Governor Names New State Fair Director

For the first time ever the DuQuoin State Fair will not have a separate fair manager.

Rather than appoint managers for Springfield and DuQuoin state fairs, Gov. Bruce Rauner's administration named Patrick Buchan, a Fulton County native, to oversee both state fairs in Springfield and DuQuoin.

Although it's a loss for Southern Illinois, considering the state's fiscal crisis, we're lucky to only lose the manager position rather than the entire fair.

The good news is that also for the first time an Illinois governor has actually appointed someone with experience in state fairs and producing major shows.

Buchen previously served as Executive Director of the Indiana State Fair, President of HSI Show Productions, and Executive Director of the Texas Longhorn Cattle Breeders Association.  He is certified in Exposition Management from the International Association of Exhibitions and Events, and the past chair for the International Association for Exhibition Management Foundation.  Buchen is a graduate of Monmouth College, where he holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics.  Buchen has a track record of boosting revenues while trimming unproductive expenditures. 

“As an event professional I have dealt with all facets of show management.  I truly believe to meet the demands of the event industry, creativity is paramount in order to present something new and fresh year after year while still delivering familiarity,” said Buchen.  “I love agriculture and the fair business, so becoming manager of the state fairs in Illinois is a dream come true.”

The above quote comes for the official news release from the Department of Agriculture.

Even more amazing, the governor is not quoted at all, the agency director is.

"I am confident that Patrick Buchen can effectively manage both state fair operations.  In this day and age of shared sacrifice, we at the Illinois Department of Agriculture are tightening our belts where we can, but at the same time preserve the traditions that Illinois residents enjoy at both state fairs,” said Ag Director Philip Nelson. “Patrick has both the agriculture experience and the fair experience that will really help him to showcase Illinois, specifically the state’s rich agricultural roots.”

The quote is too long for a proper news release. It should have been split in at least two paragraphs, however it's a marked improvement in agency communications. It also has two spaces after each period suggesting that the writer isn't familiar with the AP Style Guide and hasn't worked for a newspaper before.

In my experience dealing with state news releases they've been going downhill since Jim Edgar left office. Each succeeding administration has made an increasing number of gubernatorial quotes mandatory on almost every release. Everything the state did had to look like the governor cared and acted, when in reality, the man in office didn't even know anything about the subject matter being released.

Worst case - Rod Blagojevich being quoted extensively by the Department of Natural Resources when the man never visited a state park during his entire term of office. Someone in his administration even decided that the governor's name should be top and center on every state park brochure, even above the name of the state park rather than on the back like it had been for decades.

I'm off my soapbox now. Back to the subject at hand. Overall, this has every potential of actually working out in favor of DuQuoin and the region.

According to the State Journal-Register the DuQuoin State Fair lost $630,000 in FY 2012 and $595,000 in FY 2013, significantly less than the fair losses at Springfield.

Now if DNR can find similar management, or privatize the World Shooting Complex at Sparta, Southern Illinois might see better results at both state-owned sites.

State to Re-Open Fort Defiance at Confluence

I had to do a double-take reading today's Fort Defiance headline in the Southern Illinoisan. I read Fort Massac in place of Fort Defiance, and thought the state of Illinois was finally going to rebuild the fort which is currently condemned. Instead, they're focusing on the site of the Civil War fort at Cairo.

Technically, the site of the fort is more still inside Cairo rather than the actual confluence of Ohio and Mississippi Rivers as the confluence has moved downstream in the last century and a half. As an example of the constant changing nature of the rivers the old boat ramp sits underneath six and eight feet of silt.

Joey Thurston, site superintendent at nearby Horseshoe Lake State Fish and Wildlife Area, added Fort Defiance to his portfolio July 1 at the start of the state's new fiscal year. The incredibly impoverished, yet rich in history, city of Cairo had operated the site barely since the 1980s, not the 90s, as the article notes.

The site has some issues as Thurston outlines, but I've got to say it's been a long time since I've seen an IDNR employee sounding gun-ho at fixing issues and restoring a site to public use.

By the way, if you go visit the park, don't forget to take a ride in Cairo's subway. It's still there.

Quinn Pledges to Reopen Parks, Historic Sites

The newly-installed Gov. Patrick J. Quinn Administration is expected to quickly re-open the 11 state parks and 13 state historic sites shuttered by former Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

This would include Fort Kaskaskia, Pierre Menard Home, Fort du Chartres, Cahokia Courthouse and the Vandalia Statehouse state historic sites in northwestern part of Southern Illinois.

Quinn made the comments specifically about the parks and in general about the historic sites at a news conference in the Statehouse minutes after he took the oath of office as Illinois' newest governor.

