It’s just a bill
Wednesday, May 11, 2016 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Or, in this case, a resolution…
A resolution being introduced Wednesday by Republican Cook County Commissioner Peter N. Silvestri petitioning the General Assembly and the governor to change the Cook County Clerk of the Circuit Court position from an elected position to an appointed one is already hitting a brick wall in Springfield.
The resolution seeks to have the president of the Cook County Board and the Commissioners appoint and confirm the Clerk of the Circuit Court rather than determined by the will of the County voters.
The Cook County Board’s resolution comes months after a major scandal involving a 400-day delay in indicting officer Jason Van Dyke who shot 17-year-old Laquan McDonald and similar police shootings. The lack of transparency led to protests and a huge voter turnout resulting in the defeat of Cook County States Attorney Anita Alvarez by Kim Foxx, largely because of the “Black Lives Matter” and youth movements.
Rep. Mary Flowers (D-31st) and Senator Mattie Hunter (D-3rd) strongly objected to the resolution both saying the choice of a Cook County Clerk of the Circuit Court should be left up to the voters and not politicians.
…Adding… So much for that…
An effort to make the elected post now held by embattled Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown an appointed office was abandoned Wednesday amid an outcry from a bevy of African-American groups that alleged racial motives were behind the initiative.
In a County Board room packed with black protesters, including members of Black Lives Matter Chicago and members of the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow/PUSH, Commissioner Peter Silvestri, R-Elmwood Park, withdrew his proposal.
* And this one’s from Illinois Review..
Parents of D211 who want their children protected from mixing sexes in school bathrooms, dressing rooms and showers are calling for help in opposing a Senate resolution that condemns two states for outlawing mixed gender bathrooms.
Two Chicago area senators - Democrat Senators Emil Jones III and Heather Steans - have filed a resolution condemning North Carolina and Mississippi for passing laws that call for biological sex to determine which public bathrooms a person should use.
“Please take one minute to fill out an online witness slip to OPPOSE a horrible Senate Resolution that misrepresents the truth,” the D211 Parents for Privacy’s Facebook page says, and provides a link to the State Government and Veterans Affairs Committee. The resolution was assigned to the committee on May 3rd.
Senators Jones and Steans want Governor Rauner to prohibit all non-essential state travel to North Carolina or Mississippi until the states repeal those laws.
* Other stuff…
* ‘It’s Horribly Inhumane’ Says Lawmaker Trying to Ban Bobcat Trapping
- Interested Bystander - Wednesday, May 11, 16 @ 2:45 pm:
The legislature can’t pass a bill authorizing Preckwinkle to appoint the Clerk of the Circuit Court. From Article VI, section 18(b) of the Illinois Constitution, entitled “Clerks of Courts”:
“(b) The General Assembly shall provide by law for the election, or for the appointment by Circuit Judges, of clerks and other non-judicial officers of the Circuit Courts and for their terms of office and removal for cause.”
- Just Me - Wednesday, May 11, 16 @ 2:56 pm:
Where are Hunter and Flowers on the election of the Cook County Coroner, like the other 101 counties?
- Just Me - Wednesday, May 11, 16 @ 2:58 pm:
Interested Bystander - Am I missing something? I read that part of the Constitution as saying that the clerks can be appointed if the GA wants them to be: “…election, or for the appointment…”
- burbanite - Wednesday, May 11, 16 @ 3:00 pm:
Aren’t they elected in all the counties?
- walker - Wednesday, May 11, 16 @ 3:07 pm:
the Laquan McDonald/Anita Alvarez scandal has nothing to do with this issue of appointing the Clerk of the Circuit Court.
This is about the incumbent, and the extent to which this role should be closely controlled by the executive.
Never a good idea to base a structural reform on the perceived shortcomings of a given incumbent.
- Commander Norton - Wednesday, May 11, 16 @ 3:11 pm:
Hasn’t the governor already suspended all non-essential travel by state employees anywhere?
- Anonymous - Wednesday, May 11, 16 @ 3:18 pm:
Interested Bystander - Am I missing something? I read that part of the Constitution as saying that the clerks can be appointed if the GA wants them to be: “…election, or for the appointment…”
the choice under the constitution is either an elected clerk of the court or one appointed by the judges in the circuit. It does not permit appointment by the county board president.
- Lucky Pierre - Wednesday, May 11, 16 @ 3:35 pm:
Serious Question for Senator Jones and Senator Steans-
How do you reconcile the laws against indecent exposure particularly with children with the locker room law and different biological genders. If they are changing in the same area in there locker room and showering in the same area how can this not violate this law?
- Politix - Wednesday, May 11, 16 @ 4:41 pm:
There’s a very simple answer to the bathroom access issue. Make them all unisex.
- atsuishin - Wednesday, May 11, 16 @ 5:44 pm:
chicago politics at its finest…
- Just Me - Wednesday, May 11, 16 @ 8:30 pm:
I guess Representative Flowers and Senator Hunter forgot that Cook County has an appointed coroner, which is the only appointed coroner in the State.
– Hunter said if Brown’s position is appointed, “then all of them should be appointed. I cannot support that,” said Hunter. “If they are going to do that, then make all of their positions appointed ones. Why discriminate against one position. Let the people decide.”
”I would not want an appointed person to do that. I want someone who would be held accountable to people, not accountable to other elected officials,” said Flowers. –
- Rabid - Wednesday, May 11, 16 @ 8:46 pm:
Does nibbling on hormones and mutilation yourself make a new species?