What exactly is a “pro-business” state?

I’m sure that a segment of society – the part that calls itself “economic conservative” and “pro-business” – is gnashing its teeth and seething with rage at the thought that a major company deliberately chose to locate in Chicago.

Even though state government specifically refused to give the company – Archer Daniels Midland, Co., of downstate Decatur, Ill. – a tax incentive that it claimed was essential to making the move economically viable.

ADM, A PROCESSOR of crops into food and other products such as fuel, has long been the staple of the economy in Decatur. But life in central Illinois isn’t cosmopolitan enough for the corporate executives who run the company.

Which is why, earlier this year, ADM officials let it be known that they want to move their corporate offices elsewhere – under the guise of wanting easier access to airline flights for their executives to travel the world on business.

That made Chicago, with its O’Hare International and Midway airports, a natural.

Except to those who are determined to believe that nobody could possibly want to be associated with Chicago, They were the ones who were pushing the idea that Illinois would lose ADM unless it got with the program, so to speak, and started making concessions to businesses even if they made no practical sense.

IN THE CASE of ADM, they wanted to be given a tax incentive totaling $24 million during the next two decades. Which really is laughable – a tax break over just over $1 million per year for a corporation that does billions of dollars of business per year world-wide.

The real issue was one of a corporate entity thinking that government somehow exists to serve it exclusively – even if those interests contradict those of other people. Personally, I always thought the point of government was to keep the interests of everyone balanced.

As it turned out, the Illinois Senate took a vote in favor of the ADM request. But the Illinois House of Representatives never got around to it.

They stayed

Other issues always managed to pre-empt it from coming up for a vote – particularly the matter of pension funding reform that the Legislature acted upon earlier this month in special session.

IT SEEMS THE allure of Chicago was too much for the ADM officials to pass on – even if they technically reduced their offer and are now merely moving some executive positions to the Second City, rather than following through on their original thought that they would also develop a technology center where great scientific advances in agriculture would have been developed.

That would have been an interesting piece to have in Chicago; probably moreso than the presence of a few dozen suited executives who will now work in the downtown area and will be lost in the masses of the millions who flood into the Loop each day to earn a living.

Although if the dollar figures work out, it wouldn’t shock me to learn that ADM develops that piece of their corporate puzzle in the future.

But denying us that piece, for now, is probably ADM’s way of “punishing” Chicago for making them otherwise “lose face” in that they demanded financial concessions and wound up getting nothing.

NOTHING, THAT IS, except for the knowledge that they will be located in THE major city of the Midwestern U.S. and have access to the wonders that are Chicago.

So even though there are people who are speculating politically that the winners were Gov. Pat Quinn (who released a statement Wednesday talking of the “continued partnership as this dynamic company invests and grows in Illinois”) and his allies.

I’d argue the real winner is ADM itself for staying. And the people, because we rejected the notions of the ideologues who think we have to give and give and give. That would have been the real loss!

  -30-

Can we keep a major business here, or will Ill. lose to Mo. or Minn.?

Call it one of the unique characteristics of Decatur, Ill. – the smell.

Literally, there’s an aroma in the air that comes from the plants that process soybeans at the major companies based in that central Illinois municipality.

ONE OF THOSE companies is now throwing out big hints that it plans to leave Decatur, and it seems that Illinois is now going to be in a fight to try to keep such a major global company that happens to be based within its boundaries.

I’m referring to Archer Daniels Midland, Co., which came out with a statement letting it be known that they plan to move their “world” headquarters to a new city. It seems that the people in charge of that company think they need to be in a more easily accessible location.

Instead of one where you take the Interstate to Springfield, then make a left and drive about a half-hour until you get to the “Welcome to Decatur” sign that lets you know the city is the one-time home of the team now known as the Chicago Bears.

“To continue to succeed, we need a global center in a location that allows us to travel and work efficiently,” the company said, in a prepared statement. “We also need an environment where we can attract and retain employees with diverse skills.”

CRAIN’S CHICAGO BUSINESS reported Monday that ADM isn’t necessarily a loss of a business from Illinois. Because it seems that one of the places under consideration for the new world headquarters is Chicago.

What if A.E. Staley joined the Bears in Chicago?

Which for all the rants and rages we get from rural Illinois people about how nobody in their right mind wants anything to do with the urban clutter of Chicago (let's not forget that it was a Decatur-area state legislator who came up with a nonsense bill to "kick" Chicago out of Illinois) must be a real blow! Although it also can be perceived as, “Yea for us!”

