State Constitution: If it’s not broke . . .

Cheryl Jackson of the Chicago Urban League:

While both sides have valid arguments, we at Chicago Urban League feel it is important for voters to remember that the vast majority of the problems African Americans face do not stem from flaws in our state Constitution. A shortage of good-paying jobs, failing schools and lack of access to capital to fund businesses–none of these problems will go away by attacking our state Constitution with a red ballpoint pen. High crime rates, scarce affordable housing and deteriorating infrastructure in our neighborhoods–these are social ills that cannot be blamed on the Constitution. In fact, the estimated $40 million to $80 million cost of a Constitutional Convention could be better spent purchasing computers for public schools on the South and West sides, or hiring more highly skilled teachers in the toughest neighborhood schools.

As for education funding, the Constitution already clearly spells out the responsibility of the state to provide a high quality education to all of its citizens, and it's high time for Illinois lawmakers to honor that.

In 1808, the designers of the state's original Constitution wrote in a useful feature for making changes to the document: It's called an amendment. We, at the Urban League, believe the tools to lead Illinois forward are already in the hands–or certainly within reach–of our legislative leaders. The other tool lies in your hands. As a voter, you have the power to elect the candidates you believe will make the changes our community needs. If you're not informed about who you want to vote for, their policies and their track records, then I suggest you do your homework before Tuesday rolls around.

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The Crazies and Con Con

I was talking to a guy who worked on the Gov's campaign last go round and asked him if he really thought the guv insane? Not crazy, but really insane; like if indicted he could credibly plead an insanity defense with no jury doubting it.

Oh he assured me his boss was insane and said I just had to spend time up close in Springfield to see it.

So how can the ST make a case Con Con would let the crazies in, who heaven forbid might discuss some social issues, when we have a Gov widely acknowledged as not playing-with-a-full-deck, and a party that, while having supported him, confirm their doubts for all?

How crazy is that?

What does Illinois have to lose with Con Con and its outcome we'll get to vote up-or-down on?

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Carol Marin on Con Con

Marin congratulates Balgojevich, Madigan and Jones...

You've managed to drive the left into the arms of the right, gotten the right to side with the left.

All it took was Con-Con.

When voters in Illinois go to the polls on Nov. 4, even before they cast a momentous presidential vote for Barack Obama or John McCain, at the very top of their ballots they will be asked to vote "yes" or "no" on Con-Con. That is, they will be asked to decide whether this state should hold a convention to re-write the Illinois Constitution.

The reason that we should salute Rod Blagojevich, Mike Madigan and Emil Jones, our fearless Democratic leaders, is that their toxic, ego-driven, Bermuda triangle of a relationship has so poisoned Springfield, so paralyzed the General Assembly, that the citizens of this state who've been forced to watch their antics like endless episodes of "Days of Our Lives" are desperate to fight back.

Marin recommends a no vote on Con Con and instead blames voters for sending the current crowd to Springfield. We've bungled the elections and she fears we'll bungle a Con Con letting crazies in to decide things like abortion, guns, and embryonic stem cells. Not much hope to offer desperate Illinoisians.

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Municipal officials on a con-con...

Let's start with an article from the Naperville Sun...

While the Illinois Municipal League hasn't officially taken a formal stance, several local officials oppose a constitutional convention.

Channahon Mayor Joe Cook said he's worried that a convention would open up the whole constitution, meaning there would be no guarantee that even sound provisions would stand.

"Do you really want the same people who can't run the state having the ability to open up the whole constitution?" he asked.

And now the official position from a suburban municipality regarding a state con-con courtesy of the Grayslake Review...

Grayslake trustees are recommending a "yes" vote for a state constitutional convention. The question will be on the November 4 ballot.
...
Grayslake trustees are in favor of the latest effort.

"I believe our state government is broken," said Trustee Jeff Werfel. "I think we need some fundamental act like this to affect change."

Mayor Tim Perry agreed, saying, "The people in Springfield are so much against this because it contains the power of recall."

Illinois has over 6,900 units of government, far more than any other state in the nation, according to a pamphlet from Secretary of State Jesse White. Delegates to a convention could propose consolidating state and local government offices to reduce this number and streamline government. Voters must approve any changes that would be recommended.

There you have it two different positions from those who serve in local governments in the state of Illinois. One doesn't have much faith that a con-con can't change state government. The others does seem to think that state government can fix itself and a con-con is probably the last best hope to change state government.

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Pro & Con: Con-Con Con

cross-posted from GapersBlock.com

The pro and con sides of an unconventional Constitutional Convention controversy lined up, and in a balmy room at the UIC campus, they acted out a purely distilled version of a very old American debate: that between the progressive view of democracy, and a conservative view of democracy.

