Being the party of business doesn’t have a lot of advantages.
Republicans have to defend the free enterprise system to people who have little, if any academic preparation.
Republican are subject to attacks from demagogues fronting for union leaders seeking only more dues-paying members.
But, you would think Republicans could manage better than Democrats.
After all, they have access to all those business managers.
A Monday Chicago Tribune editorial a few week's ago makes it clear that our recently departed Republican State Treasurer did not get the best deal for the taxpayers in the college investment program called “Bright Start.”
Oh, it paid excellent political dividends to Judy Baar Topinka.
It was the kids and their parents’ investments (141,000 accounts) that got short-changed.
Over one percent had to be paid in management fees each year, according to the Chicago Tribune’s editorial Monday.
Last year, savingforcollege.com ranked Bright Start 48th of 49 plans studied.
To her credit, Topinka paved the way for improvement.
The next deal, consummated by her successor, with her permission, will cut average fees by 40%. Mutual fund choices will no longer be dogs. They rank in the top 25% of their respective categories.
But a better deal could have been cut.
Democratic Party State Representative Alexi Giannoulias couldn’t pass up the opportunity to get Oppenheimer to “toss in $3.5 million in scholarship over the seven-year life of its contract.”
That will be a lot of press releases for Giannoulias.
What even happened to the concept of maximizing the return on the money under a treasurer’s purview?
More at McHenry County Blog, where local politics is tasted almost daily.
Read more...
Watching former State Comptroller Roland Burris, who defeated me in his re-election effort in 1982, on WTTW’s Chicago Tonight Monday reminded me why it was fun running against him. 