 

If we can keep it. Because while Chicago has a major international airport, several railroad lines and interstate highways that run in all directions, it might not be enough.

 

Because St. Louis and Minneapolis also are under consideration, according to Crain’s.

THEY MIGHT NOT have O’Hare International, but Lambert or Minneapolis-St. Paul airports would probably do the company just as well.

We’re going to get a test of how credible a job our state can do in terms of keeping a major corporate interest. Certainly more of a test of how it appeals to business interests than that attempt by Gov. Pat Quinn a couple of weeks ago to boast that Mike’s Hard Lemonade brought its corporate headquarters to Chicago.

This has a potential to create many jobs. Because it’s not just corporate offices and executives who will move, the company says it plans to develop a technology center in conjunction with its new offices.

It could be a significant coup for Chicago if this company winds up here. It would be a blow for the city and for Illinois if we wind up losing Archer Daniels Midland to a surrounding state in the Midwest.

I SUPPOSE WE could claim that if it went to St. Louis, it wouldn’t be much of a loss – since part of the St. Louis metro area does spill over into Illinois. So we might be able to claim there’s a chance that Illinoisans could get some of those jobs.

Although why should we hope for a partial benefit, when we could claim the whole thing if our elected officials are capable of drawing Archer Daniels Midland to the Second City.

How is this destined to play out? Will it be like when the original Decatur Staleys football team ditched the “Pride of the Prairie” to come to Chicago and become the Bears?

Or will it be like when Chicago’s original National Football League team, the Cardinals, ditched the Sout’ Side for St. Louis?

  -30-

A DAY IN THE LIFE (of Chicago): Should employer stand by worker?

I’m finding it encouraging that Millikin University, a Decatur-based institution of higher learning, is willing to stand by the employment of the head of its psychology department.

Because the very notion that the professor, James St. James, caused the death of his parents and sister nearly a half-century ago would scare many companies into thinking that they have to do whatever is necessary to break their ties.

IN THIS PARTICULAR case, St. James was born under the name James Wolcott. When he was 15 back in 1967, his parents and sister, Elizabeth, were found shot to death in their house in Texas.

James was put on trial for the slayings, but he was found not guilty by reason of insanity. Diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, he was ordered held in an institution – and six years later, he was he was released.

That means the criminal case was resolved. Wolcott (now St. James) did his time for this incident. It is resolved. It’s not like St. James is a long-hidden fugitive who has been on the lam.

So the people who are eager to have the professor’s head on a pike are being irrational. They’re letting their personal hang-ups overcome any sense of sense.

WHICH IS WHY I’m glad to learn that Millikin says they expect him to continue to teach there when classes resume come autumn.

I’m not that worked up over it, and I wonder about the Texas newspaper that stirred up this particular story (which is now being picked up by the Chicago “press”). It was meant to focus on the aftermath of the slayings of nearly an entire family. They searched for what became of the son, and found St. James under his new name living in Decatur.

Because we ought to consider that St. James is a case of someone who screwed up in life, yet managed to fix up his situation and get the higher education needed to help make a productive life out of his. Isn’t that what we want to happen more often?

Closer to Chicago, what else is pending in the minds of Second City residents?

GETTING AN EXTENSION?: Former Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr., has 11 more days to go until he faces sentencing for his guilty plea on criminal charges related to his using campaign contribution money to buy all kinds of tacky memorabilia for his office.

For which he’s expected to make financial restitution. But a federal judge in the District of Columbia on Friday gave Jackson more time to come up with the cash – some $750,000.

The judge postponed until Oct. 25 a hearing that would allow the federal government to seize his homes in the South Shore neighborhood and in Washington, along with an individual retirement account. So he may manage to come up with some cash in order to keep a roof over his kids’ heads.

Although many of those items (including some that once belonged to people like Michael Jackson and Muhammad Ali) will be auctioned off at some point. Will they gain additional cachet from once having been in Jackson’s possession?

A SEE-THRU SIGN?: The squabble between the Chicago Cubs and the owners of those buildings across the street who make money by letting people on their roofs to see into Wrigley Field to catch a glimpse of ballgames is getting more twisted.

The owners reached a deal that still has a decade to go that allows them to sell their views of Cubs games – with the Cubs getting a share of the proceeds. Yet the Cubs’ desires to revamp Wrigley Field include erecting advertising signs that would block the views.

