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* Springfield state Senate Democratic candidate Bill Clutter has already come up with three different ideas for a constitutional amendment. He eventually discovered that all three wouldn’t pass muster, so he dumped them. Here is part of Clutter’s fourth draft…
One Senator and two Representatives shall be elected from each Legislative District for a term of two years. […]
Each political party shall nominate in a primary election no more than 2 legislative candidates selected by electors of the same political party. Cumulative voting will determine the election of Senator as the person who receives the most votes in the General Election, with the 2 Representatives being determined by the 2nd and 3rd place finishers. General electors may vote for no more than three candidates.
That’s quite the Rube Goldberg contraption, Billy. How are you gonna explain that process to people? And how does it make things better? His explanation…
This petition restores the system of cumulative voting that made Illinois government unique; […]
Cumulative voting existed in Illinois since 1870, but was repealed with the 1980 cutback amendment which reduced the number of legislators by a third. The Chicago Tribune in 1995 ran an editorial calling for the return of cumulative voting stating, “Many partisans and political independents have looked back wistfully at the era of cumulative voting. They acknowledge that it has produced some of the best and the brightest in Illinois politics”.
Sorry, but this concept is far different from the way things were done before. I’d like to go back to cumulative voting as well. But this is just too far out for me.
* The I-Team ran a report last night about out-of-state materials being used in the work on the Illinois Statehouse…
But the I-Team has found that some of the sole-source suppliers working on the Illinois Capitol are not even from Illinois.
Yes, because failing to use the lowest bidder wouldn’t prompt just the exact opposite story. I can see the headline now: “Bids denied, Statehouse costs higher than they should be.”
Look, I’d like all the contractors, workers and materials on this project to be from Illinois. Same goes for our road and bridge projects. But there are laws against that sort of thing, and for good reason.
* Anybody can sue anybody for anything in this world, but thankfully justice is usually served…
A lawsuit against the blog news source Illinois Review was dismissed by U.S. District Court Judge Matthew F. Kennelly for a blog post that the Illinois Review wrote over two years ago. Illinois Review is represented by the Thomas More Society in Chicago.
The Illinois Review’s blog post included documents showing that former Illinois State Rep. Paul Froehlich sought campaign contributions from individuals who won property tax relief with his assistance. After that story ran, the Cook County Board of Review reversed the tax breaks, and Satkar sued Illinois Review for defamation.
In the decision, Judge Kennelly said that Satkar “failed to show that the [Illinois Citizen Participation Act] is unconstitutional or inapplicable to Satkar’s claims against the Illinois Review …. Satkar brought these claims in response to these defendants’ acts in furtherance of their right of free speech ….”
We are pleased that the Court recognized that Illinois Review, by bringing to light a story of great public interest, did nothing wrong and that this lawsuit was meritless and frivolous,” said Peter Breen, Executive Director & Legal Counsel of the Thomas More Society, who is representing the Illinois Review.
Good for IR.
* Environmentalists are blasted by Democrats for commending a Republican…
Democrats in the 10th congressional district are dubious of a recent award given to U.S. Rep. Bob Dold (R-10) by environmentalists. Earlier this week, Dold was named as one of “America’s Great Outdoors Congressional Champions” by a coalition of environmental groups, including the Sierra Club and Wilderness Society.
“I am honored to receive this award,” said Dold. “As a Scout master, protecting the environment has always been a priority of mine. Our national treasures, like the Great Lakes, are threatened by pollution and lack of conservation efforts. It is important for Congress to be stewards of the environment and protect our resources for generations to come.”
But some of Dold constituents don’t find him to be that green. The Wheeling Township Democratic Organization finds Dold’s record in Washington to be “far less than stellar when it comes to protecting Americans and our environment from pollution and toxic waste,” according to a press release.
…Adding… Yes, Congressman Walsh, we’re protecting President Obama because he’s black. Right. Go with that…
“This guy pushed every one of the media’s buttons,” Walsh said. “He was liberal, he was different, he was new, he was black. Oh my God, it was the potpourri of everything. They are so vested in our first black president not being a failure that it’s going to be amazing to watch the lengths they go to protect him. [The media], I believe, will spout this racist line if some of their colleagues up here aren’t doing it aggressively enough. There is going to be a real desperation.”
*** UPDATE *** This has to rank right up there with among the very worst of very bad ideas…
A Cook County Forest Preserve “resident watchman” whose duties include stopping people from growing or smoking pot in the woods has been arrested — accused of growing pot in the woods.
The carefully cultivated cannabis was found growing near the forest preserve-owned house where Cynthia Wojtanowski, 45, lives at Tampier South Woods forest preserve at 135th and Wolf Road in southwest suburban Orland Park.
