Morning shorts
Friday, Oct 10, 2008 - Posted by Kevin Fanning
* LaHood: Electoral College ‘antiquated’
“All these people in America are going to go out and vote on Election Day 30 days from now and the truth is that their vote doesn’t really count because it’s the Electoral College who will decide who the next president is,” LaHood told about 130 students Wednesday at Holy Family School.
Earlier this year, Illinois became the third state to support choosing the president by the nation’s popular vote instead of the Electoral College, which is set up by the Constitution. Maryland and New Jersey also embrace the idea, but dozens more states would have to join the effort before it could take effect.
* Cell phone law may be softened
Chicago motorists who get caught talking on cell phones while driving without a hands-free device would no longer lose their driver’s licenses, under a mayoral plan that would have spared a North Side alderman political embarrassment.
Last year, Ald. Tom Tunney (44th) got pulled over and ticketed for yakking on his cell phone while driving. He was forced to hand over his license like thousands of other motorists.
* Public housing’s island
Mayor Richard Daley declared eight years ago that Chicago would end “the failed policies of the past.” Yet a Tribune investigation found that the city has pumped hundreds of millions of federal tax dollars into housing complexes that preserve the very policies the plan was meant to reverse.
The largest is the Altgeld-Murray Homes, a sprawling 190-acre development built on the Far South Side for black factory workers during World War II. At that development alone, the CHA plans to spend $451 million rehabbing 1,998 barracks-style apartments, with politically connected Walsh Construction doing much of the work.
* Daley says lax trash haulers will be disciplined
Despite the lousy report, Daley said Streets and Sanitation Commissioner Michael Picardi “has done a good job.” The mayor also denied union allegations that Hoffman issued the report to help Daley’s case for layoffs.
* Daley wants to fire loafing garbage workers
“We are going to identify these individuals. We are going to discipline and fire them,” he added.
The tough comments, typical for Daley after embarrassing news breaks, came after an Inspector General’s report released Wednesday blasted garbage workers for loafing in what was characterized as “systemic, pervasive” waste and fraud. The office spied on 77 garbage truck drivers and 145 laborers in 10 wards before drawing its conclusions.
* Alderman: I’ve had enough valet gripes
Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) is fed up with valet parking companies that damage cars, park illegally, gobble up on-street spaces and tie up downtown traffic.
Reilly wants to require valet companies serving Chicago restaurants, bars and hotels to provide enough off-street spaces to serve 25 percent of the establishment’s seating capacity. The current requirement is 10 percent.
* Generator didn’t get clouted in
ComEd has concluded that clout and favoritism played no role in the company’s decision to deliver a generator to the home of Chicago’s No. 2 man at O’Hare Airport to restore power during a violent August storm.
First Deputy Aviation Commissioner David Ochal resigned his $155,604-a-year job in the wake of the scandal, allowing him to escape a mandatory interview by the city’s inspector general.
* Medicaid covers breast cancer gene test
Women enrolled in the state’s Medicaid program can receive insurance coverage for tests to see if they carry genetic mutations linked to breast and ovarian cancer, state officials said Thursday.
* Marathon to test logistics
* Warm day looms for marathon runners
* Marathon Organizers to Step-Up Safety
Chicago marathon organizers say they’re stepping up safety efforts this year. Runners last year said the event was mismanaged. Some complained there wasn’t enough water on the course despite record heat.
* Hardy Chicago Marathoners Give the Race Another Go
* Run, watch or stay put
Chicagoans have a choice Sunday: either join the 1.5 million people expected to watch the Chicago Marathon — or try to avoid it altogether. But it won’t be easy, as 45,000 runners will clog up the 26.2 mile race course and more streets for a good part of the day.
* New Renaissance schools
15 new Renaissance 2010 high schools announced Wednesday:
* Friday Beer Blogging: Joe Six Pack Edition
- Fan of the Game - Friday, Oct 10, 08 @ 9:24 am:
The Electoral College ensures that the people in the various states have their voices heard. The country is called the United States of America, not the United Voters of America.
If the popular vote became the basis for electing a president, then almost all campaigning would be done in large cities. Places like Rhode Island and Wyoming, and Montana would mean little to the election process, and their voices would never be heard (much the way we feel sometimes “downstate”). The Electoral College makes those states and their voters relevant and gives them a voice. We need to enssure the Electoral College stays in place.
- Rob_N - Friday, Oct 10, 08 @ 9:28 am:
LaHood’s conflating things…
Yes, the Electoral College could technically do whatever it wanted (President Nader, anyone? Ha!)…
But the people of each state do get their vote and the Electors almost always, in the history of the Constitution, follow the will of the people.
…The goofy “do whatever the national popular vote says” plan does, however, have the potential to silence the will of the voters. I’d rather see the automatic 2 electoral votes per state eliminated (leaving 1 electoral vote per state as the base rather than 3) than that “do whatever the national popular vote says” malarkey.
- Six Degrees of Separation - Friday, Oct 10, 08 @ 9:30 am:
Plus…the many media “election maps” would be meaningless on election day, since “red states” and “blue states” would have no bearing on the ultimate outcome, just the raw overall national vote count.
- stones - Friday, Oct 10, 08 @ 9:31 am:
Amazing how the party that looks like it is going to lose always complains about the electoral system.
