* Click here for more background. The House just passed SB2412, that would put three questions on the statewide ballot. Assistant Majority Leader Jay Hoffman added the referendum questions and several other provisions in an amendment earlier today. House Republicans held a press conference after it passed, Here’s Minority Leader Tony McCombie…

Thank you everybody for coming today, we really appreciate it. The House Republicans are standing here united after a present protest vote on the House floor today.

This is an another bill, here we are beginning of May, a bill that just dropped on us at the last minute with no transparency or opportunity for our residents to weigh in. This morning, the amendment was filed out of the blue on a Senate Bill. It was assigned to the House executive committee for a hearing shortly thereafter and just a few hours later, it was brought forward for a vote on the House floor.

Serious legislators should want to give time to the public to understand the impact on our state. We’re used to seeing this kind of maneuvering on May 31. But we don’t understand the sense of urgency right now. Unless the end goal is to stifle the democratic process through the changes on slating candidates.

We are united on providing checks and balances in the much needed state government. The problem this bill purports to solve could be helped anytime, by legitimate legislation that has been brought forward by members of the House, vetted by members of the House and with our constituents input.

We are for building families. We are for protecting election workers, and we are certainly for property tax relief.

But there is something else that we stand for, and that is democracy. This bill takes away the opportunity for us to work together with our counterparts on any number of substantial challenges facing our state. There has been ample time for tax relief, we need to provide families with that relief, but instead, here we are at the beginning of May, playing games.

* Here’s the vote…

* Jeremy Gorner asked McCombie why vote present and not no…

It’s just because it’s not serious legislation. We wanted to stand united together to show that this was not, you know, if we would have voted no, you wouldn’t be standing here listening to us right now. This was a united present protest vote. And here we are talking about it.

       

10 Comments - Edgewater Libertarian - Wednesday, May 1, 24 @ 5:02 pm: Why did Kelly Cassidy vote no? - Macon Bakin - Wednesday, May 1, 24 @ 5:03 pm: What are the changes to filling legislative vacancies that mccombie hinted at? I am all for any change that moves Illinois closer to special elections over our garbage appointment process that is so much worse than the electoral college. - Jane - Wednesday, May 1, 24 @ 5:07 pm: Yeah, putting three nonsense questions on the ballot to prevent a citizen’s group from engaging in grassroots democracy is perfectly legal and par for the course for Illinois politics but it is nonetheless shameful. Or can an action be considered “shameful” if all the elected officials of the majority party think it’s a perfectly satisfactory thing to do? - Rabid - Wednesday, May 1, 24 @ 5:17 pm: We only vote no on serious legislation. This was a novelty loss - hmmm - Wednesday, May 1, 24 @ 5:30 pm: @Edgewater Libertarian Cassidy probably voted no because one of the questions has the potential to erode protections given to gender-questioning youth, but I don’t really know! - Anyone Remember - Wednesday, May 1, 24 @ 5:32 pm: Perhaps a GoFundMe to send the current legislative Republicans to a history class on what happened when the Senate President changed from Phil Rock to Pate Philip? /s - Kelly Cassidy - Wednesday, May 1, 24 @ 5:37 pm: @Edgewater Libertarian, because I think democrats should be about expanding access to the ballot and the ballot box, not making it harder for people to run for office or vote. - low level - Wednesday, May 1, 24 @ 7:11 pm: - Anyone Remember - Indeed, and perhaps “Professor” Daniels could teach the class… - Slating question - Wednesday, May 1, 24 @ 7:29 pm: This bill continues to allow extremist partisan hacks like Tracy Katz Muhl appoint herself to a vacant spot on the ballot or let a damaged candidate be replaced by committeemen but prevents party’s from filling positions that don’t have a primary candidate from filling the position (along with the requisite signatures) after the primary. It’s also the Katie Stuart Job Protection Act. - Trap - Thursday, May 2, 24 @ 12:07 am: Knocking people off the ballot even after they were placed there legally is about as Illinois Democratic Party as it gets. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.