Victor De Grazia Memoir - University of Illinois Springfield

to figure out a title for you." And I said, "Yes, I've been thinking
about it." He asked'Jack--the name will come to me--Jack Foster to come
up with some titles, and they wrote me a note and there were four
different titles and I don't remember what they all were. One of them
was deputy to the governor, and so I decided that was the one I liked,
and when we talked he said, "Do you have any feelings about it?" I said,
"Well, I like deputy to the governor." He said, "I like that too." With
all the problems, my job was to get things done, handle problem areas.
The more the title implied authority and access to the governor, the more
easily my job was done. It meant also that I would have to take a lot of
heat and still do. As Barry Truman said . . .
I I
Q: What, "the buck stops here," or "the heat in the kitchen, . . .
A: That's right. If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.
And if you go into government, and you want to play an important role in
government, you've got to expect that the more important role you play
the more heat you're going to get. And that's just the way life works.
Q:
Did you ever consider not being a part of the administration?
A: Briefly. Two people I think, suggested it. Mike Bowlett and Jack
Touhy both said to me separately, "Don't go into government. Stay
outside and do the job that needs to be done but do it outside of
government." In some ways they were right. That is, my problems that
I've had over the years, grand juries and things like that, would not
have occurred if I were outside, might not have occurred. But on the
other hand, getting things done, I think there would have been a lot more
problems that Dan would have had to handle or somebody, if I had been
outside. I've said that never again will I do it. ltis a crushing job
that, you know, it's like the army. I'm glad I served in the army but
I'd never want to do it again. (laughs) And that's the way I feel about
government.
Q: In retrospect, was being in the administration the right decision do
you think?
A: I think probably I should have gotten out after, say, a year or so
when things had gotten into some kind of a routine, so we knew where the
problem areas were and stuff like that. I'm not so sure though, given
the media's hostility, that they wouldn't have been tracking me wherever
I was and, you know, trying to find out all my sources of income and
trying to then . . . if I had a client, does this client have a contract
with the state, that kind of business. So I'm not sure . . .
Q: How did the press deal with Dave Green? They knew he was a close
advisor to the governor.
A: He never appeared, or rarely.
Q:
But they didn't feel the need to hound him?
A: No, I guess they had somebody else to . , .