By Ray Long and Alissa Groeninger
SPRINGFIELD — — As Democrats and Republicans seek political advantage ahead of the November election, an emerging front is the battle over what referendum questions will appear on the statewide ballot this fall.
The Democrats want to ask voters if it should be tougher to increase pension benefits for government employees and if the state should strengthen protections for crime victims. Republicans think voters should decide whether to raise the bar on state income or sales tax increases and to weigh in on combining the offices of treasurer and comptroller.
For practical purposes, there's room for a maximum of three questions. Democrats — who run the show in Springfield — have the upper hand at securing those slots, and Republicans are crying foul.
At the forefront is House Speaker Michael Madigan, a Southwest Side Democrat now in his fifth decade at the Capitol and long known for thinking several moves ahead.
The speaker is pushing his own plan to require three-fifths votes by state and local governments to approve sweeter public pension benefits. His daughter, Democratic Attorney General Lisa Madigan, is advocating a bill of rights to keep crime victims better informed and to give them a bigger role in criminal hearings.
Both proposals represent political trick bags for Republicans, who don't want to appear unsympathetic to crime victims or supportive of keeping the status quo on pensions for government workers. Yet helping Democrats put those measures on the ballot means there's less room for the questions Republicans want voters to consider.
That dynamic, combined with House Democrats' reluctance so far to allow a vote on Republican proposals for the fall ballot, led to a pointed accusation Thursday.
"I think this is a sham," said Sen. Bill Brady, a Bloomington Republican who lost the race for governor in 2010.
Speaker Madigan's spokesman Steve Brown dismissed Brady's criticism, saying Republicans are just looking for "political boogeymen."
Illinois is decidedly unlike California, where voters routinely are asked to weigh in on hot button issues. Illinois' setup makes it very difficult for advocacy groups to put questions before voters, and the General Assembly requires a three-fifths vote in the House and Senate to land referendum measures on the ballot.
It's not often that either political party has control of three-fifths of both chambers, so Illinois voters historically haven't faced a lot of binding statewide referendum questions from the legislature. Since the Illinois Constitution took effect in 1970, voters have been asked 20 questions, according to election officials. Most recently, voters in 2010 approved a limited recall of governors, inspired by the impeachment of Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich, now serving a stiff sentence in federal prison for corruption.
Kent Redfield, who teaches political science at the University of Illinois at Springfield, said legislative majorities of both parties have used the limits on the constitutional amendments to "advance their agenda and to avoid taking up proposals by the minority."
"If you already filled the available number of slots," Redfield said, "then you can say: 'Well, that's a good idea, but there's no more room on the ballot. It's just going to have to wait.'"
The push and pull on ballot questions comes up every two years before big elections. This time, the issue takes on an added political dimension because both parties are scrambling for an extra edge in a year when all lawmakers are running in newly drawn districts.
Lawmakers are rushing to approve referendum questions ahead of a May 7 deadline. For House Republicans, that means getting in front of voters a proposed constitutional amendment to require a three-fifths vote by the House and Senate on tax increases instead of a simple majority.
Last week, Speaker Madigan was able to get his pension referendum question easily approved. Within minutes, House Republicans were shot down by a Democratic procedural maneuver when they tried to get a vote on the tax hike measure.
Though Republicans have long wanted a higher bar for tax increases, they also would like another reason to remind voters this fall that it was Democrats alone who voted for last year's 67 percent increase in the state income tax rate. Putting the issue on voters' minds at the polling place would accomplish that. Democrats have little interest in that happening as they try to keep control of the House and Senate.
The other Republican referendum push is the long-simmering idea to combine the offices of comptroller and treasurer to save money. Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka and Treasurer Dan Rutherford, both Republicans, are for it.
On Thursday, House Republicans were prepared to argue for a vote on the issue, but House Democrats adjourned before they had a chance.
Brady, the Republican state senator who supports putting the question before voters this fall, blamed Speaker Madigan.
"The people of Illinois, I think, deserve to have a vote on whether or not those offices are combined and we save multiple millions of dollars," Brady said. The speaker is "obviously against it and thinks he's got the power to block it."
Brown, Madigan's spokesman, fired back.
"The proponents have totally really failed to document these alleged savings, so for that reason, there's all kinds of objections to moving that amendment along," said Brown, who noted that even if the two Madigan-backed amendments pass, there's still "a third spot if the proponents could defend their position a little bit better."
