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Recall Amendment

Fri, 10/01/2010 - 2:52pm | thechampaignlife

As you should notice in your mail today, an amendment to the IL constitution providing for a recall of the governor is on the ballot.  What are your thoughts?  Gone too far or not enough?  Too onerous or not enough?  Could care less?

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Oliver wrote on October 03, 2010 at 1:10 am

My tossing out the notice

My tossing out the notice about the recall provision without reading it would suggest I could care less. Actually, I simply see no need. If the governor is acting illegally, there's an impeachment process. If he/she turns out to be unpopular, as often seems to be the case "in the court of public opinion"-depending on *which* news you hear/read, to date, we have survived simply enduring whomever till the next election. I think the recall concept could be misused as simply a political tool.
Regards,

thechampaignlife wrote on October 09, 2010 at 2:10 am

On the one hand, I think a

On the one hand, I think a true recall option is useful, even if never used. With an appropriate threshold, it would be too costly to invoke purely as a political tool. In fact, the petitioners could be required to front the cost of the vote and get a refund only if it succeeds in ousting the officeholder (or maybe no refund, just put your money where your mouth is). At a minimum, it could be well designed to limit its use. However, this amendment is too restrictive to ever get used in my opinion and only applies to the governor. My only question is do I vote yes since something is better than nothing and could be improved later or do I vote no, wait for a better version which will likely never come, and send the message that we voters aren't interested in having a recall option at all.

Actually, what I'd prefer more than anything is to get some integrity and trust back in the system. The best solution I've come up with for that is to randomly select our representatives similar to jury duty, at least for a few years to get things in order. Of course try getting that accomplished...