Shouldn’t the collection of lawyers, business owners, insurance agents and other well-educated professionals who pose as our elected representatives be able to figure out that not paying your bills — creating havoc and untold harm for constituents [...]]]> In the March issue of “Illinois Issues” editor Dana Huepel bemoans the miserable state of Illinois’ finances and politics:

Shouldn’t the collection of lawyers, business owners, insurance agents and other well-educated professionals who pose as our elected representatives be able to figure out that not paying your bills — creating havoc and untold harm for constituents who provide goods or services to the state — isn’t just an unfortunate result of the economic downturn? It’s ethically reprehensible. It violates everything they espouse in their speeches and brochures. It’s just plain wrong.

But like some of those who owed money to businesses in my small hometown, our leaders don’t appear to care enough about the harm they’re causing to do anything about it. As Jamey Dunn’s article elsewhere in this issue points out, state government’s creditors are losing their businesses. The stress is straining marriages. Those who already have provided help to our most needy citizens aren’t being paid and are closing their doors to others whose lives are being devastated by the economic crisis. Schools are preparing to lay off teachers. Doctors may soon turn away patients with state health insurance.

Yet our supposed leaders can’t seem to get it into their heads that the situation is not simply an unfortunate business reality. It’s not a political rallying point. It’s not an irritating condition that will go away on its own. It’s way past that. After months and months — with seemingly many more months to come — their inaction has moved into the realm of unconscionable cruelty. And when all is said — and nothing is done — it’s just plain wrong.

He goes on to note that the Republican and Democratic Parties are equally to blame for this state of affairs. He concludes his essay with this quote: “All that is necssary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”

Well, we in the Green Party agree with Mr. Heupel. His piece is almost a recruiting call to join the Illinois Green Party – although he doesn’t mention us. In fact, the entire March issue reads as an indictment of the Democratic-Republican Industrial Complex. We are doing everything we can to ensure that evil in this state does NOT triumph. Will YOU help us? Or will you stand by and watch?

Here’s what the Chicago Tribune said in a February 25 editorial:

Here’s [...]]]> On February 23, Democrats advanced Illinois House Bill 6000, which would limit potential challengers in future aldermanic elections in Chicago.  The bill significantly raises signature requirements in every ward, and also gives well-financed, entrenched aldermen a new way to get opponents thrown off the ballot.

Here’s what the Chicago Tribune said in a February 25 editorial:

Here’s a sure sign that Chicago aldermen are petrified about next year’s City Council election. Their protectors in Springfield are trying to make it much harder for anybody to run against them. An Illinois House committee this week approved a bill that would greatly increase the number of petition signatures a candidate has to collect to get on the ballot. And if a registered voter signed petitions for two or more candidates, the signatures wouldn’t count.

Bottom line: Less competition! How nice for the incumbents. The bill is sponsored by Rep. Joseph Lyons of Chicago, a nephew of the late Thomas Lyons, who was chairman of the Cook County Democratic organization. Are you surprised?

HB6000, which passed the House Elections and Campaign Reform Committee on a 5-4 party line vote, would raise the petitioning requirement in Chicago aldermanic races from 2% of the votes cast in a given ward in the previous election to a flat 500 signatures.  This would mean an increase in every ward, and an over 400% increase in some wards.

The bill also prohibits a voter from signing more than one petition, which could mean that excess signatures can be used by a candidate to invalidate the signatures their opponent has collected.  A well-financed incumbent could flood a ward with workers the first day of petitioning, and effectively block other opponents from being able to collect valid signature to launch a challenge.

“Chicagoans are fed up.  We’ve watched public assets privatized in mostly closed-door deals; schools closed and services cut while the mayor controls massive TIF slush funds; and constant scandal involving bribes and kickbacks,” said Phil Huckelberry, Illinois Green Party Chair, and a resident of the Logan Square neighborhood.  “Voters are ready to throw Daley’s cronies out of office.  So here comes Mike Madigan to the rescue.”

“The intent here is to ensure that nobody gets on the ballot that the mayor doesn’t want on the ballot.  End of story,” said Alberto Bocanegra, Cook County Green Party Chair and south side resident.  “House Bill 6000 is nothing more than a Machine Protection Act.”

