This blog is focused on the politics and social news of the 58th District of Illinois (Lake Bluff, Lake Forest, Highwood, Highland Park, Deerfield, Northbrook, Riverwoods, Bannockburn and Glencoe) and serves as a discussion group for concerned residents of the District and the State of Illinois who want to change the direction of our broken state government and improve the lives of all Illinoisans.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Senator Matt Murphy Proposes Legislation to Curb Family Succession in Illinois Politics

STATE: Law would curb family succession
08/28/2008, 10:28 am
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Andrea Zelinski, sng2@springnet1.com, 217-524-5797,
In Illinois, politics is all in the family.
But state Sen. Matt Murphy, R-Palatine, thinks it's time for a divorce.

He plans to introduce a bill this week that would make it harder for politicians who bow out of an election to pave the way to appoint someone of their choosing -- like a son or a daughter.

"I think people are fed up. They are offended that so many Chicago politicians seem to think they have a right to hand down a public office to their children," he said. "They don't trust us. Things like handing off a seat and carving voters out of the process makes it hard for them to trust us."

Just last week, Sen. President Emil Jones withdrew his name from the November ballot after announcing his retirement. His son, Emil Jones III, promptly filled his spot on the ticket after an approval from the district's Democratic committeemen.

State Sen. Mike Jacobs, D-East Moline, was appointed to his Senate seat in 2005 after his father, former Sen. Denny Jacobs, stepped down from office.

"If you're dad's a fireman, you're going to be interested in being a firefighter. If you're dad's a construction worker, you're going to be interested in construction," said Jacobs, a fourth-generation elected official. "My father happened to be a politician."

Democratic Party chairmen appointed him in 2005 -- although sitting Rep. Mike Boland, D-East Moline, expressed interest in the post. Jacobs ran his first successful election as an incumbent in 2007.

County political committees choose who will fill mid-term and pre-election vacancies, said state Rep. Frank Mautino, D-Spring Valley, who serves as chairman for Bureau County Democrats.

He, too, was appointed to fill his father's seat in the General Assembly after state Rep. Richard Mautino died in office in 1991.

"Whenever this happens, it hits a nerve with the public," said Cindi Canary of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform. "What tends to get people's goats is when it appears to be very blatant when it's their son or daughter."

While Murphy said the bill isn't specifically aimed at Jones, the matter did renew some questions he's had about the political appointment process.

In 1987, Kankakee Democratic County Chairman Phil Novak appointed himself to fill a vacancy in the House of Representatives.

Murphy said his bill would encompass federal, state and local politicians and would only be exempt in the event of a lawmaker's death in office or a debilitating illness that prevents them from serving their post.

The bill would require those recusing themselves from the election to make that decision official 90 days before the ballot is certified. In the case of Jones' retirement, he would have had to make that call by the end of May.

Under the proposed legislation, there then would be a special primary election where voters could choose between party candidates looking to fill the senator's seat in the November election.

But that's an expensive venture, says Ron Michaelson, former head of the State Board of Elections. The cost to rent polling places, pay election judges, order supplies and pay printing costs all will fall to taxpayers, he noted.

"It's a pretty tricky issue to solve," Michaelson

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