An unusual union of disparate groups has combined to oppose the call for an Illinois Constitutional Convention. They're happy to maintain the status quo, even as bad as it is.

An intriguing coalition announced last week that it would campaign – and spend a great deal of money – to defeat a question on the Nov. 4 ballot to call for a constitutional convention in Illinois.

They apparently believe all is well with state government. One has to wonder where they've been for the last 12 or so years.

The coalition, made up of influential and respected groups, includes the AFL-CIO, state chamber of commerce, Illinois Education Association, Illinois Business Roundtable, League of Women Voters, Illinois Retail Merchants Association, Illinois State Bar Association, Farm Bureau, Taxpayers Federation of Illinois and more. There's even an unusual alliance of the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association and the Illinois Civil Justice League, two groups at odds on just about every issue.

The coalition – known as the Alliance to Protect the Illinois Constitution – says it will spend $3 million to get its message out. And what is that message? "There is no question there has been too much inaction and infighting in Springfield, but it's the politicians, not the Constitution, that are at fault," said former state Rep. Nancy Kaszak, who is director of the coalition. "Changing our Constitution because we're unhappy with our leaders of the moment would be like junking your entire car just because it has a flat tire."

The analogy doesn't work because there are more problems with the "car" than a "flat tire."

First, though, it's important to note that the Illinois Constitution, approved by voters in December 1970, is a fundamentally good document that does not need wholesale changes. But it does have flaws.

Many are regularly cited – the lack of specificity regarding the state's obligation to pay for public schools, a horrible legislative redistricting procedure that serves the political party in power but not the citizens, income and property tax policy, and a system that has evolved to the point that the power in the Legislature has become concentrated in the hands of four – and sometimes just two – people.

Some, including the members of the Alliance to Protect the Illinois Constitution, suggest that today's problems with state government will blow over once Rod Blagojevich, Emil Jones and Michael Madigan go away. That ignores the fact that these issues predate Blagojevich and Jones (but not Madigan who has been around so long that he actually was a delegate to the 1969-70 constitutional convention).

Many have nothing to do with personalities, but with flaws and oversights in the Constitution. The concentration of power, for instance, has been a problem in the Legislature for decades, essentially since voters approved an ill-advised legislative cutback amendment in 1980.

The thing that unites the disparate members of the Alliance to Protect the Illinois Constitution is that they generally are happy with Illinois government and, more importantly, fear the change that could arise from a constitutional convention. Business groups, for example, want to preserve the flat income tax.

The final authority for approving anything proposed by a constitutional convention, whether it is one or two revisions, several, or a wholesale rewrite, rests with the voters of Illinois. They deserve a chance to repair the flaws in the Constitution, and to make needed changes in Illinois government, that the politicians will not.