Why did the Illinois House change its mind Friday and decide that Chief Illiniwek shouldn’t be the revered icon of the University of Illinois?
Has there been a dawning of racial sensitivity in the four months since the General Assembly approved a bill mandating that the chief “shall be the honored symbol” of the university?
Representatives who have long condemned the costumed mascot as racist credited fellow lawmakers Friday with trying to “build bridges” among races following the O.J. Simpson trial and the Million Man March.
“I used the same words on the House floor today to speak against this bill as I used last spring,” said Rep. Coy Pugh (D-Chicago). “I think the events of the past few weeks have impacted the mindset. I think people are rethinking their consciences about race.”
But the more likely explanation is that Friday’s vote presented Democrats, the minority party in the House, with a rare opportunity to score political points. When several Democrats reversed their votes on the first day of the fall veto session, they left the Republican sponsor and others on the losing side of a tussle with GOP Gov. Jim Edgar.
Edgar had given his conditional signature to the bill, letting it become law only if the House and Senate agreed to his one-word revision. Edgar would have made the law say the chief “may” be the honored symbol, instead of “shall.” Edgar thinks the matter is the school’s business, not the General Assembly’s.
But a motion to override Edgar’s change failed, 61-49; an override would have require 71 votes. Both chambers still could vote to accept Edgar’s change, however.
Friday’s action leaves the Republican sponsor of the bill in a precarious position. Rep. Rick Winkel of Champaign is a target in next year’s elections, and Democrats are already blasting him for spending so much time on a bill that would have little, if any, legal effect.
Even if Democrats won a small battle Friday, House Republicans spent the rest of the day working on issues that they plan to highlight in their re-election campaign brochures.
Hearings on worker’s compensation and voter registration will let House Republicans appear to deal with controversial issues, even though they probably won’t be considered in the Senate this fall.
GOP House Speaker Lee Daniels of Elmhurst is pushing a measure that would let citizens register for state and federal elections when they get their driver’s licenses, and another to combat worker’s compensation fraud.
But Republican Senate President James “Pate” Philip of Wood Dale has shown no interest in taking up those issues.
In the voter registration hearing, Cook County Clerk David Orr pleaded with lawmakers to simplify the process of signing up voters. Citizens now can register only for federal elections at driver’s license offices. Orr and other Democratic clerks want to let people register for state and local elections, too.
In other business, the House accepted the governor’s amendments to its ethics package of last spring. Edgar asked lawmakers to delete parts of the law that would have limited powers of Chicago Mayor Richard Daley and the City Council in purchasing and contracts at O’Hare International Airport.
