Message from Executive Director Hoy McConnell:
Chicago and BPI lost a giant of a man when Leon M. Despres died on May 6, 2009 at the age of 101.
Much has been written of what Len did to advance human rights and civil liberties and put an end to political corruption and patronage. (See obituaries in the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times .
BPI was Len’s kind of organization, and he was devoted to it throughout his life. A BPI Director for 33 years, Len’s wit livened many BPI annual dinners as emcee. He received BPI’s first (and only) Thorn-in-the-Side Award in 2003. (See Len’s acceptance remarks for the Thorn-in-the Side, which are “vintage Len”—erudite, humorous and demonstrative of his respect and affection for BPI.)
I spoke to Len a couple of times in the last month, and he made it quite clear that he intended to be present at our May 1 Dinner to receive his “40 Who’ve Made a Difference Award." Unfortunately, he became ill and could not attend. In reviewing his profile for the 40 Award commemorative book, he offered the following edit: To the sentence “Leon Despres has fought for a more transparent, more inclusive and less patronage-ridden Chicago city government…,” Len deleted “less” and inserted “non-patronage-ridden”—an activist nonpareil even in his final days.
In our award presentation here's how we recognized him: “Len Despres has fought for a more honest, inclusive, and non-patronage-ridden Chicago city government longer and more courageously than anyone. He's been a defender of human rights, champion of landmark building preservation, and the one who never feared telling the emperor he had no clothes.”
Rest in peace, Len.
_______________________________________________________________
Our 40th Anniversary Celebration
BPI’s 40 Who’ve Made a Difference Honorees
In celebration of our 40th Anniversary of public interest service to the people of the Chicago region, BPI honored the extraordinary public interest accomplishments of 40 individuals whose vision, tenacity and courage have contributed so much to the people of the Chicago region. The 40 Who’ve Made a Difference Awards were presented at BPI’s 40th Anniversary Celebration Dinner on Friday, May 1 at the Fairmont Hotel. Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick delivered the keynote address.
Click here for our 40 Who've Made a Difference Commemorative Book with profiles and photos of all the honorees.
Event Photos
Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick - Keynote Speaker
L-R: John Schmidt, a 2008 recipient of BPI's Champion of the Public Interest Award, introduced Gov. Patrick.
BPI Board President Steve Kersten and Executive Director Hoy McConnell
L-R: BPI Directors Nick Brunick, Event Co-Chair, and Rosanna Marquez, 40 Award Committee Chair,
introduced the 40 Who've Made a Difference Honorees.
Left: Honorees Raul Raymundo of The Resurrection Project (far left) and
Josh Hoyt (Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights) (far right)
Right: Honorees Kale Williams (Leadership Council for Metropolitan Open Communities) and Marca Bristo (Access Living of Metropolitan Chicago)
Left: (L-R) BPI Director Deborah Harrington, Daniel Levin and Gov. Patrick
Right: (L-R) Dan Casey and Honorees Dawn Clark Netsch and Bud Lifton
Left: Honoree and former BPI President Elliot Lehman
Right: (L-R) Gov. Patrick and Honorees Abner Mikva, Bettylu Saltzman and Zoe Mikva
Left: Honorees Rev. Willie T. Barrow (RainbowPUSH Coalition) and Bernie Wong (Chinese American Service League)
Right: (L-R) Illinois State Sen. Kwame Raoul, Rev. Calvin Morris (Community Renewal Society) and Dr. Gary Slutkin (Chicago Project for Violence Prevention/CeaseFire)
U.S. Senator Roland Burris talking with Mikva Challenge alum Darius Lyles
Left: Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan and Honoree Dawn Clark Netsch
Right: (L-R) Gov. Patrick, BPI Director Ann Smith and Sen. Raoul
Left: Gov. Patrick and Honoree Alex Polikoff
Right: (L-R) Jenny Salvatore, BPI's first Polikoff-Gautreaux Fellow, Susan Kaden and BPI Director Jonathan Kaden
BPI'S 40 WHO'VE MADE A DIFFERENCE HONOREES:
Kimball R. Anderson
Winston & Strawn LLP
Ben Applegate and Tom Thorne-Thomsen
Applegate & Thorne-Thomsen, P.C.
