April 9, 2002

BY DAVE MCKINNEY SUN-TIMES SPRINGFIELD BUREAU

SPRINGFIELD--The arcane $25,000-a-year state job in which a Republican operative was paid to do nothing more than watch meetings of the Water Reclamation District of Metropolitan Chicago is being abolished by Gov. Ryan.

The sanitary district observer position was among a group of obscure boards and commissions that Ryan moved to eliminate last week in an executive order aimed at "streamlining government and reducing bureaucracy."

But it took Ryan almost two years to toss out the governor- appointed position held by former Wheeling Township Republican Committeeman Connie Peters. He learned about the job in a June 2000 Chicago Sun-Times report but saw legislative efforts to eliminate the post stall.

Since then, taxpayers paid her almost $50,000 in salary for a state job that top aides to the governor describe as useless.

"The post was necessary at one time perhaps. But it really doesn't play a critical role today," Ryan spokesman Dennis Culloton said. "The position has outlived its usefulness."

Peters, who did not return a message left at her home, was appointed to the position in 1985 by Gov. James Thompson after she ran for and lost a spot on the water reclamation district board. Except for a 14-month gap in the early 1990s, she has held the post nonstop since then, raking in close to $230,000 over the years, state payroll records show.

This job wasn't the only source of state income for Peters. Since 1989, she has had a no-bid contract with the secretary of state's office to monitor state literacy grants, drawing $20,485 last year. The deal--first awarded by former Secretary of State Jim Edgar and extended through Ryan's two terms in that office--expires at the end of this month. An aide to Secretary of State Jesse White said it is unclear whether her contract will be renewed.

While Ryan gets praise for discontinuing the outmoded sanitary district observer job, particularly during the state's massive budget crunch, one government watchdog wants to know why it took the governor so long to act.

"Very definitely, the question is why did it take two years?" said Cindi Canary, director of Illinois Campaign for Political Reform. "In the scheme of things, it may be a small amount of money, but all these small amounts of money add up to a whopping budget deficit."

Culloton said Ryan tried to eliminate the post and several other unused boards or commissions under his control twice in the Legislature, but it stalled.

Faced with that obstacle, Culloton said the governor's office undertook "more research" and found the state Constitution afforded him the power to eliminate the sanitary district observer job himself.