“We challenge the aldermen of Chicago to speak out against this bill, and the General Assembly to say ‘No!’ to doing any more favors for Richard Daley,” said Tom Tresser, Green Party candidate for Cook County Board President and resident of the Old Town neighborhood.  Tresser’s opponent this November, Toni Preckwinkle, is the incumbent 4th Ward Alderman. “The Mayor has already appointed 17 aldermen to their current positions and will appoint two more shortly (to replace Flores and Carrothers). The City Council is already a rubber stamp for Daley and this proposed legislation will make it even harder to challenge his puppets.”

As written, there are likely legal issues with HB6000.  The signature requirements for some wards would exceed 5%, which would violate the constitutionality test in the U.S. Supreme Court case Jenness v. Fortson.  And in 2009, a similar law in Rhode Island that prohibited voters from signing multiple petitions was stricken down in U.S. District Court.  (That case, Fontes v City of Central Falls, is being appealed.)

The law would be particularly onerous as it applies to wards in minority neighborhoods, especially Latino wards.  In the two lowest voter-turnout wards of the city, the 12th and 22nd on the near Southwest Side, signature requirements would more than quadruple.  Since the effective result of the law would make it particularly hard for minorities to run for office, it may also run afoul of the 14th Amendment and Voting Rights Act.

“Latinos in Chicago are sick of being bossed around by the mayor and his lackeys,” said Bocanegra, who ran for 12th Ward Alderman in 2007 and is considered a particular target of this legislation.  “People want their elected officials to be accountable to them, not to the Machine.  It’s no big surprise to see the Democrats making yet another power play to maintain control for their friends and family.”

HAD ENOUGH?

*CONTACT YOUR STATE REPRESENTATIVE AND TELL THEM TO VOTE “NO!” ON HB 6000, THE “DEMOCRATIC MACHINE PROTECTION ACT.”

Why Are Green Party Candidates Better? from Tom Tresser on Vimeo.

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Why I’m different from the other candidate’s for this office…

In a first-of-its-kind examination, the Tribune found these two careers repeatedly intersect, and in some cases [...]]]> Illinois, are you ready to vote Green? The Chicago Tribune today ran a front page investigation of Illinois Democratic Party Chairman Michael Madigan headlined “The Madigan Rules” which shows how he abuses his office to benefit his law firm’s clients.

In a first-of-its-kind examination, the Tribune found these two careers repeatedly intersect, and in some cases Madigan took public actions that benefited his private clients. As a public official, he got a private road behind a shopping mall repaved, helped secure state funding for an expanded tollway interchange and intervened for a developer looking for state cash. In each case, Madigan was a private lawyer for businesspeople who stood to benefit.

His list of clients multiplied as Madigan consolidated political muscle over the last two decades. Now, many of his decisions as speaker have the potential to affect someone who has hired Madigan & Getzendanner in hopes of having a tax bill lowered. The Chicago firm represents banks the state regulates, investment houses that have overseen billions of dollars in public pensions, developers who want roads — all subject to decisions made by a state House in the firm control of their tax lawyer.

It appears Madigan’s personal wealth has blossomed along with his two careers, based on the list of investments he provided in ethics statements over the last three decades. But Madigan, like other public officials, is not required to detail the value of those investments. State ethics law requires very little disclosure about how Madigan’s public decisions could affect his personal bank accounts.

He declined Tribune requests to detail how much he makes beyond his annual legislative income of more than $95,000. He also declined requests for his appointment calendars, memos and e-mails, citing state public records law that exempts the legislature. Madigan also refused requests for an interview. In a written statement, he defended his actions and said “my personal code of conduct and compliance with a wide range of government ethics provisions have ensured that I have maintained ethical standards.”

That code of conduct — provided to the Tribune and unpublished until now — states that Madigan will not offer state benefits to get a client, will not intercede with a state agency for a client and will recuse himself from involvement in a bill “if a client of the law office expresses an interest in legislation such as to create a conflict of interest.” But a Tribune examination of public records and a review of more than 20,000 tax appeals filed by Madigan’s firm since 1998 raises questions about where the speaker draws that line.