But the Chicago Sun-Times reported Friday about the see-through advertising signs the team is considering, if the owners don’t lighten up in their threats to sue the Cubs.

It makes me wonder who would want to advertise on a see-through billboard – Victoria’s Secret?!?

  -30-

Be thankful for Da Bears – Decatur’s lone “contribution” to our society

Bill Mitchell and Adam Brown are a pair of Illinois legislators from the area around Decatur, Ill. – that central Illinois city that can account for one contribution that many in our society dearly appreciate.



If they want us to secede, why do they claim ties to our city's team?



I’m referring to the Chicago Bears. The professional football team that began its life as the company team of the A.E. Staley Co. and, after one year of existence in Decatur, came to Chicago and took on their current identity.

ASIDE FROM THAT, however, I don’t know where anyone from Decatur gets off being so snotty as to come up with a resolution for consideration by the Illinois General Assembly that would break Cook County away from Illinois and turn it into its own state.

Of course, considering that almost half of Illinois’ population resides in Cook County and is the home of many of Illinois’ greatest assets, one could make an argument that a state of Cook (or a state of Chicago, if you will) would be more significant than what is left of Illinois.

When one considers that the five surrounding counties, along with some of the extra areas on the fringe, are so tied into the Chicago area that they would find it in their advantage to become a part of the state of Chicago rather than remaining with Illinois, one wonders what these people could seriously be thinking.

If this were to ever happen (and I’ll predict now that it has a 0.000000001 percent chance of becoming reality), Illinois would find itself dropping in significance so far down that the people who pushed for this would rue the day that they ever seriously got secession talk flowing.

MITCHELL: National attention ...



BUT IT’S NOT going to happen, and the two legislators who are sponsoring this measure know full well that is the case.



This is one of those ideas that gets brought up by people who want to complain for a day or two and vent their rage – before piping down again to fight another day.

Perhaps it is the perpetual odor that emanates from the A.E. Staley plant on the edge of town (the soybeans that give Decatur its unique form of stink) that have somehow addled their judgment.



BROWN: ... of the wrong kind



Or maybe I just look down on Decatur because I know my collegiate alma mater, Bloomington-based Illinois Wesleyan University, can kick Millikin University’s collective butt (the two schools are arch-rivals) any time at anything.



BECAUSE INSTEAD OF trying to figure out how to unify the parts of Illinois and use the assets of having the most significant Midwestern U.S. city within their state’s boundaries (which is what makes Illinois a more important place than states such as Indiana, Iowa or Michigan, to name a few), they want to cut themselves off from reality. They're as ridiculous as those baseball fans who think that the key to restoring "balance" to the game is to impose restrictions on wealthy clubs so that everybody is reduced to the level of a Pittsburgh or Kansas City.

Now as one who, between college and working in the capital city, can claim to have lived in “the rest of” Illinois for 11 of the total years of my life (just under one quarter), I realize that a lot of the jokes that get told by urbanites (not Urbana-ites) about “downstate Ilinois” miss the point.

Then again, I also realize that there are some people who choose to have their lives down there because they like the sense of isolation that one can feel living in one of those places that thinks Decatur (pop. 76,122) is a Big City.

But then they resent the fact that their isolation cuts them off from influence. Chicago’s mentality has come to dominate the state because of the fact that 45 percent of the state’s people live in Cook County, and that about 65 percent of Illinoisans are Chicago-area, first and foremost.

I’D ARGUE THAT if people like Mitchell and Brown want seriously to have more influence, let them move up our way. We’d welcome them, and help them “see the light,” so to speak.

And if they decide they’d rather enjoy the benefits of their rural Illinois isolation, then I want them to pipe down and quit complaining about its drawbacks.

Because all this really does is manage to create a sense of embarrassment for our public image.

Even Green Bay, Wis., kept the NFL longer than Decatur



Seriously.

WHEN ROBIN MEADE, the one-time WMAQ-TV cutie who now anchors the CNN Headline morning newscast, spends her time on-air taking potshots at our politics (as she did Wednesday morning), then you know that a new low has been reached.

Even lower than Blagojevich (as in Milorod).

So as far as what the “Gentlemen from Macon” (as in county, the home of Decatur) think, I may actually care less than what they think of what my Chicago brethren think.

Maybe they should follow the one-time Decatur Staleys, who decided some 90 years ago that life was brighter in the Illinois metropolis on the shores of Lake Michigan.

  -30-