Syverson Reworking Bill Designed To Shed More Light On A Teacher’s Past

Add comment March 12th, 2008

Sen. Dave Syverson, R-Rockford, said he is reworking his bill that aimed to help schools learn more about a job applicant’s past.

Late last week, Syverson’s bill was thrown into flux after it turned out that schools could already check the state-managed list of people who have been accused of sexual misconduct but never criminally charged.

Before the Rockford Republican could present his bill to the full Senate, however, a state agency noted existing law already allows a School District to learn about sexual misconduct in an applicant’s past.

The Department of Children and Family Services tracks potential child abusers — in which DCFS deems a complaint against somebody “founded” — and school districts can access the information if job applicants consent.

So Syverson is changing his course, saying he may introduce different legislation making it mandatory for schools to check applicant names against the DCFS list, something other agencies, like day-care providers, are required to do.

Today he said he is still working with the Department of Children and Family Services and the Illinois State Board of Education to figure out why it can take up to three months for a school district to find out whether an applicant is on such a list, and if there is some way to reduce the backlog.

He also said he is working with these state agencies to spread the word to school districts that they can access this list.

New Poll Suggests Illinoisans Support Medicinal Marijuana

2 comments March 10th, 2008

The Marijuana Policy Project, the organization behind a Chicago Democrat’s renewed push to legalize medical marijuana, released a poll today suggesting a majority of Illinoisans believe the seriously ill should be able to use the drug to relieve their pain.

About 68 percent of Illinoisans say they support medical marijuana use and 27 percent oppose it, according to a poll taken by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research of Washington, D.C. The full results are here.

On Thursday, a Senate committee heard testimony  about this year’s medical marijuana legislation, sponsored by Sen. John Cullerton. A similar bill failed last year in the Senate chamber with a vote of 22-29. The lone Republican to vote for the measure was Rockford’s own, Sen. Dave Syverson.

During the committee, one woman testified that allowing people with chronic diseases to use and grow marijuana sends mixed signals to teens. Last year, this was one of the Republican sticking points.

The poll found that 23 percent of those polled believe such legislation sends the wrong message.

The split along party lines on this question was probably predictable. About 38 percent of Republicans agree with the wrong message statement, as did 9 percent of Democrats. About 25 percent of those who identify as independents also considered it a wrong message.

The statewide sample was 625 registered voters, with a four percent margin of error.

The group also conducted regional polls, including one in Rockford:

ROCKFORD REGIONAL POLL RESULTS

400 registered voters interviewed February 12-14, 2008 by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, Inc. of Washington, D.C.
Margin for error is plus or minus 5%.

QUESTION: This year, the Illinois legislature will consider a bill to make Illinois the 13th state to allow seriously and terminally ill patients to use marijuana for medical purposes with their doctors’ approval.

Do you support allowing seriously and terminally ill patients to use and grow medical marijuana for personal use if their doctors recommend it? Is that strongly/somewhat oppose/support?

	TOTAL SUPPORTING	STRONGLY SUPPORT	SOMEWHAT SUPPORT	SOMEWHAT OPPOSE	STRONGLY OPPOSE	DON’T KNOW
REGION	65%	42%	23%	13%	15%	7%

Support margin in the Rockford Metro: 65% - 28%

QUESTION: Would you be more likely or less likely to vote for your state legislator if he or she votes for legislation to allow seriously ill patients to grow and use medical marijuana for personal use upon the recommendation of a doctor? Is that much more/less likely?

	TOTAL MORE LIKELY	MUCH MORE LIKELY	SOMEWHAT MORE LIKELY	SOMEWHAT LESS LIKELY	MUCH LESS LIKELY	NO DIFFERENCE	DON’T KNOW
REGION	49%	26%	23%	10%	10%	27%	4%

More likely to vote for vs. less likely to support pro-medical marijuana legislators — margin in the Rockford Metro: 49% to 20% with 27% saying no difference and 4% unsure.

QUESTION: Some say allowing marijuana to be used for medical purposes sends the wrong message and encourages drug use. Others believe that marijuana can be regulated for medical use, and that the government should allow it for seriously and terminally ill patients when a doctor recommends it.

Which position do you agree with more: (ORDER ROTATED)

• Medical marijuana should be allowed to the seriously ill, or
• Allowing medical marijuana sends the wrong message?

	SHOULD BE ALLOWED	SENDS WRONG MESSAGE	NOT SURE
REGION	62%	26%	12%

NOTE: The Rockford Regional Poll was conducted in the following Illinois counties: Winnebago, Boone, Stephenson, Ogle and DeKalb.

What’s Madigan Up To? Updated X3

1 comment February 18th, 2008

A great pastime at the Capitol is speculating on the objectives and motives of House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago. Madigan seldom speaks in public and he generally is the last of state leaders to show his cards.

When he does show them, he tends to stake out a contrarian position. By positioning himself opposite other interests, he creates leverage to accomplish his goals — whatever they may be.

