Gov. George Ryan said Thursday he will appoint longtime deputy Kevin Wright to be the next chairman of the Illinois Commerce Commission. Richard Mathias, the current chairman, will step down Sept. 1.
Senate Republicans will support Wright’s nomination, said Patty Schuh, a spokeswoman for Senate President James “Pate” Philip (R-Wood Dale).
Mathias was renominated for the job in December but Republicans, who hold a majority in the Senate, allowed the appointment to languish. Ryan submitted Wright for approval instead.
Wright, 45, served as deputy chief of staff during Ryan’s tenure as governor and secretary of state and was an agency director under Gov. James Thompson.
Despite his Republican ties, Wright will join the commission as a political independent or as a Democrat. The five-member utility rate-regulating board already has three GOP members and a Democrat. State law dictates that neither party control more than three seats on the five-member commission.
There is precedence for the political maneuvering. Mathias, 63, served in the administration of Republican Gov. Richard Ogilvie some three decades ago. But he was an executive in the private sector before coming out of retirement to take the ICC post as an independent.
Wright, a Springfield resident, had cast Republican primary ballots continuously from 1992 to 2000, except in last month’s primary election, when he voted on a Democratic ballot, Sangamon County voting records showed.
Dennis Culloton, a spokesman for the governor, said no arrangement was made between Ryan and Wright to have him select a Democratic ballot in order to qualify for the ICC seat.
“I can’t speak for Kevin, but voting is a personal decision,” Culloton said. “Kevin takes his responsibilities very seriously, including in the voting booth.”
However, it appears Democrats will not make Wright’s political history an issue.
Steve Brown, a spokesman for House speaker and state Democratic chairman Michael Madigan of Chicago, said Madigan “has known Kevin Wright for a long time and considers him a competent and qualified person.”
State Sen. Denny Jacobs (D-East Moline) said he told Ryan he would consider the job if “you need a good Democrat.”
But Jacobs said he would support Wright’s nomination, even if it meant he had only recently voted Democratic.
“That’s what it takes in Illinois,” Jacobs said. “In Illinois, you can change your party affiliation by picking up a ballot.”
Even before Ryan formally acknowledged he wanted to put Wright in the chairman’s seat, the appointment stirred some opposition.
Jim Howard, policy director for the Illinois Coalition for Competitive Telecommunications, a group representing Ameritech rivals, said that “this position is too important to use as a reward for a loyal staff member.”
Howard noted that Mathias has worked diligently to promote local phone competition, and questioned the role of SBC/Ameritech in blocking his reappointment.
Carrie Hightman, president of Ameritech Illinois, denied that her firm lobbied against Mathias. “We have no role,” she said.
Philip had been thought to favor Ruth Kretschmer for the post. Kretschmer, 74, has 19 years of service as a commissioner and is the agency’s senior member. She had lobbied for the chairmanship when Gov. Jim Edgar appointed Mathias in 1998.
Kretschmer said this time around she wasn’t campaigning to be chairman, although she would have accepted the role if it had been offered.
