Where’s Waldo?
You probably know, particularly if you have kids.
“Where’s Waldo?” is a series of books for children by Martin Handford. The books include double-page spreads of illustrations in which a great many people are pictured doing a variety of amusing things.
Hidden in this group of people is Waldo. He wears a red and white striped shirt, a bobble hat and glasses. The challenge for readers is to find Waldo amid all the other people pictured.
Hence – where’s Waldo?
We Illinoisans have our own version of Where’s Waldo?
Where’s Bruce?
Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner doesn’t like the public or press to know where he is, or even what he is doing.
Rauner is stingy about publicizing his schedule.
On a recent Christmas vacation, for example, the governor went on a two-week vacation to some foreign land. His staff initially declined to let reporters know where he and his family were going. They contended that the governor’s schedule is not public information. Upon his return this week, Rauner told of his trip to Spain and Morocco, where he spent time riding a camel in the Sahara.
This has happened on more than one occasion. In September, the Illinois Times newspaper sued to have the governor’s whereabouts made public.
The complaint reached the public access bureau of the Illinois Attorney General, which said the governor’s schedule is public information and should be released.
The question could end up in court.
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What I can’t figure out is why an elected governor would want to keep his whereabouts secret.
A public official receives many perks. Part of the cost is a certain diminution of privacy.
The people the governor serves have a right to know where their governor is and what he is doing.
My hunch is that coming to the governorship as a fabulously wealthy former CEO, Rauner views being a public official as another CEO position in which he tells his employees (us and the legislature) what to do. And where he is and what he does is none of our business.
Well, the governor came back from wherever he was to tour flood-ravaged areas.
It may seem that he should have returned a few days earlier.
But who knew how to reach him?
Paul Sassone is a freelance columnist for Pioneer Press.