What did LaHood say 8 years ago when Bush beat Gore? My guess is the system was fine back then.
- wordslinger - Friday, Oct 10, 08 @ 9:35 am:
You’d need the less populous states to agree to such an amendment. That would diminish their influence. Why would they do it?
- Do some homework - Friday, Oct 10, 08 @ 10:31 am:
stones:
LaHood actually introduced legislation to abolish the Electoral College in the late 90s. You can look it up if you would like. He has been talking about this for a long time. So, I guess that answers your question.
- Skeeter - Friday, Oct 10, 08 @ 10:32 am:
Ald. Reilly’s valet regulation is a good start, but it needs more.
A few years ago, my wife and I were nearly run over by a car driven by a valet. The restaurant in question denied any responsibility, so of course my wife and I have not gone in that place since. You hired these people, now stand up and take responsibility.
The more troubling aspect of it was that when I asked the valet to see his driver’s license [I admit, it was more like a demand and their may well have been some profanity. That will happen when you need to push your wife out of the way of a rapidly moving car making an illegal turn], the guy disappeared.
I would like to see random checks for licenses on these places. Valet does not have a valid IL license? Shut the service down.
I use valet services at times (although admittedly we usually take cabs) and I appreciate the service [North Pond in particular has an excellent valet service — top quality people], but we need to make sure that people walking (and driving) are not put at risk by valets.
- Phil Collins - Friday, Oct 10, 08 @ 10:34 am:
The electoral college causes candidates to ignore some states and campaign in the swing states. All of the presidential candidates know that Democrats will easily win some states and that Republicans will easily win others. They campaign in all of the other states. If the electoral college was eliminated, the candidates would campaign, more often, in some states that aren’t swing states, because they would try to get as many votes as possible, in any state. All states that have the same number of electoral votes would be equally important, since they would have about the same number of people.
The winner of each U.S. Senate race is the candidate who receives the most votes. The winner of each governor race is the candidate who receives the most votes. The president is the most important office, in our country, so that election should also be won by the candidate who receives the most votes.
- Rob_N - Friday, Oct 10, 08 @ 10:58 am:
Phil,
You do realize Pres. Gore would be wrapping up his second term by now if what you advocate had come to pass.
- VanillaMan - Friday, Oct 10, 08 @ 11:00 am:
Before the direct election of US Senators, it was clearer why there was an Electoral College. Our government was set up so that both citizens and their elected governments, were represented.
Why would we care about our elected governments being represented in Congress and the Presidency? Because we live in a federal system of government. We empower citizens by dividing governments up into local, state and national governments. We do not want a federal government taking over a state or local government. We prefer to ensure that the governments citizens elect, and protected from an all-powerful federal government.
So when Congress was created, there was a House for direct citizen election, and a Senate to represent each state government’s interests.
The Electoral College is where the state government’s interests meet the popular vote. It works. There is a real reason the College exists.
Now, for those who believe that it is wrong to see politicians campaigning in Ohio to the exclusion of LA, NYC, Chicago and other major cities, I wish to point out that their “fix” will also create a wrong.
If we depended on direct election only, as they propose, we would not be seeing campaigning outside of US cities. The interests of suburbia, exurbia, rural voters and states with small populations would be ignored. They would be willing to see the exclusion of millions of non-urban citizens and willing to have the federal government completely focused politically on urban demands and needs.
That would be far worst.
Anyone living in Illinois recognizes how everything focuses on Chicago politically. There isn’t a single state official outside of Chicago. Dick Durbin is the only official in the entire state, not living in Chicago. You think this is fair? You must be from Chicago, or favor urban political goals over everyone else’s.
Illinois is proof why we should not be abandoning the Electoral College.
It is better to believe in political diversity and allow the representation of all citizens in a way that balances the direction our governments take. Our US Constitution’s authors recognized this, and we’d be screwing ourselves with this folly.
- VanillaMan - Friday, Oct 10, 08 @ 11:03 am:
…if we end the Electoral College.
Study!
- stones - Friday, Oct 10, 08 @ 11:25 am:
Do Some Homework…
Maybe you need to re-read my question. What did LaHood Say 8 years ago when Bush beat Gore? Look it up if you want.
- Captain America - Friday, Oct 10, 08 @ 1:54 pm:
I agree with Lahood that the electoral college is a complete ananchronism. I predict it will be abolished after the Republicans expereince the ecstasy of winning the popular vote and the agony losing in the electoral college. It won’t happen for a long while, but sooner or later, the electoral college will come back to haunt the Republicans - maybe in a generation or two, when they finally bounce back from the historical repercussions of the Bush-Cheney debacle.
- Six Degrees of Separation - Friday, Oct 10, 08 @ 2:19 pm:
If we depended on direct election only, as they propose, we would not be seeing campaigning outside of US cities. The interests of suburbia, exurbia, rural voters and states with small populations would be ignored. They would be willing to see the exclusion of millions of non-urban citizens and willing to have the federal government completely focused politically on urban demands and needs.
Umm, suburban Cook and the collars currently outnumber the city of Chicago 5.6 million to 2.8 million. I would surmise the wise politicians would want to campaign there, and oother suburban areas of the US. Agreed, rural (and to some extent exurban) interests would be diminished another small notch if the EC were abandoned…but it is just one of many little pieces in the puzzle threatening rural America right now.