SPRINGFIELD — — As Democrats and Republicans seek political advantage ahead of the November election, an emerging front is the battle over what referendum questions will appear on the statewide ballot this fall.
The Democrats want to ask voters if it should be tougher to increase pension benefits for government employees and if the state should strengthen protections for crime victims. Republicans think voters should decide whether to raise the bar on state income or sales tax increases and to weigh in on combining the offices of treasurer and comptroller.
For practical purposes, there's room for a maximum of three questions. Democrats — who run the show in Springfield — have the upper hand at securing those slots, and Republicans are crying foul.
At the forefront is House Speaker Michael Madigan, a Southwest Side Democrat now in his fifth decade at the Capitol and long known for thinking several moves ahead.
The speaker is pushing his own plan to require three-fifths votes by state and local governments to approve sweeter public pension benefits. His daughter, Democratic Attorney General Lisa Madigan, is advocating a bill of rights to keep crime victims better informed and to give them a bigger role in criminal hearings.
Both proposals represent political trick bags for Republicans, who don't want to appear unsympathetic to crime victims or supportive of keeping the status quo on pensions for government workers. Yet helping Democrats put those measures on the ballot means there's less room for the questions Republicans want voters to consider.
That dynamic, combined with House Democrats' reluctance so far to allow a vote on Republican proposals for the fall ballot, led to a pointed accusation Thursday.
"I think this is a sham," said Sen. Bill Brady, a Bloomington Republican who lost the race for governor in 2010.
Speaker Madigan's spokesman Steve Brown dismissed Brady's criticism, saying Republicans are just looking for "political boogeymen."
Illinois is decidedly unlike California, where voters routinely are asked to weigh in on hot button issues. Illinois' setup makes it very difficult for advocacy groups to put questions before voters, and the General Assembly requires a three-fifths vote in the House and Senate to land referendum measures on the ballot.
It's not often that either political party has control of three-fifths of both chambers, so Illinois voters historically haven't faced a lot of binding statewide referendum questions from the legislature. Since the Illinois Constitution took effect in 1970, voters have been asked 20 questions, according to election officials. Most recently, voters in 2010 approved a limited recall of governors, inspired by the impeachment of Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich, now serving a stiff sentence in federal prison for corruption.
Kent Redfield, who teaches political science at the University of Illinois at Springfield, said legislative majorities of both parties have used the limits on the constitutional amendments to "advance their agenda and to avoid taking up proposals by the minority."
"If you already filled the available number of slots," Redfield said, "then you can say: 'Well, that's a good idea, but there's no more room on the ballot. It's just going to have to wait.'"
The push and pull on ballot questions comes up every two years before big elections. This time, the issue takes on an added political dimension because both parties are scrambling for an extra edge in a year when all lawmakers are running in newly drawn districts.
Lawmakers are rushing to approve referendum questions ahead of a May 7 deadline. For House Republicans, that means getting in front of voters a proposed constitutional amendment to require a three-fifths vote by the House and Senate on tax increases instead of a simple majority.
Last week, Speaker Madigan was able to get his pension referendum question easily approved. Within minutes, House Republicans were shot down by a Democratic procedural maneuver when they tried to get a vote on the tax hike measure.
Though Republicans have long wanted a higher bar for tax increases, they also would like another reason to remind voters this fall that it was Democrats alone who voted for last year's 67 percent increase in the state income tax rate. Putting the issue on voters' minds at the polling place would accomplish that. Democrats have little interest in that happening as they try to keep control of the House and Senate.
The other Republican referendum push is the long-simmering idea to combine the offices of comptroller and treasurer to save money. Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka and Treasurer Dan Rutherford, both Republicans, are for it.
On Thursday, House Republicans were prepared to argue for a vote on the issue, but House Democrats adjourned before they had a chance.
Brady, the Republican state senator who supports putting the question before voters this fall, blamed Speaker Madigan.
"The people of Illinois, I think, deserve to have a vote on whether or not those offices are combined and we save multiple millions of dollars," Brady said. The speaker is "obviously against it and thinks he's got the power to block it."
Brown, Madigan's spokesman, fired back.
"The proponents have totally really failed to document these alleged savings, so for that reason, there's all kinds of objections to moving that amendment along," said Brown, who noted that even if the two Madigan-backed amendments pass, there's still "a third spot if the proponents could defend their position a little bit better."