In the News
Northwest Herald, April 12, 2008
State Rep. Jack Franks and Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn are fuming mad that a state senator who called Franks’ proposed recall amendment “stupid” has become its chief Senate sponsor.
Franks, D-Woodstock, is scrambling to get his proposed constitutional amendment to allow voters to recall state elected officials out of the hands of state Sen. Donne Trotter, D-Chicago, who opposes the measure. Franks and Quinn, a longtime advocate of recall, denounced Trotter’s move to become chief sponsor at a Friday news conference, just days after the amendment passed the House with the needed three-fifths majority.
Trotter told the Chicago Tribune earlier this week that the idea was “stupid” and that voters could oust unpopular leaders in regular elections.
“I want to expose what I think is the corruption of the system and the cronyism, quite frankly, and re-emphasize that I’m trying to give government back to the people,” Franks said. “This is exactly the types of shenanigans and dirty deeds that I’ve vowed to root out.”
Franks accused Trotter, the Senate’s majority caucus whip, of sponsoring the bill to make sure that it died in committee. Trotter denied Friday that he intended to keep the amendment from a vote, but called it a way for Franks to take his public feud with Gov. Rod Blagojevich to a new level by amending the Constitution to help get rid of him.
“As a matter of fact, what I told Rep. Franks is that I believe it’s a bad bill and it’s a stupid bill, and I don’t think it should focus on getting rid of someone in a way that circumvents the Constitution and free and fair elections,” Trotter said.
Trotter said the bill would fail on its own lack of merits, not any attempt by him to kill it. He said he would welcome changes, such as allowing for recall of any elected official down to the local government level.
House members voted, 75-33, on Tuesday to approve the amendment, which would allow voters to gather signatures to recall statewide office holders and General Assembly members. Thirty Democrats, mostly from Cook County, and three Republicans voted against it.
In the event that it passes the Senate by a three-fifths majority, it would then need to be approved by Illinois voters. The Senate must approve it by May 4 for voters to be asked this November.
Franks said he had filed a motion with Senate Rules Committee Chairwoman Debbie Halvorson, D-Chicago Heights, to remove Trotter as chief sponsor. After several days of considering interested senators, Franks said Friday that he wanted State Sen. Susan Garrett, D-Highwood, to carry the bill.
Franks denied that the bill, which he filed in August during the budget impasse between Blagojevich and the Legislature, was retribution against the embattled governor. He cited on the House floor former Gov. George Ryan, who is in prison, and the ongoing trial of chief Blagojevich fund-raiser Antoin “Tony” Rezko.