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Jesse's stumbles

Nice guy of Illinois politics lends hand to biographer, daughter

08/19/2006

By: Greg Hinz

Crain's Chicago Business

In more than three decades as a public official, Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White rightly has earned a reputation as one of the nicest people you'll ever meet. Mr. White's demeanor, civil-rights advocacy and extraordinary work with underprivileged kids through the Jesse White Tumblers makes him a near-unassailable figure in a state where politics is a blood sport.

But even nice guys sometimes make lousy decisions. There's no other way to describe a series of blunders that, individually, haven't received much attention but collectively make you scratch your head.

Start with the nifty new biography of Mr. White by Springfield's Rick Davis.

The book — available at your local store — is as glowing as its title: "They Call Heroes Mister: The Jesse White Story." Mr. Davis clearly admires his subject, and spends more than 300 pages detailing everything from Mr. White's social work near Cabrini-Green to how he might have brought the Cubs a pennant had they brought him up from the minors.

But one thing isn't mentioned in the book. That's how Mr. Davis spends most of his time: working for Secretary of State White as a $73,000-a-year contract employee.

Mr. Davis says he sees no conflict. He says he actually began talking with Mr. White about the venture in 1998, before Mr. White was elected secretary of state, and says all research and writing was done "on my own time." Mr. White has decided to donate to charity his share of profits from the $19.95 book, which so far has sold about 1,000 copies, Mr. Davis adds.

Mr. White declines to be interviewed. His spokesman says Mr. Davis developed a school-bus safety education program that is so good it won a national award, and that it's been "cheaper" to keep him on the payroll since 1999 as a contract worker rather than as an employee.

Contract employees indeed do not receive benefits. On the other hand, those lucky contractors avoid competing with other applicants for civil service jobs. Either way, imagine what the media would do to, say, Gov. Rod Blagojevich if he allowed a $73,000-a-year staffer to write a flattering biography in an election year.

Then there's Mr. White's daughter, Glenna White-Jones, whose salary with the secretary of state has almost tripled since daddy took office in 1999.

Mr. White's spokesman notes that Ms. White-Jones worked for a major accounting firm and a well-known corporation before being hired by then-Secretary of State George Ryan in the early-'90s. When Mr. White took office, his daughter "was the only certified public accountant" in the office's accounting and revenue unit, so he made her unit head, the spokesman adds.

Ms. White-Jones has continued to advance. She makes $112,512 a year — a bit more than the $39,267 she made under Mr. Ryan in 1998.

Apparently, what's good for the boss is good for the boss' No. 1. Joining the secretary of state's office in December as a $25-an-hour contract secretary was one Benedetta Benigno. She's also known as Mrs. Thomas Benigno, wife of Mr. White's chief of staff, and makes about $2,000 a month as a part-timer in a unit that checks on fraudulent driver's licenses.

Mr. White's spokesman says Ms. Benigno was a secretary before taking time off to raise a family, and that she and three others were hired under an 18-month contract because the office lacks funds for permanent staff.

Overall, he concludes, Mr. White has cleaned up a corrupt office, and all those mentioned above were qualified.

A somewhat different take comes from state Sen. Dan Rutherford of Downstate Chenoa, the GOP nominee for secretary of state in the November election. "This is the old way of doing business," he says, pointing as well to a Sun-Times report that Mr. White accepted $1,000 in cash from staffers as a gift last Christmas. (Mr. White says he gave the money to charity and won't do it again.) "This is a not an isolated case. It's a pattern."

Yes, it is. The nice guy who replaced the disgraced George Ryan ought know better.