*** UPDATED x1 *** On second thought…
Tuesday, Aug 9, 2016 - Posted by Rich Miller
* I posted yesterday’s AP story on Pat Quinn’s petition drive without comment yesterday…
Former Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn says a voter referendum aimed at imposing term limits on Chicago’s mayor and creating a consumer advocacy position won’t make the November ballot.
Quinn told The Associated Press he’s short of the roughly 53,000 signatures required by a Monday deadline. The Democrat says his goal is to get 100,000 and he’s got roughly 20,000.
He launched the petition drive in June, but wouldn’t say which election. He tells AP he’s aiming for 2018’s primary, when Illinois next elects a governor. Quinn hasn’t definitively ruled out another gubernatorial run.
* But, the AP didn’t tell the full story. I got to thinking about it last night and looked it up and realized that Quinn got a raw deal yesterday.
From the Tribune’s piece back in June…
The binding referendums could be on ballots as early as November or in the 2018 cycle, meaning there’s potential to make Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel ineligible to seek a third term in 2019. [Emphasis added.]
* From the AP’s own June story…
If he gets enough signatures, the two referendums could be on ballots as early as November. However, Quinn says getting nearly 53,000 valid signatures before an Aug. 8 deadline would be challenging.
* And this is from Quinn’s press release at the time…
Quinn said Take Charge Chicago needs to collect about 100,000 petition signatures to safely qualify the two referendums for the ballot and the goal is to collect signatures “from every city neighborhood for as long as it takes.”
In other words, he never promised to meet yesterday’s deadline.
*** UPDATE *** From Billy Morgan…
Hello Rich,
Thanks for your comment this morning about our petition drive, Take Charge Chicago.
The petition was specifically written to allow for signatures to be valid up to the deadline on December 18, 2017.
The question will be on the ballot March 20, 2018, well ahead of the 2019 municipal elections.
All of the signatures already collected remain valid.
Our goal has always been 100,000 signatures — not August 8th.
The people of Chicago have shown overwhelming support for our petition, which allows for everyday people to make the rules for City Hall, not the other way around.
We continue to travel the city collecting signatures and we receive petitions in the mail daily from citizens that have downloaded the petition online.
For the record, here is the heading of the Take Charge Chicago petition:
We, the undersigned, qualified electors and registered voters residing within the City of Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, who have affixed our signatures in our own proper person to this Petition, do hereby petition, pursuant to Sections 6 (f) and 11 of Article VII of the Illinois Constitution and Article 28 of the Illinois Election Code, that the following two questions of public policy be placed on the ballot and submitted to the voters of the City of Chicago for their approval or disapproval, by referendum, at the next regular election to be held at least 92 days after the filing of this petition and if approved, each question shall take effect immediately upon referendum approval of that question. (Emphasis added.)
Best Wishes,
William Morgan
