In Oak Park, Gov. Ryan gains praise, avoids troubles

By ERIC LINDEN

Gov. Ryan had nothing to say about the scandals swirling around his
office when he came to Oak Park Thursday, and that was fine with the Oak
Park students and officials who listened appreciatively to his Feb. 3
remarks at Emerson Junior High School.

Ryan and his staff and security entourage came to Emerson, 916
Washington Blvd., to highlight the governor's education programs and the
state's recent gift of $17.7 million to Oak Park Elementary School
District 97 for construction of two new middle schools to replace both
Emerson and Percy Julian Junior High School, 416 S. Ridgeland Ave.

In his brief remarks, Ryan said the funds for Oak Park came from the $12
billion Illinois FIRST public works program, which has drawn some
criticism, as have the accusations that state drivers' licenses were
sold to benefit's Ryan's election campaign for governor while he was
Secretary of State, the state official who runs vehicle licensing.

"We all know what the problems are," Ryan said about the licensing
scandals, which he did not address in his remarks and which he pointedly
refused to answer after taking questions from reporters.

Ryan, who has issued public apologies for the licensing scandal "on my
watch," said he would not comment any further while the case proceeds
through the court system. Dean Bauer, a 40-year friend of Ryan's from
his hometown of Kankakee, was named while Ryan was Secretary of State to
investigate the licensing charges and now has been indicted by the U.S.
Attorney's office in Chicago. Bauer is accused of halting the probe into
the licensing sales to protect Ryan and his political future.

"I have nothing further to say," Ryan told reporters in Oak Park, and
for that comment he received hearty applause from the students and
others gathered in the auditorium at Emerson. He said reporters and
others seeking further information about the past Secretary of State
developments will have to wait for the courts to provide the information
through testimony and verdicts.

Rather than focus on the scandals, the students and officials heaped
praise on Ryan for the state grant, which was first announced last July.
Accompanying the new 1,000-student middle schools will be District 97's
renovations to the district's other schools: Beye, 230 Ontario St.;
Hatch, 1000 N. Ridgeland Ave.; Holmes, 508 N. Kenilworth Ave.; Irving,
1125 S. Cuyler Ave.; Lincoln, 1111 S. Grove Ave.; Longfellow, 715 S.
Highland Ave.; Mann, 921 N. Kenilworth Ave.; and Whittier, 715 N. Harvey
Ave.

The total project cost to District 97 is now estimated at "approximately
$31 million," the governor's office said. Oak Park voters last April
approved an increase in property taxes to fund the project. Later, it
was discovered that the school district's cost estimates were lower than
the actual costs, and the multi-million--and originally
unexpected--state grant went a long way toward closing a large financial
gap.

The Illinois FIRST program is being financed by an array of increases in
state fees, charges and taxes. Ryan has taken some criticism for the
program because, in part, of his pre-election pledge not to increase
state taxes if elected governor. But Ryan has said the financial package
amounts to hikes in user fees and not an increase in the income tax,
which is how he has termed his pre-election statement.

That question about Illinois FIRST also was ignored by the students and
the many Oak Park officials to attend the governor's appearance in the
village. Among those on hand for the governor's appearance were a roster
of public school officials from Oak Park and River Forest, Oak Park
Village President Barbara Furlong and others from village hall and more,
including former Village President John Philbin, who was chairman of the
citizens campaign to pass the District 97 referendum to raise property
taxes and undertake the school building construction.

Speaking in praise of Ryan's visit to Oak Park were District 97 school
board president Elizabeth Lippitt and School Superintendent John Fagan.
Fagan said Ryan has "a great education agenda," values students,
teachers, facilities and all aspects of education and is "an aggressive
leader in education."

Governor Ryan with Rodger Jones and Matt Fischer

Also as part of the Ryan program in Oak Park, Emerson students Matt
Fischer and Rodger Jones read a thank-you to Ryan for the large state
grant and also presented the governor with a shirt displaying the
Emerson Concert Orchestra, which during the program had played "the Star
Spangled Banner" and was conducted by orchestra director Ed Bell.

"I can play in the band now," Ryan said after receiving the gift from
the students, who are leaders in the safety committee that gives input
to school officials about various policies and rules at Emerson.

Ryan's appearance in Oak Park also was a follow-up to his Feb. 2 State
of the State Address. The governor in that speech, Ryan unveiled several
new programs, including initiatives to, he said, make "education and
workforce (his) number one priority."

The governor, a Republican who was elected to a four-year term in
November 1998, said the state funds for Oak Park's building projects
came about in part with help from State Sen. Kimberly Lightford of the
4th District and State Rep. Wanda Sharp of the 7th District. Both those
districts include Oak Park's junior high school buildings and both the
legislators are Democrats who live in Maywood. Sharp, who was appointed
to fill a vacancy last year, is seeking the Democratic nomination in the
March 21 primary against Maywood resident Karen Yarbrough, who has some
support from Oak Parkers, and Oak Park resident William B. Sullivan, who
is backed by some other villagers, including former Illinois Senate
President Philip Rock of Oak Park.

During his remarks in Oak Park, Ryan joked with the Emerson students
that his State of the State address lasted one hour and four minutes,
but that he would not talk that long in Oak Park so students could
return to class. But he received loud cries of "no, no," when his
appearance ended and he asked the students in the auditorium if "you
guys want to get back to class?"

Ryan was less friendly with reporters who asked about the drivers
license scandals. And he also bristled slightly when asked about
published suggestions that he favored passage of casino gambling in Cook
County in part because it would benefit politically connected
politicians and developers.

"That's (only) good fodder for people like you who write newspaper
articles," Ryan said to a reporter asking about questions raised last
year with passage of a new casino for suburban Rosemont.

In Oak Park, one of the few Illinois communities that has passed a local
ban on the private possession of handguns, Ryan stated strong support
for his previous proposal to reinstitute the state's Safe Neighborhoods
Act, which, among other things, calls for felony charges to be leveled
against any Illinois resident found to be in illegal possession of a
gun. Republican Senators in the last session of the General Assembly led
the move to defeat the bill, but Ryan in Oak Park said he would continue
to work for passage of the act.

To more applause, Ryan said, "I will continue to fight to make illegal
possession of guns a felony in the state."

In another topic broached by reporters, Ryan commented on the Republican
presidential nomination election contest, in which U.S. Sen. John McCain
of Arizona defeated presumed front-runner Gov. George W. Bush of Texas
by a wide margin in the New Hampshire primary, the first in the 2000
election season. Ryan, who co-chairs Bush's campaign in Illinois, said
it was "a major surprise" to him that Bush lost by 18 percentage in the
New Hampshire balloting. Ryan said, however, that he would continue to
support Bush in the primary unless he drops out. Ryan also said he hoped
that the initial primary loss for Bush was "a bump in the road" on the
way to gaining the Republican nomination and election as president in
November.

 As he was leaving the Emerson auditorium to attend a reception in the
school's "little gym," Ryan told oak-park-journal.com that he last was
in Oak Park last summer after the state gave a major grant to the Ernest
Hemingway Foundation for the ongoing restoration of the Hemingway Birth
Home at 339 N. Oak Park Ave.

"I think we gave them a million dollars," Ryan said.