Organized by the UIC United chapter of the State Universities Annuitants Association (SUAA), a panel debated the pros and cons of the once-a-generation Constitutional Convention vote on Tuesday night. Representing pro were populist Lieutenant Governor Pat Quinn and ethics crusader state Representative John Fritchey (D-Chicago); on the con side were former state Senator, comptroller, and gubernatorial candidate Dawn Clark Netsch and League of Women Voters official Kathryn Nesburg. Over two hours of debate and question-and-answer led to a neat and simple line between the two sides:

Pro: If we have a constitutional convention, we could make things better.

Con: If we have a constitutional convention, we could make things worse.

Progressive and conservative in a more elevated sense — in terms of the basic view of human nature. Measured change from up top? Or dramatic change from below? Tradition or debate? Do we trust "the people"? Or do we fear "the mob?"

"I'm not scared of a constitutional convention. I'm not scared of my friends and neighbors," Rep. Fritchey said. Should he be?


Read the rest and comment here.

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Something else that could go into the state constitution

Well this story starts off with the Governor of Nevada moving out of the governor's mansion there since he's having marital difficulties, however, doing so is against state law. Governing 13th. . .

The 1866 law says a governor must "keep his office and reside at the seat of government." It once applied to most constitutional officers but over the years they've all been exempted from the requirement by the Legislature.

I know there are worse things about the Governor of Illinois that are being reported these days than the fact that he refuses to reside in Springfield. Still we're looking for things to put in the state constitution and if you're upset that a governor won't reside in the state capitol, then this provision is as good as any to be put in the state's constitution.

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Con-con pro and cons on tonight's Peoria Pundit Radio

I'm sure Rich will forgive me for using Illinoize to plug my BlogtalkRadio show, set to begin tonight at 6 p.m. John Bambenek of the Illinois Citizen's Coalition, a proponent of a Con-Con, will be my first guest on the hour-long show. I'll interview him, then open the phones up for questions. I'm hoping to get a ton of callers telling me what they would like to see in the state's Constitution. It's a long-distance call from Illinois, so use cell phones or VoiP if you've got it.

If there IS a con-con, I'd like to see this change: Term limits for Illinois House and Senate leadership positions. If voters in a district want to keep sending the same hack to Springfield, that's their business. But I don't think the whole state should suffer because some corrupt b*stard managed to to get and hold onto power until he dies.

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Crazy Political Rantings: Fixing Illinois

The Crazy Politico offers his proposal for solving the problem of transit in the suburbs and for increasing representation in the General Assembly.

Instead, a "spread the weath" formula needs to be developed. While the 2020 groups contention that faster rail would make folks more likely to use it has merit, so does the idea that a non-Chicagocentric system for the RTA would help. Making it easier to get from Points A and B, without going through Chicago, or close to it would help. Metropolis 2020 ignores the fact that a lot of the traffic on Chicago freeways isn't going to Chicago, it's going somewhere less well served by our current transit structure.

One of the downsides to the current transit structure is that is makes it nearly impossible for the collar counties to develop their own transit systems, the money they have for it is already tied up in the bloated RTA, CTA, Pace, Metra system leaving little for regional transport outside of Chicago.

Chicago Metropolis 2020 points out that the number of trucks jamming the roads is part of the problem. Easing truck congestion is much easier than anyone will admit, because it doesn't fit in the "Chicago First" mold. Rockford has an excellent airport that is tossed occasional bones in cargo transit, but is basically locked out of becoming a major regional hub by O'Hare contracts. The same is true of major brand airlines trying to fly from Rockford. Anything that takes away from idea of O'Hare as the epicenter of Northern Illinois transit is looked on as bad, and whispers of punishment from the O'Hare folks shut down the idea quickly.

DeKalb and Rockford both have the rail, road and air transport facilities to reduce the congestion in the O'Hare area, and Chicago area as a whole, but have been, through state and regional actions, hampered in developing them to their full potential. Both area also closer to other states time and distance wise than Chicago, and could be used to attract business from them, growing Illinois, but the same groups that want to grow Illinois by making Chicago better ignore methods that would grow Illinois anywhere but Chicago.

So, how does this get fixed? Well this year Illinois has the chance to vote on holding a Constitutitional Convention to rewrite or Amend the State Constitution. Changing Article IV of the State Constitution to change the makeup of the state legislature would be a good start. Currently the makeup is completely population based, with 59 districts, each providing one Senator and 2 Assembly members. Because over 65% of the states population is located in Cook County and it's "collar counties" both houses of our the legislature are disproportionately representative of that area, making everything else in the state second rate as far as the legislature is concerned.

A good change would be to make the Legislature more like the Federal Government. The Assembly could be made slightly bigger, by coming up with 70-75 districts based on population, with 2 members from each. However, the Senate could be based on Counties instead of population, with 1 Senator from each of the 102 counties. By giving equal voice to all of the counties in one branch of the legislature we'd be able to mitigate some of the Chicago First mentality, and maybe, just maybe, grow the whole state from different angles, instead of hoping growth radiates from an overgrown and overburdened epicenter.

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Third Proposal: Mixed-Member Legislature

Con-Con Illinois at first was advocating for a unicameral legislature elected using a proportional representation system. Now a mixed-member bicameral legislature with a House of Representatives and a Senate...

