Recall Debate

While this subject is not directly related to the real estate industry, it would have a direct impact on our state government which ultimately would impact our industry. Whether it is a positive or negative impact...well that is up for you to determine.

For the last couple of months several legislators on both sides of the isle have discussed allowing the voters of Illinois the option to allow for recall elections of elected officials. As you probably remember this was how Governor Schwarzenegger was first elected as the Chief Executive of California.

State Senator Dan Rutherford is the latest elected official in Illinois to continue this discussion. Please find below more on this in Bernie Schoenburg's column from the State Journal Register today.

Rutherford and recall


State Sen. DAN RUTHERFORD, R-Chenoa, since 1995 has had a political action committee, separate from his campaign fund, called the Committee for Legislative Action. Rutherford is using that group to contact voters about the idea of allowing recall of public officials in Illinois.
Rutherford said last week that about 50,000 letters were mailed to explain the existence of a proposal to allow for "recall of an elected official, such as the Governor." The letter notes that if the existing proposed constitutional amendment were enacted, it would take more than 418,000 signatures to place a recall question on the ballot.
"The CLA has been asked to help gauge public support" for the idea of having recall, the letter states. The group hopes to see if 50 percent of the number necessary would register their support. That would be more than 209,000.
Rutherford said that effort is "kind of letting people know how much of a task this would be."
When asked if he's really the one who "asked" his own group to do this, Rutherford said, "in a sense." And while some people who get the letter might think otherwise, a close reading of the document makes it clear that returning the enclosed ballot has no weight in law. This isn't for a real recall; this is to see if people like the idea of recall.
Oh, and the letter asks recipients to send in $29 each as the "minimum to help," or $41 "RECOMMENDED - to buy a roll of stamps," or more. Rutherford said any contributions are just to help with the mailings. It's not a fund-raising effort, he said, and his regular campaign fund makes donations to CLA.
As of late last week, he said, something under 3,000 responses had been received. Percentages, but not raw numbers of votes received, are being posted on the Web site of the PAC, www.CommitteeForLegislativeAction.org. While letters were being sent to voters selected randomly, Rutherford said, the Web site and e-mails are also seeking responses. Thus, this is not scientific.
As of last week, however, 95 percent of those who responded favored the power to recall, but when asked specifically if Gov. ROD BLAGOJEVICH should be recalled, only 72 percent said yes.
Rutherford, who was the GOP candidate for secretary of state in 2006, said the effort to get the word out about the issue is also instructive to him. He called it "telling" that there's more than a 20-point spread between those who want recall and those who want to recall the current governor.
Despite what the request is showing, he said, "My initial feeling is that we should not be having recall as part of the constitution. I think that what we are sensing here is a reaction to a personality as opposed to what is fundamentally appropriate to be in the constitution."
The CLA's stated purpose is to support candidates as well as issues. Other issues it has highlighted have been fee increases passed early in the Blagojevich administration and a proposal back in the mid-1990s to create a sales tax on services.
Bernard Schoenburg is political columnist for The State Journal-Register. He can be reached at 788-1540 or bernard.schoenburg@sj-r.com.
http://www.sj-r.com/Opinion/stories/20116.asp