* Phil Bradley writes that he won’t be supporting Bruce Rauner. One reason: Rauner wants to start at the top…

My work in government and my campaigning for and holding public office taught me many things that are unknown by most who haven’t paid their dues by being involved.

I remember my first run for the Lincoln Land Community College board. I put up yard signs all over several counties, met the editors of all the papers, sent out mailings and spent time in many small towns shaking hands. In those days few people had even heard of the college. Fewer still knew it was run by an elected board. And no one had heard of me.

But in a grubby little bar in Ashland, I walked up to a disheveled, grizzled guy, shook his hand and asked for his vote. And learned more than any political science class ever taught me.

“How do you feel about the semester system?” the man asked. Totally unexpected. (At the time, Lincoln Land was considering changing from a quarterly calendar to semesters.)

What followed was a long conversation about academic calendars and how the change would benefit his work schedule and his ability to get the degree in agriculture that his future job depended on.

Right there I understood that what government does affects people’s lives in big ways.

In fact, what I praise is experience. As a candidate, as an officeholder, as someone doing the day-to-day work of government, one builds experience. You learn that many different people have many different ideas. That you need to listen. You need to understand. You need to compromise.

You learn that there are few easy answers, no quick answers. And sometimes there aren’t right answers, just better ones.

I totally get Phil’s point, which has been made one way or another by several commenters here over the past few months.

But Rauner has been traveling Illinois, so give him credit for trying. And I don’t think that everybody always has to run for a lower job first.

Adlai Stevenson, II held some appointed US government positions before he was elected governor. And he was a good governor. Jim Thompson was a US Attorney before he was elected governor. I think he was one of our best governors.

Is experience with grassroots campaigning helpful? Yep. No doubt. But there is something to be said for a fresh face.

Then again, Dan Walker was a fresh face who’d never been elected to anything before he won his gubernatorial campaign, and we know how that turned out.

So, also, beware. Everybody’s different.

* Speaking of Walker, I excerpted this 1980 Illinois Issues story last week…

Walker was accused of attempting to disguise how he had expanded the number of employees in the governor’s office because of his campaign pledge not to do so.

Pat Quinn was one of those guys who Walker sneaked onto the payroll.

Governors do this sort of thing all the time, of course. And it continues under Quinn, who constantly boasts about trimming his own office budget.

For example, this is from the Illinois Civil Service Commission’s May, 2013 report…

As to Item E, this request is for a Legislative Liaison or Legislative Staff Person at the Department of Children and Family Services, a position that reports to the Chief Legislative Liaison who reports to the Director. The position description contains
language that this position will be performing “back office” responsibilities in the agency’s legislative office as well as more traditional legislative liaison responsibilities. Staff had a concern because historically the Commission has indicated it would not
extend principal policy exemptions to positions in the legislative office that perform administrative duties. However, a check of this position description to other already exempt legislative liaison positions in the agency revealed that they are, for the most part, similar. The agency has also indicated that this position has not been included in any bargaining unit. For those reasons, Staff recommended approval of this request provided the Commissioners are comfortable with the agency having six Section 4d(3) exempt legislative liaison positions. Commissioner Krey inquired whether any of the legislative liaison positions are vacant. Michelle Jackson indicated they were not.

Commissioner Cummings inquired why the agency needs six legislative liaisons as five seems excessive. Michelle Jackson replied that two of the positions are currently assigned to the Governor’s Office by Interagency Agreement, doing similar work on behalf of the agency as well as multiple other agencies. Chairman FitzGerald inquired which agencies were involved. Michelle Jackson indicated she was unsure which specific agencies were involved.

Emphasis added.

* And this June, 2013 Civil Service Commission report, pointed to by a commenter last week, looks a tad suspicious as well…

As to Item F, this request is for a Legislative Liaison at the Department of Public Health, a position that reports to the Deputy Director who reports to the Director. This was also continued from last month due to concerns over whether it was simply performing clerical work or true liaison responsibilities. The agency submitted a clarified position description which confirmed the latter so Staff recommended approval of this request since it is presently excluded from a collective bargaining unit and so long as the Commission is comfortable with the agency having six exempt legislative liaisons. Commissioner Krey inquired how many of these were presently filled. Executive Director Stralka responded that his best recall was four of the six were occupied.

IDPH has six liaison positions? Six?

…Adding… I meant to put this here and forgot. Bill Daley, of course, has never been elected to anything. So, his past associations need to come under strong scrutiny. For example…

U.S. energy regulators are accusing JPMorgan Chase & Co. of manipulating electricity prices in California and the Midwest in 2010 and 2011.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said in an enforcement notice Monday that the bank used improper bidding strategies to squeeze excessive payments from the agencies that run the power grids in California and the Midwest.

This happened during Daley’s tenure at JPMorgan Chase. The bank settled…

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) today approved a stipulation and consent agreement under which JP Morgan Ventures Energy Corporation (JPMVEC) will pay $410 million in penalties and disgorgement to ratepayers for allegations of market manipulation stemming from the company’s bidding activities in electricity markets in California and the Midwest from September 2010 through November 2012.

Under the agreement, JPMVEC will pay a civil penalty of $285 million to the U.S. Treasury and disgorge $125 million in unjust profits. The first $124 million of the disgorged profits will go to ratepayers in the California Independent System Operator (California ISO), which operates the California electricity market. The other $1 million will go to ratepayers in the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO).

The Midcontinent Independent System Operator includes Ameren’s Illinois territory. So, while there wasn’t a huge disgorgement for the Midwest, it was still something and it impacted Illinois and, therefore, could very well come up against Daley in the spring primary campaign.

*** UPDATE *** Daley called and made something clear: “I wasn’t involved in the trading business in any way shape or form,” adding that he hadn’t yet read the FERC complaint or details of the settlement. He said he was mainly aware that JPMorgan Chase was involved in the electric trading business through media reports.

It was, I’m pretty sure, way out of his purview. But it was still his company, so it’s probably fair game in a campaign.

* Related…

* GOP candidate Rauner visits Lakewood: “I don’t think there should be tenure in the schools,” Rauner said. “That doesn’t exist anywhere else in our society. If you’re a good teacher, you should get rewarded. If you’re an ineffective teacher, you should be helped and try to improve. But if you don’t improve, do a different career.”

* Governor candidate Rauner talks jobs creation, pensions in Aurora: “I’m not a politician, I’ve never run for office,” he said. “I didn’t even run for student council in high school.”

* GOP governor candidates make a stop in Elburn: Rauner said his business background as a venture capitalist will help run government more like a business.