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Quinn pushes recall amendment

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Illinois

* I’m going to meet with Pat Quinn tomorrow to talk about this issue. I’m mostly an agnostic about recall. I can see both sides. But Quinn is all for it…

Lieutenant Governor Patrick Quinn is urging Illinois residents to push for putting a constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would allow for the recall of elected officials

And in pushing for the proposal he has long supported, Quinn said yesterday in Chicago that Governor Rod Blagojevich would almost certainly be the target of a recall attempt if the amendment passes.

But Quinn stopped short of saying whether Blagojevich should be recalled.

* Recall wouldn’t be easy…

Under the proposed constitutional amendment, to hold a recall election for state elected officials—governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, comptroller or treasurer—would require petition signatures equal to 12 percent of the most recent vote total for that office.

Quinn used this example: Based on the number of votes cast for governor in 2006, it would take 418,401 signatures to put a gubernatorial recall on the ballot.

To get a recall for a state legislator would require a petition with signatures equal to 20 percent of the turnout for that office in the most recent election, Quinn said.

* But as I’ve said before, both in the Capitol Fax and here, this latest recall push is mostly for show…

It’s difficult to take seriously last week’s House vote to establish a recall provision in Illinois’ Constitution. […]

But this is all just talk. There’s no way on God’s green Earth Jones will bring that thing up for a vote. Jones and Blagojevich are tied at the hip. They are the closest of allies, and the Jones/Blagojevich team are bitter enemies of House Speaker Michael Madigan, who allowed the recall provision to come to the floor mainly to tweak the governor.

We’re being subjected to a meaningless circus led by the largest newspaper in the state. Because this proposal has no chance in the Senate, the House vote on recall won’t chasten the governor in the slightest. It’ll just give some House members something to crow about to angry voters back home and allow the Tribune to pat itself on the back and bloviate some more. At the very least, let’s not kid ourselves into believing otherwise.

Face it. We’re stuck with him. […]

If you want recall added to the Illinois Constitution, your best bet is to vote in favor of calling a constitutional convention this November. But a convention and final approval won’t come early enough to oust Blagojevich. Either we’ll have to wait until the 2010 election for that, or the House will have to vote to impeach him and the Senate would then have to remove him from office. And that’s not likely to happen, either.

Discuss.

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Apr 7, 08 @ 9:05 am

Comments

I would like to thank my state rep Jay for his prudent, well-thought-out response to the plan. We don’t see him as much down here for the last couple of years….is he tiring of taking the punches for Milorod?
Quinn, who also has Metro East roots (which he reminds us of every time he’s here), doesn’t have anything to gain personally if G.MB is removed? And will a Madigan be any more effective than the great governor we have now?
I agree a con-con is the way to go for any real change in Illinois!

Comment by Trapped In The Metro East Monday, Apr 7, 08 @ 9:15 am
Anyone who has followed politics in Illinois for any length of time knows that Pat Quinn, first and foremost, is for anything that benefits Pat Quinn. This is the perfect issue for him, because it falls in line with his populist tendencies, and might get him in the Governor’s Mansion to boot. That said, anyone who doesn’t see the glaring conflict of interest he has on this issue given his current position must be blind.

Comment by Ron Burgundy Monday, Apr 7, 08 @ 9:20 am
I share the Federalist Papers authors suspicion of direct democracy. I think polls have shown in the past that if you put the Bill of Rights to a direct vote, many would be defeated.

The power of impeachment is sufficient.

Comment by wordslinger Monday, Apr 7, 08 @ 9:35 am
I’m pinning my hopes on the Feds as the best chance to oust Blago before the next election.

Comment by BigDog Monday, Apr 7, 08 @ 9:37 am
I’m with Ron. Could Pat want this for the benefit of Pat? Thats where my money is.

Comment by Anon Monday, Apr 7, 08 @ 9:40 am
I recall reading that it’s more difficult to recall members of the GA as compared to the governor. Is this accurate? And if so, why? Despite Blago’s numerous failings, shouldn’t leaders like Madigan and Jones shoulder a portion of the blame for the state’s lethargy?

Comment by The Doc Monday, Apr 7, 08 @ 10:01 am
While I am a late convert to recall, I think the criticism of Pat that this will benefit him is a little shortsighted. Are these posters newbies to IL? Quinn has been for recall for 20+ years, and has held one too many Sunday press conferences on the subject. In any event, the high bar for getting the signatures in this proposal would exclude the temporary anger that originally concerned me about recall.

Comment by Niles Township Monday, Apr 7, 08 @ 10:06 am
It is a good idea to have it on the books. It will become fodder against Jones if he does block it, partticuarly aftr the Gov has come out publicly as supporrting it.

Jones could support it but it still is basically a nullity. Lets say it passes in Nov 2008. That means if the process speeds along and is used against the Gov and gets the necessary votes, you might see a recall by Nov 2009. Then you need to elect a replacement in a special election which would most likely occur in 2010. However the next election is 2010. So we would be pushing to oust the current gov for maybe 8-12 months prior to the next election? It seems of dubious beenfit for anyone but Quinn, who would be in charge for the short time frame and could try to tunr that into support for something (his own run at gov, senate or whatever). Not sure this close to the next election that their is much current use or benefit if it does pass. But I would like to have it out there in case another Blago comes along

its probably faster to impeach him.

Comment by Ghost Monday, Apr 7, 08 @ 10:13 am
Would anyone suppose that Quinn is probably the last one who should talk up recall. He had a constitutional amendment to reduce the number of state house members and single member districts. Some see that as a mistake and he was successful in making that happen. As much as I like the idea of a recall amendment, I’d rather see a con-con where we can address other issues. Most of them I would see as more important.