This spring session, Madigan was the first to show a card when he spread word last week that no major initiative will clear the House, the chamber that he controls, unless it contains language effectively pre-empting Gov. Rod Blagojevich from attaching rules elaborating on its thrust.

It’s uncanny for Madigan to announce such a radical position before the governor has a chance to set forth his own strategy Wednesday in his State of the State/budget address. Then again, Blagojevich and Madigan are great political adversaries. Together with Senate President Emil Jones Jr., a third Chicago Democrat allied with Blagojevich, the two last year faced off in a battle last so fierce that session literally dragged from the spring straight into this year.

But to truly understand the extraordinary nature of Madigan’s pre-emptive strike, you must consider the actual substance of his plan. By requiring all major bills to include language prohibiting the governor or his agencies from attaching administrative rules, the strategy could potentially shut down the legislative process.

In other words, Madigan has kicked off the session with a strategy that may do nothing but disrupt and delay the legislative process.

If Jones continues to side with Blagojevich through this session, he is unlikely to adopt Madigan’s strategy in the Senate. If the Senate rejects the strategy, and Madigan refuses to budge, it will be impossible for the two chambers to agree on legislation. And even if Jones does capitulate, and both the Senate and House do agree on legislation including the no-rules language, the governor could simply veto the language and send each bill back to lawmakers.

Lawmakers would then need to decide whether to override the governor. But I’m getting way ahead of myself here.

The bottom line is that Madigan does not often bluff. If he does bluff, he is not one to quickly go back on it.

Blagojevich and Jones, for their part, don’t tend to quickly swallow Madigan’s wishes.

UPDATE 1

Rep. Chuck Jefferson. D-Rockford, supports Madigan’s new strategy. Jefferson is a member of Madigan’s leadership team, so this is not surprising.

Jefferson echoed the speaker’s position, articulated last week by House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie, that the governor directly assaulted the Legislature when he declared that the body’s Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, which reviews the governor’s administrative rules, lacks the power to reject his rules.

“I think it’s a good idea if in fact the governor is going to continue to try and pull the political maneuvers to undercut what JCAR is in place to do,” Jefferson said. “I think it’s to the governor’s advantage at this point, but he doesn’t seem to think so.”

UPDATE 2

Rockford GOP Sen. Dave Syverson also supports Madigan’s strategy, at least the concept, he said.

Syverson said state agencies have misinterpreted his bills when they write the rules, but he could not think of any examples. He said he is then forced to pass another bill to clarify the first legislation.

“I agree with the Speaker to the extent that we need to put more in there in regards to the major issues because the governor has taken more leeway to expand definitions … taking it way beyond what the intent was and we need to rein that in,” Syverson said.
“The House version may go too far but the what’s currently in place does not go far enough. There may be some room for compromise, which we hope we can do.”

UPDATE 3

In line with the House Republican party line, Rep. Dave Winters, R-Shirland, disagrees with the House Democrats’ plan. He said rule-writing needs to be done by people with the expertise in that bill, such as those at the state agencies.

“I think the administrative rules should be written by the agencies that are to administer them,” Winters said, “not by a bunch of legislators who are not bureaucrats.”

Syverson raking in the dough Updated X2

Add comment January 23rd, 2008

It’s time once again for local pols to report what their campaign funds are raising and spending. Over the course of the day, I’ll be trudging through those reports and bringing you the highlights.

Let’s start with Sen. Dave Syverson, R-Rockford, who had a fundraiser on Monday.

On Tuesday, Syverson reported the following contributions, according to the State Board of Elections:

Dial Machine Inc.
Individual Contribution
2902 Eastrock Dr.
Rockford, IL 61109
1/22/2008 - $1,000.00

DPS General Contractors
Individual Contribution
6367 Sebring Way
Loves Park, IL 61111
1/17/2008 - $1,000.00

First Ranger Petroleum LLC
Individual Contribution
P.O. Box 4745
Rockford, IL 61110
1/17/2008 - $2,500.00

Kaney Aerospace Inc.
Individual Contribution
801 Airport Dr.
Rockford, IL 61109
1/17/2008 - $1,000.00

Separately, but also on Tuesday, Syverson reported these contributions:

Dial Machine Inc.
Individual Contribution
2902 Eastrock Dr.
Rockford, IL 61109
1/22/2008 - $1,000.00

AT&T Illinois Employee PAC
Transfers In
225 W. Randoph St.
27B
Chicago, IL 60606
1/22/2008 - $1,000.00

Swedish American Health Management Corporation
Transfers In
1401 E. State St.
Rockford, IL 61104
1/22/2008 - $1,000.00

Update 1

Syverson’s campaign fund was practically empty on Dec. 31, the last day of the most recent semi-annual reporting period, so the $8,500 in donations listed above certainly will help him get back on his game. Syverson traditionally is one of the region’s top fundraisers.

Syverson’s report for the period ending Dec. 31 said he had just $3,249.50 on hand after raising $54,078.25 and spending $69,271.01 during the six-month period.

Update 2

During that semi-annual reporting period, Syverson’s biggest contributions included: