Dan Rutherford

SPRINGFIELD - An ongoing legal battle over the way Illinois issues specialty license plates could have been avoided if Secretary of State Jesse White had merely implemented an existing state law, says one state lawmaker.

State Sen. Dan Rutherford, R-Chenoa, who challenged White for the secretary of state's post in the November election, said a 1996 law he authored would have changed the way Illinois deals with requests for specialty plates.

But, rules for the law never were put in place.

That, Rutherford said, is partially why the state finds itself in a court battle with a group that is demanding the state begin offering motorists a license plate bearing the words "Choose Life."

A federal judge earlier this month denied a motion by White to overturn a ruling allowing the "Choose Life" plates to join 60 other specialty plates in Illinois' license plate arsenal.

The group backing the plate has been in court since 2004 hoping to force White to begin offering it to motorists. Attorneys for the state argued unsuccessfully the General Assembly must approve plates before they can be created.

In a ruling in January, U.S. District Judge David H. Coar said the specialty plates are protected by the First Amendment because they serve as a forum for people to express themselves.

Attorneys for the state are appealing Coar's decision and White's office is not planning to issue any plates until the legal proceedings come to an end.

Rutherford, in a letter sent to White earlier this month, is calling on the secretary of state to move forward with his decade-old plan, which would create a universal specialty plate.

Rutherford's plan would allow groups to sell stickers advertising their various causes, which would be affixed to the universal plate. He said the 1996 measure had the support of the General Assembly and law enforcement community.

"I do not recall anyone that was against it," Rutherford wrote in his letter.

White spokesman Dave Druker, however, said the 1996 law was met with a tepid response.

"We never found any groups who were interested in it," said Druker.

However, just as White argued in the "Choose Life" lawsuit, Druker said the secretary of state's office would move to the universal plate concept if the General Assembly directs them to do it.

That could be good news for police, who have long complained that the proliferation of license plates in Illinois makes it tough on law enforcement to identify plate numbers.

White wouldn't disagree with that sentiment, Druker said.

"As a general rule, we don't favor creating new ones," said Druker.

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