* Rockford Register-Star editorial…

Rockford has had representation on the Illinois Tollway board of directors for decades. The tollway is important to the region’s economic development efforts because it makes it easy to move goods to and from here, and especially from the airport, which is booming because of the growth of its cargo business.

Lawmakers voted Jan. 9 to end the terms of all nine tollway board members, including Earl Dotson Jr. of Rockford. The housecleaning came months after a series of stories by The Daily Herald reported that tollway contracts had gone to political insiders and that thousands of dollars had been spent to send staff members to banquets where tollway leaders were speakers. The newspaper uncovered other questionable practices as well.

Pritzker announced his choices for new directors Thursday. We’re disappointed that there wasn’t a person from Rockford among the picks, but we are impressed by the talent that has been selected.

“No matter where somebody is from, this tollway board was appointed by me with a focus on economic development. The tollway is just one feature of economic development, but a very important one,” Pritzker said.

* The Daily Herald plots out where the new suburban members live…

The new tollway chairman is Will Evans, an electrical engineer who is the retired president of People’s Gas and North Shore Gas and now an energy consultant. The Skokie resident also is president of the Northwestern University Black Alumni Association.

Suburban representatives include former state Sen. Karen McConnaughay of Geneva; Western Springs Village President Alice Gallagher; Wheaton resident Stephen Davis, who is chairman of The Will Group; Chicagoland Speedway and Route 66 Raceway President Scott Paddock of Orland Park; and architect Cesar Santoy of Berwyn. Paddock is not related to the longtime owners of Paddock Publications, which publishes the Daily Herald.

Western Springs borders on the Central Tri-State Tollway, which is being widened.

“It’s important for someone who has a municipality along that stretch to advocate on behalf of all the municipalities,” Gallagher said. […]

Labor representatives include International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150 President James Sweeney, a former tollway director; Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters executive Gary Perinar of Shorewood; and Chicago and Vicinity Laborers’ District Council Business Manager Jim Connolly of Palos Park.

So, you’ve got Cook (with five members), Kane, DuPage and Will. Winnebago is out and so is Lake County.

And if it’s important for Western Springs to have somebody on the board, what about Lake, which has been struggling to come to terms with an extension of Route 53 forever?

* Related…

* Gov. Pritzker returns Operating Engineers’ union leader Sweeney to Illinois Tollway Board: The union was an adamant opponent of Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner’s efforts to weaken organized labor’s power. While it backed Pritzker, the union-affiliated Fight Back Fund and the engineers’ Washington, D.C.-based affiliate gave more than $4.3 million to Republican state Sen. Sam McCann’s third-party run for governor in 2018, which was widely viewed as an effort to further weaken Rauner’s re-election chances.