Joy Aruguete
Bickerdike Redevelopment Corporation
Rev. Willie T. Barrow
RainbowPUSH Coalition
Scott Bernstein
Center for Neighborhood Technology
Barbara Bowman
Chicago Public Schools/ Erikson Institute
Marca Bristo
Access Living
Thom Clark
Community Media Workshop
Leon M. Despres*
Civic and Government Leader
Sunny Fischer
The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation
Jesus "Chuy" Garcia
Enlace Chicago
Samir Goswami
Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation
Ronald Grzywinski
ShoreBank Corporation
Joan W. Harris
Civic Leader
Joshua Hoyt
Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights
Richard P. Kiphart
Civic Leader
Elliot Lehman
Civic Leader
Robert "Bud" Lifton
Civic Leader
Harriet Meyer
Ounce of Prevention
Zoe Mikva and Hon. Abner Mikva
Mikva Challenge
Rev. Calvin S. Morris, Ph.D.
Community Renewal Society
Thomas H. Morsch
Northwestern University School of Law
Dawn Clark Netsch
Northwestern University School of Law
Eboo Patel
Interfaith Youth Core
Alexander Polikoff
Business and Professional People for the Public Interest
George Ranney
Chicago Metropolis 2020
Raul Raymundo
The Resurrection Project
Leonard S. Rubinowitz
Northwestern University School of Law
Jane M. Saks
Ellen Stone Belic Institute for the Study of
Women and Gender in the Arts and Media,
Columbia College Chicago
Bettylu Saltzman
Civic Leader
Dr. Gary Slutkin
CeaseFire/ University of Illinois at Chicago
Robin M. Steans
Advance Illinois
Randolph Stone
University of Chicago Law School
Jackie Taylor
Black Ensemble Theater
Carlos Tortolero
National Museum of Mexican Art
Lois Weisberg
City of Chicago, Department of Cultural Affairs
Kale Williams
Social Activist
Judy Wise
Facing History and Ourselves
Bernie Wong
Chinese American Service League
Dr. Quentin Young
Health and Medicine Policy Research Group
*Deceased May 5, 2009
____________________________________________________________
Executive Director Hoy McConnell's Letter on
Campaign Finance Reform
Chicago Tribune
May 4, 2009
Campaign Caps
The Tribune deserves plaudits for its "State of Corruption" series and its call to "drain the swamp of corruption that has made Illinois famous." A comprehensive set of reform measures are desperately needed in Illinois today. And the single most important -- the cornerstone for all ethics reform -- is strict limits on political campaign contributions.
Big money needs to come out of Illinois politics. It's a corrupting and corrosive influence. Under our state's totally unregulated system, big campaign contributions can out-muscle and, in effect, trample the will of the public by boosting candidates beholden to these huge donors. Campaign caps on individuals are not enough, however. Reasonable limits need to be set for contributions to candidates and parties by political action committees. More important, Illinois needs to impose limits on transfers of funds from legislative caucus committees to individual candidates. PACs controlled by the four Illinois legislative leaders have been making six-figure contributions to candidates in targeted races.
The April 23 front-page story "Campaign cash hard to curb; State of corruption: Money spigot could still flow under proposed reform" has it right that "where caps might have the biggest impact is in the legislature, where party leaders have kept a tight grip on power by underwriting the campaigns of many rank-and-file loyalists."
In the face of public outrage, Illinois' political leaders seem poised to allow some campaign contribution limits. But beware of watered-down legislation with loopholes, omissions and limits that won't really matter. The devil is in the details. And in Illinois politics, the devil needs minding.
-- Hoy McConnell, Steering Committee, CHANGE Illinois!, executive director, Business and Professional People for the Public Interest, Chicago
_____________________________________________________________
Governor Quinn Makes Education Funding Advisory Board Appointments
On May 5, in direct response to a lawsuit brought by BPI, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn appointed five new members to the Educational Funding Advisory Board (EFAB). EFAB plays a key role in the Illinois education funding system by establishing the "Foundation Level"—the minimum amount required to provide a basic education to an Illinois student.
EFAB had not met or made recommendations since 2003, because former Governor Blagojevich had consistently failed in his statutory duty to make appointments to the Board and convene it to make its recommendations. BPI sued then-Governor Blagojevich over these failures in January 2009, and Governor Quinn stepped in where his predecesor had not and made the appointments so that the Board can once again do its important work.
Click here for press release announcing the EFAB appointees: Sylvia Puente, EFAB chair, and members Dean Clark, Arthur Culver, Ed Geppert, Jr., and Ken Swanson.
