Rauner Called Out Over Gender Balance - Journal & Topics Newspapers Online: News

 

Several groups are calling out Gov. Bruce Rauner claiming some of his political appointments fail to comply with a state statute that demands state boards and commissions be balanced with regard to gender.

Specifically, the National Council of Women’s Organizations, a Washington D.C.-based group representing more than 200 women’s groups, the Illinois Green Party and Buffalo Grove activist Rob Sherman want members of the Illinois Senate to deny the governor’s Illinois Tollway Board nominees. Their gripe is that each of the tollway board’s nominees is male, which violates state law in the Gender Balanced Appointments Act.

The act states, “All appointments to boards, commissions, committees and councils of the State created by the laws of this State and after the effective date of this Act shall be gender balanced to the extent possible and to the extent that appointees are qualified to serve on those boards, commissions, committees and councils. If gender balance is not possible, then appointments shall provide for significant representation of both sexes to boards, commissions, committees and councils governed by this Act.”

The appointment of an all-male tollway board, “is a social injustice as well as a statutory violation,” Vito Mastrangelo of the Illinois Green Party (ILGP) said. “The ILGP urges the Illinois Senate to refuse to confirm appointments that are not gender balanced in accordance with Illinois law.”

National Council of Women’s Organizations Corporate Accountability Project Director Martha Burk urged tollway board nominations be withdrawn as they do not conform to the law or “basic principles of fairness and good governance” in a June 21 letter to Rauner and Assistant Senate Majority Leader Antonio Munoz (D-1st) who sits on the executive appointments committee.

“Fifty percent of the members the governor has appointed or reappointed to the tollway board are minorities, so to insinuate that the administration hasn't made diversity a priority is misguided,” Rauner’s Press Secretary Catherine Kelly told the Journal & Topics in the first of several email exchanges on the issue.

“The law is about gender equity,” said Burk. “The governor’s office is to be commended on race (racially diverse appointments), but the law is not relevant to race and it is insulting for them to try to change the subject.”

Kelly said in a later email: “Gov. Rauner has increased the number of women serving on boards and commissions requiring senate confirmation. Fourteen boards have seen the number of women members rise under Gov. Rauner compared to the previous administration. Women now lead the Human Rights Commission, the Illinois Criminal Justice and Information Authority, the Illinois Liquor Control Commission and the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission, which has its first woman chair since Gov. Thompson’s administration.”

State Rep. Elaine Nekritz (D-57th) pointed out that the former chair of the Illinois Tollway Board and its former director under Gov. Pat Quinn were both women.

“Illinois is a diverse state, it (the tollway board) should reflect the state, so appointing women and minorities should be a priority,” Nekritz said.

Ethnicities are not listed on a state website listing the names of board and commission appointees, nor are genders. The Journal & Topics requested the governor’s office provide a breakdown of appointees by gender and race. The governor’s office did not supply that information as of press time late Monday, July 27. The Journal looked at a number of higher profile board and commission appointee lists to determine their makeups. While determining race is not possible by those lists, determining common use of names by gender is.

The Journal found mixed results in a random sampling of state boards and commissions. Besides the tollway board, the Illinois Gaming Board consists of four members with one vacancy, all of them appearing to be male. The Illinois Labor Relations Board is comprised of eight members, six appointed by the governor and one each appointed by the Cook County board president and Chicago mayor. All eight are male.

Some boards appeared more mixed. The Illinois Commerce Commission is made up of what appears to be three men and two women. The Illinois Board of Education appears to be made up of six men and three women. The Illinois Board of Higher Education includes what appears to be seven women and five men. The Illinois Human Rights Commission is chaired by a woman and appears to have seven women and five men on its board. The Illinois Housing and Urban Development Board has what appears to be five women and four men.

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