Meanwhile, in Washington, the Supreme Court has now turned over America’s political system to our corporations, ruling that they can spend as much as they like to influence elections! As reported by the Chicago Tribune:

The Supreme Court today overturned a century-old restriction on corporations using their money to sway federal elections and ruled that companies have a free-speech right to spend as much as they wish to persuade voters to elect or defeat candidates for Congress and the White House. In a 5-4 decision, the court’s conservative bloc said corporations have the same First Amendment rights as individuals and, for that reason, the government may not stop corporations from spending freely to influence the outcome of federal elections…The dissenters included the three Democratic presidential appointees: Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen G. Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor. They joined a dissent written by 89-year old Justice John Paul Stevens. Speaking from the bench, he called today’s decision “a radical change in the law..that dramatically enhances the role of corporations and unions–and the narrow interests they represent–in determining who will hold public office.”

America, Illinois, Cook County – WAKE UP! Your government no longer belongs to you – and now when you buy American-made and marked products and services you’ll be paying to have your own best interests subverted as those same corporations purchase our legislators and command them to continue to do their bidding – including turning public assets over to them, strip regulations protecting consumers from them, bailing them out with our money when they screw up and more.

Please vote Green in 2010 to return public service to the public sector.

Fire the Democrats in Cook County and Illinois.

Support Rich Whitney for Governor and Tom Tresser for Cook County Board President.

Tom Tresser, a long-time arts activist, prolific community development practitioner and consultant, organizer and educator, is an announced candidate for President for the Cook County Board of Commissioners. He is emerging as the dark horse candidate because, although a tenacious and talented activist and educator, [...]]]> From Dr. Linda Shelton’s profile of Tom in the Chicago Examiner:

Tom Tresser, a long-time arts activist, prolific community development practitioner and consultant, organizer and educator, is an announced candidate for President for the Cook County Board of Commissioners. He is emerging as the dark horse candidate because, although a tenacious and talented activist and educator, he is relatively unknown. He is the Green Party candidate for board president.

Read the full article.

From today’s Chicago Tribune editorial…

“Half-measures will not suffice to repair our State’s troubled (governing) infrastructure or our citizens’ broken confidence. … Past reform efforts have met with forces just as destructive as self-interest or corruption: apathy, inertia and cynicism.”

— Illinois Reform Commission

To this sorry trio of [...]]]>

For real change, vote Green in 2010.

From today’s Chicago Tribune editorial…

“Half-measures will not suffice to repair our State’s troubled (governing) infrastructure or our citizens’ broken confidence. … Past reform efforts have met with forces just as destructive as self-interest or corruption: apathy, inertia and cynicism.”

— Illinois Reform Commission

To this sorry trio of failures that many Illinois political leaders hope you’ll again exhibit, add a fourth: severe memory loss. There is so much mischief that, as the Feb. 2 primary election looms, they’re just desperate for you to forget — and thus forgive.

Don’t be a sap. That is, don’t succumb to their anticipation that you’re too dense, or too distracted, to hold them accountable for their self-serving behavior — that you’re too clueless to elect better officeholders in 2010.

So start reminding your family members and friends — all the folks in your life who complained about scandals under George Ryan and Rod Blagojevich — that those two governors’ political heirs in Springfield have plenty of unfinished business.

Some lawmakers brag that they’ve done enough to exterminate Illinois’ culture of political sleaze. Don’t believe them. Many of them are jealously guarding their power from real reform. Truth is, they got all the reform they wanted the day they bounced Blagojevich out of office. As for their own realm, well, they like Illinois governance — with clout concentrated in only a few tight fists — just as it is.

If you disagree with them, act. Don’t let any potential voter forget these outrages… [read about the outrages]

Come on, citizens. Listen to the Tribune on this. The Democrats and Republicans are cut from the same cloth when it comes to being UNABLE to fix our broken and dysfunctional politics.  You’re going to have to make a real change to GET real change. Vote Green in 2010.