The 84 District Representative will be elected from 28 districts of 3 Representatives elected proportionally. These would currently be districts of about 450,000 citizens.

Four of the Representative Districts would be combined into one Senate District for a total of 7 Senate Districts. In each of these 7 Districts, there would be 18 Senators, with 9 of them elected for four-year terms every two years. These 7 Senate Districts would be quite large (1.8 million citizens) but with 9 Senators being elected proportionally, the low election threshold (10%) would allow a very diverse set of Senators to be elected, representing varying views across the whole district.

The remaining 39 At-Large Representatives would not have districts, but would instead be elected statewide. They would be elected using a Party List system (more on Proportional systems in a later post) and would be used to "even-out" the Legislature to make sure the political parties and coalitions statewide are reflected properly in the General Assembly. There would, for example, be a 5% threshold meaning that if a minority party got 5% statewide, but for some reason at the district level, they did not get 5% of the seats, they would pick-up At-Large seats to get their fair representation.

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An Illinois Con-Con Blog

I posted on my blog a video provided by The Capitol Fax YouTube channel where there was a discussion about the possible constitutional convention in 2010, that is if Illinois voters vote in the affirmitive for it.

Well I write about it to mention that someone left a comment and this individual posted a link to a blog, Con-Con Illinois 2010, where they propose changed to the state constitution. I'm a proponent of bringing back proportional representation to the state at least for the House of Representatives. This individual wants to go much further.

This individual wants to institute a unicameral (or one-house) legislature to the state of Illinois. In addition to provided for a system of proportional represention for this legislature. This one house legislature will be much larger than the members of the House of Representatives before the cut-back amendment. Let's see 177 pre-1982 in the Illinois House vs. a proposed 249 in the proposed unicameral.

This individual is going further than I'd go, but it's worth a discussion here. So let's see here proposals that could be discussed at the state constitutional convention are school-funding, public pensions, recall, eminent domain, proportional representation, and now a unicameral legislature. If there's anything else that should be discussed at the convention should one be held now is the time to speak on it!

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Removing a governor

If you haven't read this Chicago Tribune editorial yet, don't wait now. The Tribune believes that voters should be allowed to recall a Governor...

Should Rod Blagojevich remain as governor of Illinois?

He shows no inclination to resign from office. And while the state constitution does allow for his impeachment by the Illinois House and trial by the Senate, it's doubtful legislators could bring themselves to such drastic action. So the realistic question becomes this: Given the multiple ineptitudes of Rod Blagojevich -- his reckless financial stewardship, his dictatorial antics, his penchant for creating political enemies -- should citizens create a new way to terminate a chief executive who won't, or can't, do his job?

That is, should Illinois join the 18 states that give voters -- as opposed to lawmakers -- the ballot power to remove state officials from office?

The Blagojevich experience suggests that the answer is yes, Illinois should write a recall mechanism into its constitution. Having endured the Blagojevich era, we believe voters never should have to endure another one like it. They instead should have the power to recall an inept governor.

The National Conference of State Legislatures offers a succinct summary of how a recall provision would be useful in a predicament such as Illinois': "Proponents of the recall maintain that it provides a way for citizens to retain control over elected officials who are not representing the best interests of their constituents, or who are unresponsive or incompetent. This view holds that an elected representative is an agent, a servant and not a master." (The NCSL takes no position on whether states should have recall provisions.)

This serious mechanism is rarely used. Only two U.S. governors have been recalled. North Dakotans ousted Lynn Frazier in 1921. In 2003, Californians voted to remove Gray Davis and, in a separate ballot measure, selected Arnold Schwarzenegger to replace him.

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Paul Green Trashes Con-Con

Now a Roosevelt University Professor of Policy Studies, Dr. Paul Green is well known to governmental officials.

Many have heard him speak at conventions.

Having served as a township supervisor, he brings an understanding of the political arena that few academics have.

Thursday night, Green spoke to the McHenry County Economic Development Corporation’s annual dinner. One of his former students is now the EDC President Chris Manheim

You can read what the Northwest Herald reporter Lix Wolgemuth wrote, but missing from that coverage was an almost diatribe brought on by a woman asking his opinion of holding another constitutional convention.

He said it would be “held over my dead body,” that it would be “a disaster.”

He waxed eloquently about the quality of the delegates to the 1970 constitutional convention, the first held in 100 years.

We “never had brighter people discussing anything,” he said.

“It was legitimate.”

I wonder what political entities are illegitimate.

Referring to a new constitutional convention, he observed,

It would be a lobbyist’s dream.

It would be a taxpayer’s nightmare.

The quality of people would not be the same.

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Locally, 1970 con-con delegates were Jeff Ladd of Crystal Lake, Jeanette Mullin of Barrington, Stan Johnson of DeKalb and Maxine Wymore, from northern McHenry County, I believe.

More on the weekends at McHenry County Blog.

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