Illinois
Gov. Pat Quinn is pressing his case for giving citizens the right to toughen local ethics laws by referendum. The Democratic governor and longtime fan of citizen initiatives put the issue on the legislature’s fall veto session agenda by using his authority to rewrite a bill lawmakers sent him. He has asked lawmakers to go along with his changes, but it may be a long shot when they meet in Springfield in mid-October.
Voters soundly rejected a plan for the proposed $95 million renovation of Lake Central High School at the ballot box on Tuesday. Opponents outnumbered those in favor of the project — 59 percent to 41 percent. About 20 percent of registered voters — 8,529 people — in the school district voted on the question.
Citizen led reform is a priority for Illinois Governor Pat Quinn. He is working against the clock to push through his top issues before the official end of the state’s legislative session.
Quinn, who is trying to create a stark difference between himself and his predecessor, the disgraced Rob Blagojevich, is making his mark as a reformer. At the top of his “must-do” list are ethics reform, passing a recall measure, public financing and allowing citizens to use binding referendums to enact reform when lawmakers do not.
The Illinois Reform Commission published its “100-Day Report” outlining recommendations for stanching statewide political corruption. The commission’s report was requested by Ill. Gov. Pat Quinn and aims to find concrete way to reform the ilinois government.
The Commission failed to find consensus on one reform measure the Governor is advocating, the power of recall. Discussing the recall process Quinn said, “That’s the ultimate way to get ethics in government.”
Illinois voters will head to the polls Tuesday to vote on a variety of issues. Advisory referendums dealing with issues ranging from tax measures to highway construction to secession from counties will be up for a vote.
A candidate for mayor of Urbana came out on top when he forced a lottery for the top position on the upcoming ballot. The Republican candidate learned that a lottery was required by state law but had not been held. Joined by the Green party candidate, he filed suit to force clerks to hold the lottery.
You have Initiative rights for citizens to place constitutional amendments on the ballot for a decision by the voters, but that right is so severely limited that only one initiative has qualified for the ballot in the last 30 years. Citizens lack a process where they can pass statutes or suspend a statute passed by the Legislature. There is a very difficult process for advisory statewide measures.
The fight for I&R in Illinois began in 1897, when 250 delegates met in
Chicago to form the Direct Legislation Union. Encouraged by this
organization, the state Democratic Party endorsed I&R, and governor
John Peter Altgeld endorsed it in a Labor Day speech in 1899.
Article XI
Section 3. Constitutional Initiative for Legislative Article
Amendments to Article IV of this Constitution may be proposed by a
petition signed by a number of electors equal in number to at least eight
percent of the total votes cast for candidates for Governor in the
preceding gubernatorial election. Amendments shall be limited to
structural and procedural subjects contained in Article IV. A petition shall
contain the text of the proposed amendment and the date of the
Former U.S. Term Limits spokesman Paul Jacob, who in 2000 made a campaign appearance with Johnson, says that in all, at least 25 members of Congress (not all Republicans) have broken such promises. (Read More)
There’s a little something for every voter with something to say this election, from recall and constitutional rewrites to alcohol sales and higher local taxes.
Those are among more than 270 ballot questions voters throughout the state will see Nov. 4 when they go to the polls, according to a tally by the State Board of Elections.
That’s below the referendum totals for other general elections in the past decade, the board says. It could be the product of fewer questions about local tax and fee increases in a slowing economy.
In an unprecedented move just 34 days before the election, a Cook County judge on Wednesday ordered the language of a statewide referendum on the constitutional convention modified, calling aspects of the current proposal misleading and false.
Circuit Judge Nathaniel R. Howse said he was not persuaded that the language in the call for a constitutional convention was accurate and ordered the state to draft notices informing voters of the change to the original ballot question by Friday.
In golf, it’s called a “mulligan.” You hit a bad shot, then drop another ball in the same spot and have another whack at it.