Unlike many congressmen, former U.S. Rep. John Erlenborn ignored politics when he nominated candidates for the country`s military academies, ranking them strictly by their scores on the standardized American College Testing exams.
”The academies ought to give us the best qualified military officers and they ought not to be selected on the basis of how their parents voted,” said Erlenborn, now a member of a Washington law firm. ”I think my system turned out the best candidates for the academies.”
The system turned out Terrie Ann McLaughlin of Naperville, who earlier this week became the first woman in the 32-year history of the Air Force Academy to be named top cadet–No. 1 in a class of 957 graduates, 106 of them women.
Back in 1982, when the Naperville Central High School senior was hoping to get into the prestigious academy, her sky-high composite ACT score of 32, about 14 points above the national average, landed her a nomination from Erlenborn. Her score was one of the highest that aides in Erlenborn`s office had seen.
Erlenborn, who for 20 years served as Du Page County`s man in Congress, said he did not recall nominating Naperville Central`s 1982 valedictorian, but added: ”If she`s tops in her class, I`ll claim her.”
At the Air Force Academy, McLaughlin earned top honors based on averages of academic achievement and military performance, a rating of military and leadership abilities given by her commanders and other cadets.
The 21-year-old earned a 3.9 academic average, on a 4.0 scale, and a 3.64 military performance average. She won the top spot by .0021 of a point.
Although there are no statistics kept on the subject, Erlenborn`s cadet nominating system also turned out more service academy appointments than the patronage systems used by many other congressmen. His aides recall he was always getting a shot at filling additional vacancies when political appointees from other congressional districts could not meet entrance requirements.
Erlenborn, a Republican, used his nonpartisan system throughout his 10 two-year terms, nominating more than 800 students for the academies, with about 200 landing appointments.
The process occasionally meant pleasant surprises for Erlenborn`s political foes. ”Once in a while we`d get an interesting call,” said Joanne Maxwell, who managed Erlenborn`s home office. ”One woman called once and said, `There must be some mistake. I`m a Democratic committeeman.` I said,
`That doesn`t matter; your son is qualified.` ”
Erlenborn`s system has been carried on, with success, by his successor, U.S. Rep. Harris Fawell, (R., Naperville). An aide said four of Fawell`s 10 nominees to the Air Force Academy this year have been offered appointments.
