Nation: Rookies with Big Dreams

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Two fledgling Governors try to make a national splash

Because the Federal Government overshadows the statehouses, first-term Governors can rarely expect to become national figures. It is different, however, when they are considered possible contenders for the presidency. That is why attention has been focused on two of the rookies elected in 1976: Illinois' Republican Governor James Thompson, 41, and West Virginia's Democratic Governor John D. Rockefeller IV, 40, nephew of former Vice President Nelson Rockefeller.

Here is how they have fared so far:

Riding High. When "Big Jim" Thompson won the Illinois governorship by a whopping 1.3 million votes, people wondered if it would be all downhill from there. The government Thompson inherited was on the verge of bankruptcy because of the free-spending policies of maverick Democratic Governor Dan Walker. The statehouse was a shambles because of Walker's incessant feuding with Chicago's Cook County Democratic machine. Yet as Thompson starts his second year as Governor, he is far and away the most popular politician in the state and a reasonable contender for a place on the national ticket in 1980.

The onetime U.S. Attorney who sent more than 300 corrupt officials to jail between 1971 and 1975 has proved equally skilled at politics. The Chicago machine trembled at the prospect of a prosecutor as Governor, but he has allayed their fears. "I made a special effort to get along with the Democrats," he explains, "because everybody was tired of the constant fighting. I wanted to show them that I was not afraid of compromise and that I was not the holder of all wisdom."

He courted the Chicago Democrats in the legislature and quietly cut a deal with them. For years they had wanted to build a new expressway on the West Side to relieve traffic congestion in the city, but Walker had balked at the project, largely because of his hostility to the Cook County Democratic machine. Thompson approved construction of a more modest expressway, and in turn the Cook County Democrats abandoned their drive to add $100 million to his proposed $3.45 billion education appropriation. "That was the make-or-break issue in the budget," says Thompson. Thanks in part to higher tax revenues from a reviving economy, he expects to end fiscal year 1978 with a tidy $85 million surplus.

Thompson also achieved his second goal, a tough new crime bill that imposes minimum sentences for serious offenses. He asked for mandatory imprisonment of from six to 30 years for what he called "Class X crimes," including rape, arson, hard-drug transactions and armed violence of any kind. The legislature watered down some features of the bill but basically gave him what he asked for. Says Thompson: "It's time to put to rest the notion that prisons are for rehabilitation. When they can accomplish that end, it is good. But the primary purpose of prison is to separate criminals from the rest of us and to punish them so as to deter other people from similar behavior."

The Governor has had some setbacks.