Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn, Rep. Jack Franks join forces to denounce Senate shenanigans designed to fool voters, scuttle historic Recall Amendment
CHICAGO – Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn and State Rep. Jack Franks will join forces on Friday to denounce shenanigans in the state Senate designed to mislead the public while ensuring that Illinois voters never get their fair chance to consider the historic Recall Amendment.
“The people of Illinois demand an honest process leading to a straight-up roll call vote on the Recall Amendment,” Quinn said. “Instead, there are senators who are preparing a sneak attack on this vital issue. Those senators need to know that voters will not stand for a phony-baloney attack on grassroots democracy.”
On Wednesday, the Illinois House of Representatives voted 75 – 33 in favor of HJRCA28, a constitutional amendment that would give Illinois voters the right of recall, empowering them to remove inept or unfit politicians from office.
Although the resolution was introduced in the state Senate last year by Sen. Dan Cronin, (R-Elmhurst), Senate sponsorship of the Recall Amendment has now been taken over by Sen. Donne Trotter, (D-Chicago) – who recently told the Chicago Tribune that he considers recall a “stupid” idea.
"The House had a full hearing concerning the recall legislation, and despite the Democratic leadership in the House voting no, the bill still passed," said Franks (D-Woodstock). "Now, Senator Trotter has hijacked the bill with the intention of killing it before the members of the Senate ever have a chance to debate the bill. Senator Trotter's actions are a perfect illustration of what is wrong with politics in Illinois. Recall legislation deserves an open and fair debate in the Senate like we had in the House. I call on President Jones to relinquish Senator Trotter's co-sponsorship of HJRCA 28 and give the bill to another senator who will advocate for the bill to be decided on its merits."
The Senate must approve HJRCA28 by a three-fifths majority before May 4 if the Recall Amendment is to appear on the Nov. 4 ballot. Once on the ballot, the Recall Amendment would require approval by at least three-fifths of those voting on the question or a majority of those voting in the election.
In November, a statewide poll by Glengariff Group found that 65% of Illinois voters supported amending the state Constitution to allow recall of elected officials.
The right of recall has been endorsed enthusiastically on the editorial pages of newspapers statewide, including the Chicago Tribune, the Daily Herald, the Rockford Register Star, the Belleville News-Democrat, the Champaign News-Gazette, the Daily Illini, the Bloomington Pantagraph, and the Decatur Herald and Review. A Chicago Tribune editorial endorsing recall, published on Sunday, Oct. 28, 2007, generated more than 1,200 on-line responses. A Tribune editorial on Oct. 30, 2007, reported that an “overwhelming majority" of respondents favored recall.
“When a consumer product is found to be tainted or defective, there’s a recall,” Quinn said. “Why shouldn’t the people of Illinois have the right to recall shoddy elected officials who fail to perform as promised?”
Under the proposed constitutional amendment, an effort to recall a state constitutional officer – the Governor, Lt. Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, Comptroller or Treasurer – would require signatures equal to 12% 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.
“This amendment sets a reasonably high standard for recall of elected officials,” said Quinn. “Under this proposal, no hard-working elected official need fear a frivolous recall action, but the voters would be given the right to respond to serious official mistakes.”
The proposed constitutional amendment also sets guidelines for the recall of state legislators, requiring collection of signatures equal to 20% 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. The District of Columbia also provides for recall, as do local jurisdictions at least 29 states. In 1996, Minnesota voters approved an amendment to the state constitution allowing recall of elected state officials, and in 1993 a recall amendment passed in New Jersey by a 3-1 margin. Michigan, one of the first states to allow recall of elected officials, included a recall referendum provision in its 1908 revision of the state constitution. In the Midwest, Kansas and Wisconsin also allow recall of state officials.
Quinn has supported the right to recall since 1975, both as a citizen and as an elected official. Although recall efforts should not be undertaken lightly, Quinn says the mere possibility of recall gives elected officials an added incentive to deal squarely with the voters who put them into office.
“The right of recall reminds elected officials that their constituents are keeping an eye on them, not just on Election Day, but every day,” Quinn said. “When everyday people fail to perform on the job, their employers don’t have to wait for years to hand them a pink slip. The people of Illinois employ their elected officials and pay their salaries, and they should have the right to fire them if those officials don’t perform as promised.”
As founder of the all-volunteer Coalition for Political Honesty, Quinn in 1976 led the biggest petition drive in state history, collecting 635,158 signatures and ending a century-old practice allowing Illinois legislators to collect their entire year’s pay on their first day in office.
In 1980, Quinn led the statewide campaign for the Cutback Amendment to the Illinois Constitution, which reduced the size of the Illinois House of Representatives from 177 to 118 members. The Cutback Amendment was the first and only amendment to the Illinois Constitution ever adopted by a citizen initiative.