Quinn became governor following the Illinois Senate's 59-0 vote Thursday afternoon to convict Blagojevich for abuse of power during his six years in office. Now a private citizen the former governor still faces criminal prosecution for his alleged actions.

While Quinn would not - and self-admittedly could not - identify the scope of the state's budget deficit without further study, he reiterated earlier pledges to re-open the state parks. Comments by him and other state officials in recent days indicate a budget hole of at least $4 to $5 billion.

At his news conference he pointedly stressed the importance of heritage tourism as a growing industry and the need to make certain these sites, both Lincoln-related as well as others, be open to the public.

As to the leadership of Department of Natural Resources and other staff positions, he said nothing would be announced until next week.

When asked specifically about DNR and it's recently appointed director Kurt Granberg, Quinn once again reiterated earlier comments he's made indicating his belief that a natural resources professional should be in that position. Granberg is a long-time legislator who retired from the Illinois House earlier this month.

Quinn was not asked about the larger funding issues surrounding state parks and historic sites. In Southern Illinois staffing for state parks is down 40 percent in the last five years in Region 5 of DNR.

Throughout the state staffing for the Historic Sites Division of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency is down 60 percent since 2000. If the recent cuts are restored, staffing levels will still be off 40 percent since the end of the last millennium.

Even if funding could be restored to 2000 levels, that would leave only one IHPA staffer in the 22 counties served by the Southern Illinois Tourism Development Office, an area with seven IHPA-owned historic sites.

Support Still Needed for State Park Funding

I received the following e-mail alert yesterday from our friends at ICCVB. It deals with the funding legislation passed recently for state parks and historic sites (as well as other programs).

After their passage, the Senate forwarded two bills (one to sweep dedicated funds and the other to provide funding to keep open state historic sites and state parks) to the Governor on October 7, 2008. Governor Blagojevich has 60 calendar days to take action on this legislation, would be December 6th, six days after the stated closures of the state parks and historic sites (Novemeber 30).

We have been informed that the Governor has stated he will not sign SB 1103 until he is sure the state can withstand the current economic downturn. The Pantagraph ( Bloomington - Normal area) published a story confirming this information, which you can read by clicking on the following link: http://m1e.net/c?89081502-RDzZxpnTZJBQ2%403700274-A7LOipkAJbA36.

We will continue to fight for restoration of these vital funds and will keep you informed of any updates.

Please take time to call or e-mail the Governor’s office asking him to take quick action to sign this legislation You can send an email to Governor Blagojevich at governor@illinois.gov, or call (312) 814-2121. You can also show your support on this issue by signing an electronic petition at www.saveourstateparks.org.

According to an Associated Press article earlier this week a spokesman for the governor said the reluctance to sign the measure was due to weakening economic conditions which might force additional cuts.

“We are reviewing our revenue forecast to ensure that we will not have to make further cuts,” Guerrero said. “It would be a shame to propose restorations and then have to rescind them if the economic climate worsens.”

Rich Miller of Capitol Fax noted that quote on his blog Monday.

I can’t believe the AP let that one go unchallenged.

So what if the governor restores the cuts and revenue tanks? What does one have to do with the other?

The General Assembly made some very specific cut restorations by using targeted skims from existing money in special state funds.

Even if the overall budget completely tanks, there will be zero impact on the legislative package approved by the General Assembly, because it didn’t rely on any General Revenue Fund money. If GRF goes down, those special funds aren’t reduced.

The problem goes beyond this one bill and the parks and historic sites currently threatened. Both systems are broke. We need a better system.

Rumored List of State Park Closings Leaked

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Southern Illinois appears to have been spared in the latest round of cutbacks just confirmed for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

Jeff Lampe, outdoor writer for the Peoria Journal-Star and Prairie State Outdoors, just posted a list of 11 state parks set to close come November 1 due to cuts.

The list, confirmed with the agency, does not include any in Southern Illinois.

Lampe quotes the agency spokesman as saying 39 workers will be laid off. Those include:

25 site technician II, 4 rangers, 3, site assistant superintendents, 1 office associate (part-time), 3 office coordinators (2 part-time, 1 full-time), 1 site security officer (IFPE union), 1 natural resource coordinator and 1 natural resource specialist.

Previous stories, including one in the Chicago Tribune on August 3, put the targeted number at nine in a story about a $9 million announced cut in the budget of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

The move will strain an already stressed system and could lead to the closing of as many as nine parks with low attendance figures, according to a source familiar with the issue.

The source said staff reductions could be fewer than 100 at the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, which oversees 122 parks and natural areas and has lost 734 staff positions since 2002. Park advocates say the cuts will result in the loss of 163 jobs.