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How to say 'no' to
incompetent government
By: Steve Huntley
Chicago Sun-Times
June 17,2008
Voting matters. Sometimes folks find that out the hard
way. That unhappy lot would include Cook County
suburbanites jousting at windmills in their uphill
campaign to secede from the county.
Two years ago these suburban residents probably didn't
think it much mattered who ran county government -- only
half of the registered voters cast ballots in the
election that made Todd Stroger Cook County Board
president. He rewarded their indifference with a big 1
percentage-point increase in the county sales tax. That
will bring in more than enough money to cover a current
budget shortfall -- enough to ensure more spend-thrift
business-as-usual in county government for years. Now,
despite the secession dreams of Palatine and a few other
suburbs, voters have little choice but to wait until the
2010 elections to register their displeasure with Stroger.
Similarly, Illinois voters disillusioned by the
incompetency of government under Gov. Blagojevich and
disgusted by its corruption have to wait until 2010 in
hopes of replacing him. A recall movement died in the
state Senate. Impeachment is on the table, but as
columnist Rich Miller wrote last week, House Speaker
Michael Madigan is using that issue to try to win
Republican seats and pad his majority. Although
Blagojevich shoulders the lion's share of the blame for
the breakdown of state government, he is not solely
responsible. Madigan and Senate President Emil Jones have
had a hand in the mess that Democratic one-party rule
brings to Illinois.
But voters don't have to wait until 2010 to voice their
dissatisfaction with that. They can vent in the balloting
for the seats in the Illinois General Assembly at stake
in the November elections.
Their watchword should be: Just say no to one-party rule.
That means voting Republican.
Yes, that's a hard sell in this blue state. With Barack
Obama heading their ticket, Democrats are salivating over
their prospects. The GOP brand nationally is in trouble.
Many voters remember the corruption that sent former GOP
Gov. George Ryan to prison. Still, those have to be
weighed against a Democratic vote that is, in effect, a
vote of confidence in a one-party stranglehold in
Springfield, its petty bickering, poisonous feuds and
incompetence.
The state Republican Party could do its part by coming up
with a campaign to persuade voters that it is worthy of
their trust. The Illinois GOP might take a page from Newt
Gingrich's strategy in capturing the U.S. House of
Representatives in 1994. His masterstroke was the
"Contract with America," a simple and short list of goals
that the Republicans would work to achieve if they gained
control of the Congress. National Democrats stole the
idea two years ago with their "six for '06" agenda of six
goals if they retook the Congress, which they did.
Republicans need something like a five-item "Contract
with Illinois" and a comprehensive media campaign to sell
it to the voters. It should be clear-sighted and confined
to bread-and-butter issues like jobs, taxes, health care,
pension reform and ethics reform.
A media campaign would be expensive. Maybe one or more of
the wealthy Republicans contemplating running for
governor in 2010 could help out. After all, a successful
wooing of voters to the idea of a stronger GOP role in
Springfield could only help their chances two years down
the road, just as Obama's change theme is riding the
Democratic tide of 2006.
Sure, some worthy Democratic lawmakers might be lost. But
Springfield is run by the party generals, not the field
soldiers.
A GOP takeover in the Legislature likely isn't in the
cards (especially as just 40 of the 59 Senate seats are
in play). But just cutting into the big majorities of
foot soldiers would tell the irresponsible generals
Blagojevich, Madigan and Jones that the voters are mad as
hell and aren't going to take it any more. It also might
boost impeachment prospects. Voting matters.
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