A
poll taken earlier this year for the University of Illinois'
Institute of Government & Public Affairs and released last week
shows overwhelming public support for legislative term limits and
recall of elected state officials.
It's
difficult to take seriously last week's House vote to establish a
recall provision in Illinois' state Constitution. An amendment to
the constitutional provision passed the other day with 80 votes - a
pretty solid majority.
The
tiny minority who opposed the amendment pointed out that the proposal
could cause all sorts of problems.
A
new statewide poll confirms what most of us knew anyway. If Barack
Obama is the Democratic presidential nominee, he will do a whole lot
better in Illinois against Republican John McCain than will Hillary
Clinton. But there's more to it than that.
Normally,
a tax hike would be the last thing that state legislators would
consider in an election year. Tax increases are usually approved in
"off years" to give voters time to forget before they vote. So,
you'd think that a large income-tax increase in Springfield would
be the last thing being considered.
The
2008 general election is almost nine months away, but you don't
have to listen too closely to hear some of the first shots of the
2010 governor's race being fired.
Pure
genius. Hot-dogging genius, of course, but brilliant nonetheless.
I'm
referring to Governor Rod Blagojevich's announcement last week that
he would abandon his much-repeated pledge to veto any tax hike "on
people" and go ahead and approve a regional sales-tax hike to fund
a mass-transit bailout for Chicagoland. His only caveat was that
senior citizens must forever ride free on all transit districts in
the state.
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