Readers chime in on proposal for new state constitution
September 21st, 2008 at 12:12am Chuck Sweeny
My Sunday column deals with reader reaction to Thursday’s column on whether Illinoisans want to call a constitutional convention. We’ll be asked that question on Nov. 4 — it takes a 60 percent yes vote for the convention to be called. Read it here:
Entry Filed under: new con-con
4 Comments Add your own
1. coldhotel | September 21st, 2008 at 9:32 pm
Chuck, I wholeheartedly agree that a constitutional convention would be a recipe for disaster. Basically, every concern, outrage and gripe would be elevated to a constituional issue; most could be decided by the legislature. My question is, who is behind the push for a convention, what is their stated purpose(s), and are there any ulterior motives that you can discern.
2. hokumboy | September 22nd, 2008 at 12:00 am
I know nothing of the validity of the following, but I received this “alert” chain letter earlier this week:
” Subject: Important Pension News Please Read and act promptly
Hi
On the November ballot will be a question of Illinois residents that will ask if a Constitutional Convention should be convened. The question is required to be asked of the people every 10 years, I believe. This gives the state the opportunity to change the language of the constitution of Illinois . There is a movement afoot to change the language in the current constitution that protects pensions of Illinois residents from change that may be brought through litigation or other mechanisms as was done by the management of the failed United Airlines. In that action United asked the court to reduce the benefits to its pensioners , yes those already retired, and the court held that it could do so because of its poor financial condition while its executives went home with millions. This did happen.
As written, pensions in Illinois are protected from tampering and for the sake of those who rely on those funds for sustenance. We must prevent anyone from changing the protections in the constitution. Beware !
I urge all Illinois residents to simply say no to the question on the ballot authorizing the constitutional convention.
Please pass this along those Illinois residents, family and friends that you know to stop this from happening. ”
Chuck,
have you seen this?
3. coldhotel | September 22nd, 2008 at 4:14 pm
I read up on con-con today. Apparently it is mandated that the question of whether to hold a convention is to be put to Illinois voters every 20 years, so there isn’t an interest group behind it. Most of the support for the Convention seems to come from people who want to recall Blagojevich; I had not heard of the pension angle. I am assuming that both issues could be resolved by amending the Constitution through referendum. At this point I can’t think of any issue that I think would need a convention to address.
4. Chuck Sweeny | September 23rd, 2008 at 10:06 am
Coldhotel: All you had to do was to read my Thursday column, which explained why we have this vote every 20 years. I’ve started putting the column on the blog, but that one wasn’t here. I suggest you read our website, rrstar.com., instead of just the blogs OR better yet, how about buying an actual paper? .
Leave a Comment
Some HTML allowed:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>
Trackback this post | Subscribe to the comments via RSS Feed