TRIBUNE CONTINUES REDISTRICTING REFORM FIGHT; PRECKWINKLE POSTPONES PENSION FIGHT

Saying they are “awfully thin-skinned” about seeing their names appear on the editorial page of the Tribune, the editorial board stepped up with questions they have for the elections panel about why they appear to be more interested in serving the politicians rather than citizens when it comes to the redistricting reform petition backed by Yes for Independent Maps.

From the Chicago Tribune editorial board:

If several of the board members are trying instead to eliminate a threat to the Democratic power structure, they couldn’t do a much better job. Their clumsy judgments on the ballot eligibility of a constitutional amendment to curb gerrymandering suggest that they’re serving incumbent pols, not the people of Illinois.

If and when the election board’s decisions are appealed to courts of law, we hope judges will ask why the board has behaved as if it wants to disenfranchise the more than half-million Illinoisans who signed petitions.

But as we wait for courts to take over, we have our own questions for the board members — Jesse Smart, Casandra Watson, Bryan Schneider, Betty Coffrin, Ernest Gowen, Charles Scholz, William McGuffage and Harold Byers:

From the get-go some of you have signaled that you’re in a rush to be done with this measure, as if you’re taking out the trash at night rather than overseeing a process by which Illinois citizens seek to amend their state constitution. Did you decide to rush all by yourselves or did someone help you with that?

How is the public interest served by cutting short the appeals process? First you overruled your hearing officer’s decision to give Yes for Independent Maps another week to collect documents to support its petitions. Then you refused to approve subpoenas to expedite the collection of those materials, forcing the campaign to rely on the Freedom of Information Act to get them. Naturally, many of them haven’t yet arrived. How can you justify disqualifying the evidence that was delayed by your action?

While the fight to get the redistricting reform measure onto the ballot this November continues, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle says she will hold off on her fight for pension reform until after the November election. Chicago Sun-Times reporter Brian Slodysko reports Preckwinkle, who failed to get a worker pension reform measure through the state legislature during the spring session, believes she will have better luck following the election when lawmakers are more willing to cast difficult votes.

Writes Slodysko:

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said Wednesday she’ll try again after the fall election to get her worker pension reform measure through the Legislature in Springfield.

After passing the Senate, the bill got bottled up in the House during the waning days of the session. Not enough majority Democrats got on board with the measure, which also needed nominal support from Republicans to pass.

“After the election I think is a good time to try to do this,” Preckwinkle said, addressing the issue during a news conference after a Cook County Board meeting. “I think it’s easier for people to cast difficult votes after elections.”

The bill would have increased employee retirement ages and pension contributions, while reeling in retirement benefits. But it preserved a compounding, cost-of-living increase that state and city retirees have been denied under legislation that passed the General Assembly last year and earlier this spring.

That drew fire from Democrats and Republicans alike. Republicans thought that the compounding cost-of-living increases were too generous, while some Democrats didn’t like the cost-of-living increases because of opposition from union allies in the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. 

Now the plan is to get the bill passed after the fall election, when lawmakers aren’t as worried about the votes they take — either because they’ve been re-elected or because they will soon be out of office.

“We’ve got some work to do in building support among the Democrats in the majority and securing Republican support,” Preckwinkle said.

Of course, the headline of the November election will be the governor’s race between Gov. Pat Quinn and Bruce Rauner. With four and half months to go, who has the early advantage?

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Brendan Bond is a staff writer at Reboot Illinois. He is a graduate of Loyola University, where he majored in journalism. Brendan takes a look each day at the Land of Lincoln Lowdown and it’s often pretty low. He examines the property tax rates that drive Illinoisans insane. You can findReboot on Facebook and on Twitter @rebootillinois.