Illinois Politics and Government: The Expanding Metropolitan Frontier.

• Author: Stafford, William

Reviewed by William Stafford, executive director, Illinois Metropolitan Investment Fund, and member of GFOA's Committee on Cash Management.

Anyone interested in the current political debate of "government by Darwinism" versus "government by social engineering," needs to read this book! Darwinism is alive and well at all levels of Illinois politics and permeates the very fabric of life in the Prairie State. In Illinois the debate is over! Authors Samuel Gove and James Nowlan paint a bleak but entertaining picture of life in the big dog-eats-small dog world of Illinois politics. No branch or sector of Illinois political life seems removed from this survival-of-the-fittest mentality.

This book is comprehensive in its descriptions and assessment of Illinois politics. The Illinois political scene is addressed in early chapters along with a description of the Chicago/Collar County (counties surrounding Chicago)/Downstate triumvirate power structure that dominates Illinois politics. It also focuses on the individualistic mode of governance and politics which is "centered on political influence and patronage." Interest group lobbying and unfettered campaign spending creates an atmosphere of government for sale which is well documented in numerous anecdotes throughout the book.

The middle chapters of the book proceed to address specific forms and branches of Illinois government and the politics that characterize them. The 1970 Constitutional Convention is well documented and the authors describe its attempts to modernize Illinois government. The state's General Assembly is then analyzed in depth. "The Four Tops" is a phrase used to describe the Speaker of the House, President of the Senate, and the minority leaders in both assemblies. The power is so concentrated in the respective party leaderships that the rank and file legislators are clearly just members attending political concerts where their main role is to applaud "The Four Tops" and vote as directed. The power of these four leaders flows directly from their ability to raise and control campaign funding.

As the governor's political power is generally a function of personality and perceived power, recent Illinois governors are compared and contrasted. The Illinois courts and their elected three-level structure present a recurring theme of less-than-qualified judges and a...