If you go to the site IllinoisIsBroke.com and click on the “What You Can Do” you end up here. If you scroll down you’ll see the following:
Of the four office holders shown neither Pat Quinn nor Roland Burris were elected to the offices they hold. They are only euphemistically our “elected officials”. And that tells you almost as much as you need to know about the state of Illinois politics right now.
And then, of course, there are the officials that I haven’t elected, that ostensibly hold more power in Illinois than some of the above. Michael Madigan’s name comes to mind.
This was the funniest thing I read yesterday about Illinois politics:
“When an election contest has no real issues (read lieutenant governor), the campaign can sometimes veer into the bizarre.
Two candidates for the office are Sen. RICKEY HENDON, D-Chicago, and Rep. ART TURNER, D-Chicago. The two men are not exactly what you would call close friends.
Last week, the Chicago Sun-Times did a story about the race. It quoted Turner as saying that more than 30 years ago, he rented an apartment to Hendon.
“He has the unique distinction of being the second person I’ve ever evicted,†Turner said.
Hendon denied he was evicted. He said he left the apartment after two months because it was infested with rats and roaches.
And that concludes this week’s recap of issues in the lieutenant governor’s race.”
Because this is essentially a political blog, I don’t think this is an inappropriate comment.
PD, you may want to consider Dan Proft for the Guv’s position. After the first couple times I met and spoke with him it was clear to me he was philosophically aligned to real reform, and prepared to go down fighting for it………not just be a go-along guy.
He’s polled miserably early on; He’s not an insider, and he has little money. But there are politicos who think he may be striking a chord. We will see tomorrow.
I can say this: He’s got a better handle on issues and is more articulate than all the rest. I think he can connect with the people once he’s the candidate. (Full disclosure: I’ve had the benefit of hours of one on one with him, not just what you hear from others on radio or TV ads.)
I’m afraid that all the others will just be “Quinn-light” and therefore will lose to the machine in the fall. And we know what that means. More of the same. We need someone who can catch lightning in a bottle. The state of Illinois deserves better than to become the next Michigan. But that’s where we are headed.
Drew, I don’t vote in closed primaries, as I’m a registered independent. I would vote tomorrow if I didn’t have to register a party affiliation. I understand both Illinois party rules contain this requirement and certainly it’s their choice.
But this would certainly be one way to reform the system. I suspect that around here, turnout will be just over 10% of what it was for the last general election.