Constitutional Convention for Illinois

United Power for Action and Justice, which is also supporting a yes vote on the constitutional convention, welcomes Judy Barr Topinka to the growing list of public officials who recognize that we need a constitutional convention to send Springfield a message that what is going on there is not acceptable. Here is the text of her statement in the Riverside/Brookfield Landmark:

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Time for state constitutional convention

Judy Baar Topinka

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Anyone who is surprised that a recall amendment will not be on the ballot this November please raise your hand. I thought not. The politicians in Springfield are never going to vote to make themselves more accountable to the people.

Tribune columnist Eric Zorn has a column today bemoaning the "shenanigans" of the legislators on efforts to place a recall provision on the ballot this November.

Is this the same Eric Zorn who wrote a couple months ago that we've got absolutely no chance of winning the vote on holding a new constitutional convention on November 4?

Springfield just keeps providing us with more and more examples of exactly why the citizens of Illinois have to take matters into our own hands and exercise our right to change the way they do business.

We have tried to talk with the public employee unions, but so far they are not really open to the possibility of supporting or even being neutral about a constitutional convention. We have tried to convince them that we are not out to take away their pensions, but that many other issues need to be addressed. Many teachers do understand this. One of the biggest supporters of the constitutional convention at my church is an active union teacher.

Here is another angle to the vote on the recall amendment now before the state legislature.

A new constitutional convention is already on the ballot for November 4. Of course, if the voters approve a new constitutional convention, it could decide to propose a recall provision, along with many other needed changes.

There will be many reasons why people vote “yes” or “no” (or abstain from voting) on November 4, 2008, on the question of whether or not the state of Illinois should have a new constitutional convention.

Some of the reasons will be pragmatic: Am I for or against a specific change that is being proposed? Is a constitutional convention worth the cost or effort involved?

Other reasons will be more political: Would the Democrats or the Republicans benefit more from a constitutional convention? Who might be elected as delegates?

First of all, it is important to remember that a Constitutional Convention is made up of a group of elected delegates. So if we have a Constitutional Convention we are also going to have to be involved in encouraging good people to run as delegates and then work to get them elected. United Power for Action and Justice is committed to sticking with this process all the way through to the end.

Opponents of the new Constitutional Convention for Illinois have a problem. They are not only against a new Constitutional Convention in this November 4 election. Logically, they are against EVER having one.

Why? Well, their reasons for not having one now is that either a) they have something in the present constitution that they want to protect and/or b) they are afraid that someone will propose something that they don't like. If this is true in 2008, it will be true next year and in 2028, the next year we will be able to vote to have a new Constitutional Convention.

The real problem with getting people to vote yes on a new constitutional convention for Illinois is what we at United Power for Action and Justice call "Fear of Democracy." Many politicians, reporters, religious, union and business leaders give lip service to democracy--especially when we are promoting it for other countries. But when we have a chance to exercise it here--as we have with the proposed constitutional convention--suddenly we cannot trust the voters to do the right thing.

United Power for Action and Justice sent people to polling places on February 5 to try to convince voters to vote "yes" on November 4 for a new constitutional convention. We didn't stuff leaflets in their hands but rather tried to engage them for a minute or two on the issue. Here is what we learned:

1. Hardly anyone knows that a vote on a constitutional convention is coming up in November.