Gov. Bruce Rauner has appointed a major Republican donor and campaign supporter to the state board that manages billions of dollars in pension money for suburban and downstate teachers.
Alexander “Sandy” Stuart, a former Illinois Republican Party finance chairman who helps manage his family’s fortune, gave more than $150,000 to Rauner’s successful campaign to unseat Democrat Pat Quinn as governor and has given more than $1.5 million to Republican candidates or conservative super-PACs on the state and federal levels, records show.
Rauner’s naming Stuart to the board of the Teachers’ Retirement System of Illinois is the latest in a series of appointments of political supporters to key posts by a governor who campaigned in part on a promise that cronyism would be dead once he took office.
He previously appointed two Chicago ministers who offered their support early in his campaign to posts with boards overseeing state agencies:
• The Rev. James Meeks, a former Democratic state representative who is pastor of Salem Baptist Church on the South Side. After crossing party lines to endorse Republican Rauner, Meeks was tapped by Rauner in January to be chairman of the Illinois State Board of Education, an unpaid post.
• The “rooftop pastor” the Rev. Corey Brooks, senior pastor of New Beginnings Church of Chicago on the South Side, appointed last month to a part-time, $31,426-a-year post as a member of the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority board.
Also, Rauner drew criticism in January when, days after signing an executive order freezing state spending, his administration hired the 25-year-old sister of Sarah Clamp, his campaign’s political director, to a $70,000-a-year job with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.
The Lake Forest resident’s appointment to the TRS board now heads for a confirmation hearing to the Illinois Senate, where it faces opposition from a statewide teachers union that’s also called on the governor to rescind the appointment.
Stuart’s family was involved in founding Quaker Oats Company more than a century ago. His father, Robert D. Stuart Jr., was chairman and chief executive officer of the company from 1966 to 1981 and then U.S. ambassador to Norway.
Stuart has been a business executive, a Fortune magazine editor and has held civic posts including serving as chairman of Chicago Public Media, the parent of WBEZ-FM.
He has given a total of about $750,000 to Republican state candidates and campaign funds in recent years and another $834,000 to federal candidates and conservative committees, including Karl Rove’s American Crossroads, New Prosperity Foundation and Mitt Romney’s Restore our Future committee.
In 2012, Stuart was named finance chairman of the then-financially troubled Illinois Republican Party.
His appointment faces opposition from the Illinois Federation of Teachers, which cites the $100,000-plus in donations his family foundation gave to groups including the Illinois Policy Institute and the Manhattan Institute that oppose defined-benefit public pension plans.
The teachers union has called on Rauner to rescind Stuart’s appointment to the TRS board, which has 13 members — six appointed by the governor, four elected by TRS members and two who are beneficiaries of the teacher pension system.
TRS trustees decide which asset managers to hire to oversee the investments of money earmarked for teacher pensions — business that carries hefty management fees.
“If the governor doesn’t rescind the appointment, then the Senate needs to ask very hard questions,” says Dan Montgomery, the union’s president. “It’s highly disturbing to teachers that someone who is guarding their life savings is someone who doesn’t believe in their life savings.”
Stuart, who couldn’t be reached for comment, is president of North Star Investments, which manages his family’s investments.
“Stuart’s experience in asset management and finance makes him an excellent addition to the board,” according to the governor’s office.
Contributing: Tina Sfondeles
