Former governors of four states in Springfield Thursday for a national political science conference said that academics have much to offer government leaders, especially now.
But, said former Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar, it has to be put in a way that’s understandable.
“Any help that a public official can receive from the academic world, I think, could be very positive,” Edgar told reporters before a two-hour panel discussion at the Old State Capitol, “but it’s got to be delivered in a manner that’s ... relevant.”
Edgar, the Republican governor of Illinois from 1991 to 1999, was joined by former Vermont Gov. Madeleine Kunin, a Democrat who served from 1985 to 1991; former Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening, a Democrat who served from 1995-2003, and former Ohio Gov. Bob Taft, a Republican who was in office from 1999-2007.
Their panel kicked off the 10th Annual State Politics and Policy Conference, a three-day national event being held at the University of Illinois Springfield.
The SPPC Conference was featured in a June 4, 2010, article in The State Journal-Register.
Download a PDF of the article
