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Bespectacled, soft-spoken, and neatly dressed, Jonathan Lackland has a demeanor and appearance that’s more policy wonk than political firebrand or slick high-powered lobbyist. In fact, he looks like one of those guys at government hearings who slide little pieces of paper and whisper things to big-shot public officials when they don’t know the answers. He’s exactly what officials of the Illinois Association of Minorities in Government said they wanted. The IAMG, whose offices are just footsteps away from the Capitol Complex and has been without a permanent director for a year, wanted a leader who could step up the organization’s legislative lobbying efforts. A Chicago native, Lackland, 35, has worked as the Midwest regional director for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and spearheaded lobbying efforts for the Illinois chapters of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and, more recently, the Alzheimer’s Association. “I was looking for a change. I had been in leadership [and] senior management positions throughout my career but never had an opportunity to be the leader of an organization,” he says.
Lackland joined the IAMG in late March, just weeks before the organization was to hold its annual conference in Peoria. He used the meeting, held May 7-9, to introduce himself to the approximately 400 members in attendance and to submit his objectives for the next year. First he’s developing a strategic plan, which he says will also serve to evaluate his performance. He also intends to invite members and local lawmakers to town-hall meetings to be held across Illinois and is making the rounds, meeting with key members of the Legislature and constitutional officers. Because he arrived in the middle of the session, he says, he’ll hold off on proposing any initiatives until next year. Among the bills he would like to see implemented are mandates for state agencies to develop minority-hiring action plans for both managers and rank-and-file employees, a so-called healthy-workplace bill, and an update of areas in the state’s personnel code that need revising. Lackland, who signed a one-year contract, declines to disclose his salary, saying that the board of directors wishes to keep the amount confidential. The previous executive director, Roy Williams Jr., earned $65,000. Williams and his staff were terminated one year ago after questions about the IAMG’s finances and accounting procedures arose. Lackland says the controversy didn’t deter him from applying for the job. “I didn’t know in great detail what happened. You have a million-and-five things and you never really know what’s the truth. I wanted to see for myself,” he says. Beyond expressing support for the presidential bid of former IAMG member Barack Obama, Lackland says he can’t say what the IAMG’s level of political involvement will be during this campaign year. “I’m not going to be passive at all, but whatever move we make, we have to make sure it’s in the best interest of our membership,” he says. “I believe in taking calculated risks. I’m not going to go out there and take on a battle that was not thought out properly.”
Above all, Lackland wants to straighten out the IAMG’s finances; he believes that members, who pay $240 in dues each year, should be getting more bang for their buck from their executive director. “They’re paying their money here,” he says. “They want more for their money. They deserve that.”
Contact R.L. Nave at rnave@illinoistimes.com.
This article appears in May 8-14, 2008.
