THE GIDWITZ ENDORSEMENT: DO WRITERS AT THE TRIBUNE READ THEIR OWN NEWSPAPER?
By Robert Klein Engler (03/06/06)
CHICAGO (6 March '06)--The recent endorsement by The Chicago Tribune of businessman Ron Gidwitz for governor, instead of the Republican front-runner Judy Baar Topinka, may persuade some Illinois Republicans to vote for him, but a closer look at the Gidwitz record and not his bank account or inheritance may change their minds. The issue for many Illinois Republicans in the coming primary is not that Ron Gidwitz has more money to spend on his campaign than Judy Baar Topinka. Instead, the issue is whether or not Ron Gidwitz has the record and ability to be governor of Illinois.
At the very least, the Tribune endorsement may make some downstate Republicans consider just how reform can happen in Illinois government when candidates align themselves with the Chicago establishment. Ron Gidwitz's association with the Chicago Democrats and the Clan of Bridgeport does not cast him as a reformer. His appointment to be chairman of the board at the City Colleges of Chicago was made by Mayor Daley. This close association with Chicago's mayor is hardly the kind of reform Illinois needs. Many in the city believe that Gidwits is in fact Daley's stealth candidate for governor.
After his time at the City Colleges of Chicago, Ron Gidwitz was appointed to head up the Illinois State Board of Education. Even though his campaign literature makes much of his involvement with education, Illinois Republican voters have to ask themselves if they really want a man who headed the state Board of Education at the head of their state government. Many Illinois Republican voters would like to see the state's Board of Education abolished, instead of having the man who used to head it up voted in as governor.
Perhaps the best reason Ron Gidwitz should not be governor is his record as Chairman of the Board at the City Colleges of Chicago. Before the Tribune endorsed Gidwitz they should have taken a closer look at his involvement with this failed educational institution. If the Tribune had taken that closer look, then they might have found that when Gidwitz left the City Colleges of Chicago it was an educational disaster and that the colleges continue to be an educational disaster, today. A foolish college administration and a greedy faculty union have ruined the City Colleges while Ron Gidwitz did little to stop it.
It was a rainy, Chicago afternoon on November 14, 1972, when the Kennedy-King campus of the City Colleges of Chicago was dedicated. At the dedication, Harold Grumhaus, then chairman and publisher of The Chicago Tribune, announced the gift of more than 3,800 books to the college library. "I want to thank you for a magnificent job in building this college...," Grumhaus said. Did anyone at the Tribune think to ask where are those books, today?
Today, there are plans to tear down Kennedy-King College and build a new one at taxpayer expense. College officials say they favor building a new facility rather than renovating the old structure, which has been plagued by massive water leaks from a failing roof. "If it costs $50 to renovate it, it would be too much," said Ralph Moore, a City Colleges board member. "That building has been a disaster from the beginning," Moore added, forgetting that at the beginning it was highly praised by the chairman and publisher of The Chicago Tribune.
Current City Colleges Chancellor Wayne Watson said repairing the roof now would cost more than $10 million. Both Wayne Watson and Ron Gidwitz could have tried to fix the leaking roof at Kennedy-King College years ago, when they were appointed by Mayor Daley, but they didn't. Instead, Watson was rewarded with becoming the chancellor of all the City Colleges and Ron Gidwitz now runs for governor on his record as an educational reformer. No one at the Tribune ever asked about the leaky roof at Kennedy-King or the money still wasted there. We have to wonder if the editorial writers at the Tribune remember Harold Grumhaus or read their own back issues before they decide to endorse a candidate for governor.
If Illinois Republicans do not want the state run the same way the City Colleges of Chicago is run by the Democrats, then they should cast their vote for Judy Baar Topinka. The issue in the coming primary is not that Ron Gidwitz has more money to spend on his campaign but that Judy Baar Topinka has the record and the ability to be governor of Illinois. She could have fixed that leaky, college roof.
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