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Apr 16, 2008 8:25 pm US/Central
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Recall Measure Stalled In Heated Senate Debate
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) ―
Mixing policy complaints with unusually harsh political and personal criticism, Senate Democrats on Wednesday stalled an effort to ask voters this fall to weigh in on recalling state lawmakers and top officials.
Tell us: Do you favor the idea of recalling elected officials in Illinois?
Read what others had to say.Senate President Emil Jones and most of his leadership team blasted the recall effort, targeted at Gov. Rod Blagojevich, and those pushing it for more than two hours in a tightly controlled Senate committee.
Sen. Donne Trotter, a Jones ally, then decided to delay a vote on the recall measure, saying it needed improvement.
The bill's backers and Republicans promised to take their fight over the delay to the Senate floor. The proposed constitutional amendment wouldn't make the ballot if the Senate didn't act on it right away, they said.
"Justice delayed is justice denied," said Rep. Jack Franks, the Woodstock Democrat pushing the idea who called the delay a "travesty."
Senate Democrats insisted they weren't trying to kill the measure but remained defiant about their stance.
"Too often we bend because of perception," said Trotter, who added he expected to call a revised version of the measure Thursday for a vote.
The raucous committee hearing showed again the flaring tensions between Democrats in the House and Senate.
Franks and Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn have made an increasingly public push for voters to weigh in on recall. They say Illinoisans should have the option that 18 other states have to boot out constitutional officers and lawmakers they think are not doing their jobs.
The House, which has feuded with the governor for about a year, made it clear the measure was targeted at Blagojevich in approving it last week.
Its fate was murky in the Senate, where Jones is Blagojevich's ally and Trotter sponsored the measure despite Franks' objection. Sponsorship means Trotter decides how it will advance in the Senate, or if it will at all.
Jones and his leaders used the hearing to attack both the idea and its advocates. A packed audience gasped several times during intense shouting matches between Democrats and Quinn and Franks, drawing numerous rebukes from the committee's chairman.
"This is turning into a Democratic circus," said Sen. Ira Silverstein, D-Chicago.
The Senate president demanded an apology from Quinn, who has toured the state recently urging the Senate not to prevent voters from deciding about recall.
"For you to go out, use taxpayers' money and slander the Illinois Senate, I resent that," Jones said.
Quinn refused.
"This Senate has to have the fortitude not to duck the issue," Quinn said.
"We do not need a lecture from you," Jones bristled in response.
Jones and fellow Sen. James Clayborne, D-Belleville, questioned Quinn's push for a constitutional amendment in 1980 that cut back the size of the Illinois House by one-third.
Clayborne said Quinn should have run for governor in 2006 instead of lieutenant governor if he was unhappy with Blagojevich's performance. The governor and lieutenant governor run as a team in the general election, drawing some suggestions that they also should be recalled as a team.
"You hitched your wagon to him," Clayborne said.
Democrats even asked Quinn to explain what duties he's given in the state constitution.
Other senators blasted Franks' support of Hillary Clinton over Illinois favorite son Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination. Sen. Rickey Hendon complained Franks talked about Obama like he was "a dog" in a recent Chicago television interview.
Sen. Iris Martinez, D-Chicago, said Franks should be recalled for "putting money against me in the last election." Martinez beat a House Democratic member in the February primary for her Senate seat.
On the recall idea, Democrats said it could be improved by including all elected officials and judges, not just state officials. They said voters already have a say in elections and warned politicians or special interest groups seeking revenge against certain officials could abuse the recall measure.
Franks and Quinn urged senators to advance the idea Wednesday so it could meet the May 4 deadline to land on the ballot. Legislators have a weeklong break next week, so if the measure is changed the House might not have time to act on it again.
Jones and his leaders shot back that it was unfair for the House to sit on the idea for months and then give the Senate so little time to consider the measure.
"You waited all that time to force us at that deadline," Jones said. "We have an obligation over here as well."
(© 2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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