* Other stuff that happened today…
* Blagojevich lawyer “quite certain” ex-gov’s sentencing will be delayed: Zagel did not rule on the government’s request to bar the defense from poking into the racy past of top witness Stuart Levine. Webb said he needed time to respond to a couple of petitions put forth by the government.
* Despite smoke over CME tax deal, state pact will be hard to forge: The core problem is that, as badly as officials such as Gov. Pat Quinn and Illinois Senate President John Cullerton want to help, they have to get the money from somewhere.
* Bachmann cancels Illinois rally: Indications are that one part of the Bachmann campaign was unaware that the other part had schueduled the candidate to be in Illinois on Monday.
* CTU: CPS Layoffs & School Closings Disproportionately Affect Blacks, Latinos
posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Sep 23, 11 @ 2:55 pm
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Maybe Clutter should think through a proposal before he starts a petition drive … just what the GA needs, another person who has no idea what they are doing. I think we have enough of that.
Comment by Spliff Friday, Sep 23, 11 @ 3:09 pm
Yeah, the media is doing a swell job “protecting” Obama. It’s all happy news for the White House, all the time.
What does Walsh call all the news outlets he shows up on every day? Are they not part of the media?
By the way, Walsh’s screed is nearly identical to one that Rush Limbaugh made years ago on ESPN, claiming that the media was propping up Donovan McNabb as a “great” quarterback because he was black.
Comment by wordslinger Friday, Sep 23, 11 @ 3:26 pm
Hey, I-Team,
Here’s the problem: If Illinois makes rules that only Illinois workers and materials can be used, our neighboring states will retaliate and pass similar rules for their projects. And since a lot of Illinois companies work on out-of-state projects, the result would be a net loss for our folks. But thanks for cheering for the home team!
Comment by soccermom Friday, Sep 23, 11 @ 3:38 pm
Walsh forgot to mention the President is happily married and has two beautiful children that live in the same house as he.
Oh wait…
Comment by Dirty Red Friday, Sep 23, 11 @ 3:41 pm
Some day I would like to see the I-Team do a report like this one, and then see CBS 2 call them out for slanting the story. Around that time, WGN would attack NBC 5’s blogger for doing a controversial sketch because it doesn’t objectify the news content. Fox Chicago later reports all of the Chicago media has a bias except for their “Fair and balanced” broadcasts.
Fox Chicago explodes from the mass-hipocracy that has taken place. That story and more is coming up on Chicago Tonight.
Comment by Dirty Red Friday, Sep 23, 11 @ 3:48 pm
The problem with the I-Team is that they’re now required to deliver an “investigative” report every night, like the goofy health reports TV news does every night.
If you have to file something every day, a lot of days it’s going to be all sizzle and no steak.
Comment by wordslinger Friday, Sep 23, 11 @ 3:53 pm
===The carefully cultivated cannabis was found growing near the forest preserve-owned house where Cynthia Wojtanowski, 45, lives at Tampier South Woods forest preserve at 135th and Wolf Road in southwest suburban Orland Park.===
Just had myself a flashback to many years ago. No wonder we never had any problems out at the woods.
Comment by Been There Friday, Sep 23, 11 @ 3:54 pm
Dold,Biggert aand Johnson all voted against gutting the Endangered Species Act and along with 30 other Republicans voted against the tea party and that takes courage these days.
The environment did not used to be a partisan issue : recall Charles Percy
Comment by western illinois Friday, Sep 23, 11 @ 4:00 pm
Cong. Walsh is approaching his re-election bid like he approached his responsibility to his kids. He’s a disaster. His 15 minutes are up…..
Comment by downhereforyears Friday, Sep 23, 11 @ 4:22 pm
Hey Western Illinois –
Why don’t you try referencing final votes instead of made-for-TV amendment votes that don’t mean anything?
And if you don’t want the environment to be a partisan issue anymore tell the Republicans to leave God’s Creation alone and stop letting their donors (big corporations) get away with dumping so much garbage in our air, land and sea.
Dold is the guy who told the tea party he was more conservative than he could admit AND then told a tea party magazine not to give him such good ratings in its candidate scorecard.
And now that he’s in office Dold wants to poison our water by promoting highly toxic and very dangerous fracking in Illinois. Have you seen the videos from the folks in New York who can put a match to their tapwater and it lights on fire??!
Think Erin Brockovitch — you want some nice cold water from this pitcher here?? We had it shipped in real special just for you.
Comment by G. Willickers Wednesday, Sep 28, 11 @ 1:13 am