As partisan political “attack dogs” go, Lt. Gov. Bob Kustra, by his own account, has not been very ferocious.
“I don’t want to harass anyone,” the ex-professor said last week of his recent role as the surrogate sicked by Republican Gov. Jim Edgar on Democratic challengers who have begun declaring their candidacies.
For example, when state Comptroller Dawn Clark Netsch launched her Democratic campaign for governor from a charter airline service Monday at Midway Airport, Kustra was available at a nearby hangar to respond to her criticism of Edgar as a “passive caretaker.” Edgar wasn’t around.
And the previous week, when Democratic state Atty. Gen. Roland Burris embarked on his campaign from a rally in the Chicago Hilton and Towers in which he mocked Edgar as “Little Jim,” Kustra was in a room upstairs, ready to defend his boss. Edgar, meantime, spent the day at his log cabin retreat outside Springfield and “mowed the yard.”
On both occasions, Kustra’s response was low-key and garnered only moderate attention from the media. One sharp-edged GOP political analyst called Kustra “toothless.”
“Those are very special days for new candidates. They ought to be allowed to do it without any kind of political interference,” Kustra explained.
So take the “Beware of Dog” sign off Kustra’s second-floor Capitol office door.
Still, Kustra has the requisite chip on the shoulder for defending Edgar. “When somone says something about him, it’s tantamount to saying something about me,” he said. “I’m obviously very defensive about someone I think is doing a good job.”
Kustra prefers to think of himself as a partisan “watchdog.”
“As one who taught political science and tried to practice it, I know that when negative campaigning goes unchecked, the distortion becomes reality,” Kustra said. “I’m there to straighten out the record.”
Partisan “truth squads” that shadow the opposition and provide counterprogramming for the media have become prevalent in campaigns during the last decade, and Kustra’s role was conceived in the governor’s press office. The lieutenant governor himself has a cast of supporting characters, members of Edgar’s cabinet who respond for the governor in other areas of the state.
The role of GOP surrogate has been on the minds of Edgar and his administration this year as they prepare for the upcoming campaign. McHenry County GOP Chairman Albert Jourdan was replaced as state party chief by industrialist Harold B. Smith last month as part of a protracted effort to fill the post with someone more outgoing and telegenic.
Of Kustra’s role, Michael Lawrence, Edgar’s press secretary said: “We wanted some arm’s length from the governor. At this point, it’s a little less engagement.” Edgar is expected to formally declare his re-election plans in October.
Kustra said he has no specific agenda or custom-crafted sound bite for each of the Democratic challengers and merely tries to respond to the questions posed by reporters who may have just left the candidate’s announcement. It is this lack of engagement that has led to questions about Kustra’s effectiveness.
“As the candidates crystallize their opposition to the governor’s record and become more specific in their criticism, we will become more specific. For now, this was an appropriate response,” Kustra said. “I have no doubt that in the heat of the campaign, they will be tougher in their criticism of the governor and our response will be tougher accordingly.
“I’m not interested in Day One getting into that. We owe the voters some responsibility here, a rational discussion of the issues,” Kustra said.
As the No. 2 candidate on the ticket, the assignment of attack dog, watchdog or whatever falls naturally to Kustra.
Edgar, however, indicated that he will not leave all his fighting to others and that he is willing to engage the Democrats himself.
Kustra, 50, has come to public attention recently for more than his dogged rebuttals to Democratic attacks on the Edgar record. Questions about Edgar’s health in the last nine months-following a procedure to clear arterial blockages near his heart and the removal of his gall bladder-and Kustra’s role on education issues had thrust the Park Ridge Republican into the spotlight.
By all accounts, the two men, 40-something look-alike Republicans when they ran together in 1990, get along well.
As a state lawmaker in the Illinois House for one term and in the state Senate for eight years, Kustra concentrated on the issue of education reform, notably in Chicago schools, and he has continued to use that speciality in the lieutenant governor’s office.
The governor’s designated “pointman” on education and anti-drug efforts, Kustra has worked with Edgar and Mayor Richard Daley on a plan for opening the financially strapped Chicago public schools on time and was co-chair of the Governor’s Task Force on Higher Education that made recommendations for streamlining the state university system.
Kustra is a former director of Loyola University’s Center for Research in Urban Government. His academic background and role with the higher education task force led to rumors that Kustra would leave the administration for a university president’s post.
Kustra denied the reports and has declared his intention to run for re-election, even though the top dog, Edgar, has not done so yet.
