Museum watch, continued. Kids at the Illinois State Museum summer camp last week got a lesson in irony after Gov. Bruce Rauner, who proposes to close the museum, stopped by for a photo op with them. Next day the children wrote a letter thanking the governor for coming to camp, adding, “We hope to see you next year!” The Rauner administration has set official wheels in motion to shutter the 138-year-old institution, with a public hearing on the closure scheduled for 4 p.m. July 13 in Room 212 of the Capitol. The Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability is accepting public comments on its website until July 22 (http://cgfa.ilga click on facility closures). Already there are a hundred pages of letters opposing closure, but none more eloquent than the note from Elsa, a summer camper who wrote on the group letter to Rauner: “Please don’t close the museum. Please save my Mom’s job.” –Fletcher Farrar, editor and publisher
This article appears in Jul 2-8, 2015.
