Franks, Quinn urge Senate vote on recall

 

By MIKE NEUMANN
The Independent

 

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Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn and State Rep. Jack Franks, D-Woodstock, stood together April 18 at a news conference at the James R. Thompson Center in Chicago, urging Illinois Senate leaders to bring the Recall Amendment to a full vote. The amendment, which must be approved by the Senate, would put the measure to recall officials on the November ballot.
According to Quinn, instead of sending HJRCA28 unamended to the full Senate for an up-or-down roll-call vote, Senate President Emil Jones and Sen. Donne Trotter have managed to avoid giving voters the opportunity to consider the Recall Amendment on the Nov. 4 ballot.
Quinn further called on Gov. Rod Blagojevich to stand by his word and put all the power of his office behind the statewide movement to pass the amendment.
Quinn joined Franks in informing the public of Senate actions designed to scuttle the Recall Amendment, which passed the House in a 75–33 vote. Although the resolution was introduced in the Senate last year by Sen. Dan Cronin, R-Elmhurst, Trotter took over sponsorship of the bill in the Senate, even though he had told the Chicago Tribune that he considers recall a “stupid” idea.
The Recall Amendment reportedly had enough supporters to pass from the Executive Committee to the full Senate. However, Trotter pocketed the bill instead of allowing a vote.
The Senate must approve HJRCA28 by a three-fifths majority before Sunday, May 4, if the amendment is to appear on the Nov. 4 ballot. The Recall Amendment would require approval by at least three-fifths of those voting on the question and a majority of those voting in the election.
In November, a statewide poll by Glengariff Group found that 65 percent of Illinois voters supported amending the state constitution to allow recall of elected officials.
Under the proposed constitutional amendment, an effort to recall a state constitutional officer — the governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, comptroller or treasurer — would require signatures equal to 12 percent of the previous vote total for that office. For example, based on turnout in the 2006 election, it would require collection of at least 418,401 signatures within 160 days to put a gubernatorial recall on the ballot, and it would require approval by more than 50 percent of voters to recall the official.
The proposed constitutional amendment also sets guidelines for the recall of state legislators, requiring collection of signatures equal to 20 percent of the total turnout for that office in the previous election, again within 160 days.
At present, 18 states permit the recall of state officials.

 

This article was published in the April 30, 2008 edition of The Woodstock Independent.