November 17, 2008 – 3:04pm
Illinois voters still need recall power
Daily Herald Editorial Board
Another election, and the voters have spoken. But what if those they’ve elected don’t listen?
What if the promises made during the campaign aren’t kept? What if vows of honesty and integrity made by candidates are cynically violated by shady dealings once they’re officeholders? What if they wind up having to answer to numerous counts of malfeasance in a federal corruption indictment, while never having answered to you?
Sound familiar? This, of course, has happened all too often in Illinois.
But voters shouldn’t have to wait for federal prosecutors to end the careers of criminals in public office by locking them up. Or have to wait four years to the next election to kick the clearly incompetent out of office.
In 18 states, voters can undo mistakes at the ballot box. They have the power to throw bad public officials out of office, during their terms, through a recall provision.
Earlier this year, the Illinois House approved giving this same opportunity to the people of Illinois, by voting for an amendment to the state constitution that would allow for recall of elected officials. But the state Senate rejected this reform measure. It refused to even give the public a chance to vote on a recall measure this November.
It gets to be so pathetic, this lack of will to change things for the better.
Illinois’ entrenched reputation as one of the most corrupt states demands that everything be done to encourage and enforce accountability in public office, and that includes a recall measure. Trust that a candidate will not get in the long line of corrupt officials once elected has been violated time and time again. Recall is not only a tool to remove the worst of our elected officials from office before the next election. The threat of recall just might keep elected officials on their best behavior.
We do have reservations about applying recall to judges. There are times they make unpopular but legally sound rulings that could find them unfairly targeted in a recall campaign. Judges need protection from such retaliation.
Still, the reasons for recall in Illinois are far more numerous and powerful than any argument against it.
Cook County voters certainly agree. In an Election Day ballot proposition, 60 percent favored a recall amendment.
But this was an advisory referendum. It doesn’t change a thing.
A constitutional convention, which was rejected by voters on Election Day, is not the way to recall.
It has to come from Springfield, from elected leaders who, with no reason to fear recall, will keep pushing for enactment of this needed reform. Those reformists need to knock down the obstacles put up by those who seem to relish in preserving a long history of corruption and incompetence in Illinois.
Towns want notice of foreclosure
By Mick Zawislak | Daily Herald Staff
Published: 11/11/2008 5:11 PM
Be it overgrown grass, broken windows or worse, the first call frustrated neighbors make when an empty house becomes an eyesore is to city hall.
But by the time that notice is received, local officials say, the problem becomes compounded as they try to find the responsible party to clean up the mess.
That scenario has prompted at municipal organizations in Lake County and likely elsewhere to support a proposed change in state law regarding foreclosures.
“We don’t have any interest in the actual property transaction, we just want to be notified,” said Janet Agnoletti, executive director of the Barrington Area Council of Governments, a coalition of seven communities and two townships.
The group is looking for a legislative sponsor for its proposal and has had good reception from other entities, such as the Illinois and Lake County municipal leagues.
Communities are seeking the addition of a single sentence to a section of the Illinois Compiled Statutes dealing with foreclosure procedure.
Currently, according to Agnoletti, when a foreclosure occurs in a community the local government isn’t notified by the lending institution that filed the proceedings.
Current law states, in part, that notice should be sent to “every person claiming an interest in or lien on the mortgaged real estate.” The proposed change would require the local government clerk to be included on notice lists.
“We expect all over the metropolitan region that foreclosures will be increasing,” Agnoletti said.
“We’re trying to prevent the kinds of bad scenarios that can occur when local governments don’t know the status of a (declining) property.”
Supporters say the lack of notice comes with a cost including staff time spent tracking down owners, extra policing, or building inspections.
“We are going to support that foreclosure measure as well,” said Christine Gentes, executive director of the Lake County Municipal League. “They need to know who is responsible for the vacant properties. If a house is foreclosed and it’s vacant, the property deteriorates.”
Like other municipal organizations, BACOG compiles legislative priorities for the coming year. The intent is to a find a General Assembly sponsor to introduce the idea as a bill during the January legislative session.
Agnoletti said she met with the Illinois Municipal League last week, and its legislative committee voted to support the platform. The McHenry County Council of Governments also is said to be on board.
“It’s not so much that we have a problem,” she said. ” We’re trying to look at this as a preventive measure.”
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