IL Humanities Council’s Support of Bill Ayers Too Much for One Board Member

The Chicago Tribune reports that, for at least Gary Koch of the Illinois Humanities Council’s board, being buddy-buddy with terrorist Bill Ayers doesn’t quite fulfill their mission. Koch, an instructor at Lincoln Land Community College, officially resigned his position in protest of the Illinois Humanities Council’s recent auctioning of a dinner with Ayers.

“I … find it reprehensible to be associated with individuals who advocated blowing up police stations and federal buildings,” Koch wrote in his resignation letter. “I would be a hypocrite to look the other way on this.”

Just who is this lone level-headed board member Gary Koch? While his bio has now been scrubbed from the Illinois Humanities Council’s website, a cached version reveals that he “…previously served as executive assistant to the Illinois Attorney General and as special assistant to the State Comptroller.  He also served as executive director of the Legislative Local Accounting Task Force and a reporter for the Springfield State Journal-Register. For the past 25 years, Koch has served as adjunct professor at Millikin University, the University of Illinois at Springfield, Benedictine University in Springfield, and he currently teaches film and political science at Lincoln Land Community College.”

The remaining board members of the Illinois Humanities Council, presumedly unperturbed by the Ayers association, read like a who’s-who of the 1% of Chicago. A large number of them graduated from Harvard Law School, interestingly. They include:

• Jim Newcomb, Wilmette, IL, resident, long-time donor to Democratic party, and the Director of Brand Management and Advertising at Boeing
• John Peterson, Vice President at investment bank William Blair
• Gerald Skoning, Partner at Seyfarth Shaw
• Roger Taylor, Of Counsel at Kirkland & Ellis, $1000-donor to Democratic candidate Raja
• Arthur Sussman, Vice President of the MacArthur Foundation
• Alton Harris, Adjunct Professor of Law at Northwestern University and Founder of law firm Ungaretti and Harris; further reading: Harris has posted his interpretation of the U.S. Constitution here.

Glad to hear that these “1%-ers” not only condone Bill Ayers through their continued presence on this board, but appear to be great supporters of the democratic party! hmmm….