Despite facing federal corruption charges, one thing Illinois Governor Rod Balgojevich has demonstrated is a profound skill in how to manipulate people and opportunities to create a smoke screen for personal and political survival.
When he tapped Roland Burris for the US Senate appointment, society was shocked at the brazenness of the move. However, people soon became more curious about the individual who would accept such a position despite the controversy and allegations surrounding the tainted senate seat Blagojevich had for the giving.
No doubt Roland Burris had a distinguished political record as Illinois State Attorney General up until 1995. However, he has not been directly involved in politics for the last thirteen years aside from unsuccessful campaign runs for City of Chicago Mayor and Democratic Governor nominee. He is currently the CEO of Burris & Lebed Consulting, LLC, which is a consulting firm providing services in public relations and governmental representation – a lobbyist.
However, you really have to question the level of common sense that Roland Burris would bring to this senate seat.
It stands to reason that anyone seeking a political office would engage in deal making with any individual who is currently under federal investigation. Relationships of these sorts represent political land mines and Burris willingly stepped on it for nothing other than what appears to be self gain – “I want to be a US Senator and I’ll do anything to get it.”
Burris had to know that if he did accept the position that he would become nothing short of a political pawn to satisfy Blago’s need to give the media something else to focus on other than his (Blagojevich) looming indictment. In so doing, Burris epitomizes the idea of a morally weak politician and will most likely follow the same path as that of Blagojevich and the like; embroiled in some future investigation for impropriety or corruption.
Whats more troubling is that Burris seems oblivious to the profuse amount of political toes he has managed to step on up until this point.
After the news of the appointment hit the street, Burris became as politically isolated as Blagojevich. Every single democrat in the Illinois assembly and US Senate was against the appointment. However, he turned a blind eye to his potential political allies and proceeded on his way to taking the senate seat. This alone will undoubtedly create a groud swell of resentment among his fellow democrats. The resentment will surface as a lack of support when and if he tries to accomplish anything in his political career.
Burris has already received the smack down from US Senate majority leader Harry Reid in refusing to initially seat Burris. However, despite this, Burris will eventually be seated for the simple fact that the law is the law and despite Blago’s looming conviction he is still the Governor empowered to appoint someone to the vacant US Senate seat. But, if you think Harry Reid among other senior democrats will forget being put in this awkward position – think again.
Once Roland Burris finally does take his seat in the US senate the reality of what happened will probably hit him pretty hard. The reality being, Blagojevich convincing him to take the position on the premise that he is jumping into a tank of friendly dolphins only to find out that they are sharks instead.
Can money help build character? That is what many Illinois Schools are banking on. The Illinois Positive Behavioral Interventions and Support (PBIS) Network will receive a grant of $471,038 to fund a four-year program character education program in the Illinois Schools. The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) announced that the state will receive on of four awards given by the Partnerships in Character Education (PICE) for 2007.
Illinois Schools’ State Superintendent of Education Christopher Koch believes this award represents the state’s successful commitment to character education over the last decade. Illinois Schools started the PBIS program almost ten years ago, and credit it with helping to create safe learning environments and emotionally stable students.
Character education gained popularity after the devastating Columbine incident, and experiences a surge of attention with national tragedies like the Virginia Tech massacre. But does it really work? Parents, administrators and educators of Illinois Schools have been asking that question for years. One criticism is that “additional programs” like character education take time away from Illinois Schools’ critical academic learning, arts and physical fitness activities. Some view character education as a vacuous feel-good program that takes resources needed to help Illinois Schools meet ever-increasing state and national standards.
Proponents in Illinois Schools point to studies showing that children displaying more of the positive assets that these programs focus on, like achievement motivation, conflict resolution and empathy, show less high-risk behaviors. One 4-year University of Louisville study found that younger students and girls benefit more from these programs that older boys. However, this grant is aimed specifically at eight high schools.
PICE grants attempt to teach, “core ethical concepts” like responsibility, respect for others, and citizenship to awardees like the Illinois Schools. Requirements for the grant include proof of integrating current character education programs into classroom curriculum and teacher training, and involvement of parents and the community. Illinois Schools will be assessed on its ability to reduce the number of discipline occurrences, improve academic standing and show positive character development among students.
Illinois Schools’ educators in favor of the program insist that parents are still responsible for the majority of a child’s character development, but that schools have a responsibility to support that goal by teaching appropriate skills and providing a nurturing environment. Illinois Schools’ PBIS Network is one of 147 programs to receive character education grants since 1994. The eight Illinois Schools to benefit from the current PBIS award are Foreman High School, Kelvyn Park High School, Bolingbrook High School, Alton High School, Rock Island High School, Romeoville High School, and Springfield High School, and Springfield Southeast High School. In addition to Illinois Schools, the other award recipients were the Los Angeles Unified School District, New York City Department of Education, and the Black Hill Special Services Cooperative, out of South Dakota.
State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, with its headquarters at Bloomington in Illinois is a mutual insurance firm that also owns the other State Farm companies and is in turn owned by the State Farm Insurance Company, which is a group of insurance and financial services companies. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company was founded on June 7, 1922, by George J. Mecherle, who was a retired farmer. The company initially concentrated on meeting auto insurance needs of farmers in Illinois through a mutual organization owned by the clients. Mecherle, the founder of the company, believed that farmers drive less than city drivers and hence should be allowed to pay less for insurance since the losses they had was fewer. The idea was accepted well by the farmer community and hence the popularity of the firm increased rapidly. In 1942, the company became the nation’s largest auto insurer and from then on, the company has held on to that rank. According to statistics, about one out of every five cars on the road is insured with State Farm Automobile Insurance Company. Since then, State Farm has expanded its services into other popular types of insurance.
State Farm now has about 67,000 employees and 17,000 agents servicing
77 million policies in the United States and Canada, and have more than 1.9 million bank accounts served by their client base. State Farm is insuring about 40 million vehicles and the company announced last year that it will pay $1.25 billion in dividends to its mutual auto insurance policyholders. Edward B. Rust, Jr. is chairman of the board and chief executive officer of State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, and president and chief executive officer of State Farm Fire and Casualty Company, State Farm Life Insurance Company, and other principal State Farm affiliates. Edward B. Rust, Jr. holds these positions since 1885, succeeding his late father Edward B. Rust, Sr.
Mr.Rust is a graduate of Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, and holds master of business degree from Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas.
The company prescribes a “code of conduct” for its employees, which summarises the Company policies, rules, and guidelines. It helps the employees in decision making and to make the right choices. A strict “code of conduct” doesn’t mean the employees are under any sort of strain because if we consider the awards and recognition, State Farm is a great place to work. State Farm was ranked among the “40 Best Companies for Diversity” and “15 Best in Marketing Diversity” in Black Enterprise Magazine’s 2007 rankings. In 1986 the company had passed the 100$ billion mark, almost doubling the figure in five years. State Farm went online in 1895, thus joining the internet revolution. In 1999, the 70th anniversary of the Company was celebrated in a grand way as the agents wrote a total of 1 million life insurance applications that year. The Good Neighbour Grant Program was introduced by state Farm in 2000 and was a huge success. A facility to serve Canadian customers was opened in Toronto in 2006 and the same year promoted a feature film — the Disney/Pixar animated feature film, CARS.