don't think this was a payback and he actually was qualified to serve (now whether or not he's the best person for the job or if such a job is deserving of a $94k salary is questionable). Although there is certainly some jobs for votes deals that have been made in the past, I can't say just by someone's former job that a deal was made for them. I think a lot of these appointments come by circumstance. The governor has been in politics for so long that the only people he comes in regular contact with are others involved in politics - legislators, lobbyists, etc. He's going to choose people that are along his thinking politically and those that he's had experience with and that are available for the job. It's hard for an unknown or outsider to make it in this environment. I'm not sure how that could be improved upon, although personally I'd promote from within the existing organization as much as possible if I were in such a position. Also hiring competitively rather than selecting through political appointments would be good.
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