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News Sun Jun 14 2009
Sorry Trib, I guess I don't see the big issue here...
The Trib has continued it somewhat breathless coverage of legislative clout and admissions to U of I and at this point I kind of have to ask, where is the story here.
Basically as I understand it, legislators would ask about the status of this candidate or that candidate to the folks U or I had down in Springfield and those folks would follow up with the university. Some students who were asked about would get in, despite not having the credentials of other candidates who were rejected.
I haven't seen anything that said "You know State Senator XYZ said that if Timmy doesn't get into the dental program he was going to push to get our funding cut"...
When people have an issue or concern with an entity of government, who do they often call. Their elected representative, if you are trying to get Grandpa his medals from his military service do you call the VA or do you call your congressman?
Same thing with the state, if you need or are looking for something from the state you are just as likely to try and contact your state rep or state senator as the individual department (if you can figure out what department to contact).
Your elected official will want to help you out because if they can it fundamentally helps them out as well. You are more likely to speak positively of a state rep if they have done something to help you and in turn this will likely help the state rep get re-elected.
Good constituent service can go a long way toward re-election. Poor constituent service is something that gets around very quickly.
So looking at the why a state rep might call and ask about the status of an applicant at the U or I and maybe asking if something could be done. I have a simple question for the Trib.
Have any of your folks ever called U of I asking about the status of a candidate or tried using the clout of the states biggest paper to try to get something to happen?
OneMan