Comment by Levois Monday, Apr 7, 08 @ 10:21 am
I agree that power of impeachment is enough. Questions is when will Blago (or has he already)done enough to warrant impeachment?

Comment by Leave a light on George Monday, Apr 7, 08 @ 10:29 am
I just love the Pat Quinn Sunday news dynamic. He invites a bunch of reporters to the Hotel Monaco for free brunch and holds a press conference on whatever nonsense is in his empty head. And he always gets coverage because Sunday is such a slow news day. A cipher.

Comment by chiatty Monday, Apr 7, 08 @ 11:06 am
Quinn, whose efforts also helped to shrink the legislature, has created enough problems in how the state is run. If he wants to be Govenror, he should run like everyone else does.

Comment by John Monday, Apr 7, 08 @ 11:12 am
I don’t like the idea of a recall.

However, if we consider a constitutional amendment to allow a recall, it should not be targeted at a current officeholder. If it’s a good idea, it should be presented on its merits outside the context of any current officeholders. After all, the people of Illinois will be stuck with the mechanism even after the current governor leaves.

For the record, I am not a Blagojevich apologist. I would love to see him go. But this recall nonesense is clearly directed against Blagojevich alone. He’s not worth a change in the constitution — if he’s so bad, impeach him.

Comment by the Other Anonymous Monday, Apr 7, 08 @ 11:23 am
We have the power to recall - every four years. With fear of recall, I’m afraid our public officials will have even less spine than they already appear to have.

Comment by Anonymous Monday, Apr 7, 08 @ 11:23 am
Boy, we sure do make a fetish out of Democracy in this country, don’t we? Why does anyone think that giving voters the power of recalling elected officials will lead to better elected officials? If we weren’t willing to put quality candidates into office the first time, why would we do it a second time? We all knew what Blago was the second time we elected him, why would we take him out now? All he did was promise us the moon and that someone else would pay for the trip.

Thinking with the rulebook isn’t going to make Illinois less corrupt. We as VOTERS have to be less corrupt.

Want to see what’s wrong with Illinois politics? Look in the mirror.

Comment by Billy Dennis Monday, Apr 7, 08 @ 12:44 pm
Billy Dennis your argument assumes elected officials do not do anything in office that would lead to a recall, and that all their future deicsions pre-exist the vote.

I see the question as one of tenure. Why should an elected official have immunity or tenure just by previaling. Look at CA. Davis wins the elcetion, then during a fiscal crisis gives a no bid contract worth somthing like 600 mil to his friend. The act was “legal” so no impeachment. But that does not mean the populace should not feel free to yank him from using his authority for such conduct.

Same potential hypthetical here. Suppose givng a million away to a school as an oopsie is leagal; or its legal to hold onto education funds; or its legal to expand health care in IL without any way to pay for it etc. The citizens should not have to wait 4 years to pull the plug on someone who hurts the State substantialy just because the next election is years away.

Comment by Ghost Monday, Apr 7, 08 @ 1:57 pm
This is nothing but democracy by temper tantrum.

In the audio I heard, Quinn said this would make us like California — he used the example of Gray Davis. I’m not sure why that should be a good example.

I wish we’d spend half the energy getting ethics reform passed in Illinois. I’d rather have honest officials rather than recalled ones.

Comment by leo Monday, Apr 7, 08 @ 2:17 pm
Article I, Section B, Subsection 4 of the Platform of the Green Party of the United States provides, “We advocate citizen rights to initiative, referendum and recall in all states. We believe that these tools of democracy should not be for sale to the wealthy who pay for signatures to buy their way onto the ballot. Therefore we call for a certain percentage of signatures gathered to come from volunteer collectors.”

Comment by Squideshi Monday, Apr 7, 08 @ 3:18 pm
First of all, Quinn has been supporting recall for 32 years now. Whether you agree with recall or not you cannot argue he is being self-serving. The
only thing he is guilty of is using the political landscape to open the dialogue about this direct democracy debate. A gubernatorial recall does not mean we implement the line of succession clause in the constitution and poof Lt. Governor is Governor. Secondly, think of all the good public policy measures that Emil Jones has stifled in the Senate. HB1 would be the chief example of someone misusing their power. A recall measure could remove someone like that from office or more likely act as a deterrent for him to act that way in the first place. Recall is to politicians as the death penalty is for murderers. Deterrent.

Comment by Z Monday, Apr 7, 08 @ 3:19 pm
Quinn supporting it for decades is one thing. Pushing it hard now when it could benefit him personally is quite another.

Comment by Ron Burgundy Monday, Apr 7, 08 @ 3:46 pm
Bergundy - He’s pushing it hard now because most voters believe they have a defective product. Like i said the only thing he is guilty of is using the political landscape to further a policy he been supporting since many of the capfax readers were in diapers. Name me one politician who hasnt used the political landscape to further a public policy position.

Comment by Z Monday, Apr 7, 08 @ 3:58 pm
Let’s have both. That way when our cowardly legislators refuse to do the right thing and pursue impeachment proceedings, we the public can pursue recall against said legislators.

Comment by Impeachment and Recall Monday, Apr 7, 08 @ 7:08 pm
Quinn thinks this is the only way he’ll ever be Gov and should give it up. His great ideas gave us to much power in the hands of few with the smaller legislature he pushed for years ago. He should be glad that he has the job he has now and stop while he’s ahead.

Comment by carole Monday, Apr 7, 08 @ 9:34 pm