Power brokers or power vacuum?

BY BILL KNIGHT

The increasing vibrancy of the Warehouse District is seen when crowds hear the Peoria Municipal Band play on Water Street, and the livelier downtown is showcased in Caterpillar’s Visitors Center or the Riverfront Museum.

Then.

Everyday Peorians feel ignored when expressing their opposition to the proposed River Trail apartment complex taking Riverfront Park public land for private use, and the U.S. Labor Department on June 17 reported that Peoria had the nation’s fourth-largest decline in employment last year.

Some worry that special interests exert considerable influence and steer local government to enact policies that benefit a few fixers who often pay thousands of dollars to participate in a handful of business groups.

Others see a power vacuum, if not questionable success.

Who’s in charge? Elected officials and/or the professionals they hire? Business people? (See box.)

Chuck Grayeb, City Councilman from the Second District who’s been on the Council off and on for 15 years, said there’s “no big power monolith or conspiracy. I see poly-econo-centrism now.”

There’s a “lack of any solid, cohesive organization” he continued, but “while I do not agree with all decisions of the body, I feel it is a very fine [City] Council overall. I remain optimistic that some votes may change on Riverfront Park blunder.”

In previous years, Peoria arguably was shaped by a few power brokers, including George Luthy (Commercial National Bank), Dave Connor (Luthy’s son-in-law, also with that bank and chair of the Downtown Development Council), and Ray Neumann (a First Federal Savings & Loan executive who also served on the Peoria County Board and City Council).

It’s different now, Grayeb said.

“The days of [Mayor Dick] Carver, Luthy, Neumann and Connor are over,” he said. “Will there be a powerful new economic monolith? Maybe; I don’t see it.”

Still, Peoria Mayor Jim Ardis has praised interlocking interests as “shared responsibility with the private sector,” conceding that the City’s “participating with business entities.”

The challenge, he’s added, is “Who is doing what?”

One area legislative aide commented, “There is no lead agency so they all sort of blur together.”

It was less confusing when Peoria had one “shadow-mayor” businessman wielding clout.

Connor decades ago said, “There was a very close alliance between the leaders of the political structure and the leaders of the [business] structure. But it had its dark side in that there was a clique running the town.”

Are today’s “cliques” efficient and positive promoters of development? Are they accountable to taxpayers and voters? Are they a manipulative bloc shaping a future that a tiny group envisions, or civic leaders willing to cooperate and collaborate with an often-messy democratic process?

Political scientist Kent Redfield, faculty member at the Institute of Government and Public Affairs at University of Illinois and author of “Money Counts: How Dollars Dominate Illinois Politics and What We Can Do about It,” said public policy can get distorted.

“Money is still hugely important,” he said. “The end result can be a bias toward certain interests and certain ways of thinking about public problems.”

Such groups’ members don’t come from all walks of life.

“Certain type of people get invited to join and certain types of people do not,” Redfield said. “It takes time and resources to volunteer, and that works against people with working-class jobs and schedules.”

Influence itself isn’t illegal, he added.

“Individuals have a constitutional right to try to influence government,” Redfield said. “The problem is that this type of group has resources and access which allows them to present a narrow perspective to public officials about what a city’s problems are and the options for solving them. If the result is that decisions get made in a room without windows by a group of people with narrow interests and perspectives, then a systematic bias gets built into the political process – even absent the impact of big money on the process (which is rarely absent).”

Maybe it’s always been that way. From Luthy’s time starting in the late 1940s, businesspeople and groups evolved into outfits like the Riverfront Business District Commission (which morphed into the Heart of Peoria Commission), the Heartland Partnership, etc.

“Private economic interests historically have run the counties, states and cities,” Redfield said. “While the influence of private economic interests are not as strong as they once were, the primary interests of cities – keeping jobs, attracting jobs, having resources to provide basic services – means that private economic interests are going to have an audience and sympathetic ear with mayors and city councils.”

If regular people are excluded, they might at least be informed, Redfield said.

“Public/private partnerships for economic development, which give private individuals or groups the authority to spend public money to promote or assist the location, expansion, etc. of private companies, can present real problems with accountability and transparency,” Redfield continued. “Public officials should be transparent and open about who they are meeting with and who they are talking to, and if they are not, news media and public-interest groups should call them on it.

“If a council or commission has some degree of government status or is exercising some type of public authority, then accountability and transparency should be built into the governmental action creating the group. The same is true for the membership, regardless of whether they are appointed by a governmental entity or by a private group. In these situations, Open Meetings and Freedom of Information laws should apply.”

There is better transparency at the Greater Peoria Economic Development Commission, according to director Jennifer Daly, after it decided in May to operate more openly.

“I think public private partnerships are ideal,” Daly said. “Having investment and guidance from both sectors provides a balance of perspectives and support critical to the success of economic development efforts for any community or region.”

Sounds good. Last question: Do citizens have clout, too?

 

 

‘Who’s who’

Some of the groups with influence on Peoria’s future, and a sampling of their members with the interest, time and money to be involved. (“It’s ‘pay to play,’” said one member.)

CEO Council: Jeff Boss (Morton Community Bank), Michael Cullinan (R.A. Cullinan & Son), Barent Eichelberger (Commerce Bank), Jeff Fick (RLI), Tom Fliege (Hawk Agency), Scott Hedden (Heritage Bank),

Bernie Koch (River City Consttruction), Ted Linderbusch (Dynegy), Cinda Loos, Hanson Professional Services), Craig Nelson (Ameren), Gary Pearl (Pearl Companies), Sara Rusch (University of Illinois College of Medicine), Don Shafer (Heartland Bank), Larry Timm (AAIM Employers’ Association) and Adam White (Running Central).

Downtown Advisory Commission: Adam Hamilton (Caterpillar), Jonathan Jenkins (Lucwork/Taco Bell), Ray Lees (PSA-Dewberry), Mark Missselhorn (apaceDesign), Kathryn Shackelford (Tri-County Regional Planning Commission) and Kip Strasma (UnityPoint Methodist).

Downtown Development Corp.: Christopher Glynn (Caterpillar), Jake Hamman (OneFire Media/Start Up Peoria), Karen Jensen (Farnsworth Group), Ronald Jost (OSF), Jeff Kolbus (Traders Realty), Joseph LoMonaco (Pere Marquette), Roberta Parks (UnityPoint Health – Methodist Foundation), Henry Vicary (Caterpillar) and Jonathan Williams (Commerce Bank).

Greater Peoria Economic Development Council: Meredith Bunch (Midstate College), Nick Esser (Heartland Bank), Diana Hall (Bard Optical), Jake Hamman (OneFire Media/Start Up Peoria) and Bill Spears (Connor Co.)

Washington Street Advisory Group: According to TERRA Engineering’s 2011 Washington Street Improvement Project report, “stakeholders” included Carey French of Caterpillar, Margaret Hanley of the Warehouse District Association, and Michael Schechinger of Archer Daniels Midland.

Others publicly or privately active include the Peoria Area Chamber of Commerce and its Greater Peoria Business Alliance, the Greater Peoria Manufacturing Network, the Private Industry Council, and the Tri-County Regional Planning Commission.