Once again House Speaker Mike Madigan is trying to subvert the Illinois Constitution, and I am not writing about his latest budget, which is unconstitutionally not balanced. This is about his attempt to add feel-good but irrelevant referenda questions to the November ballot.
While Republican governor candidate Bruce Rauner and his allies propose major and democratic (small d) changes in the Illinois Constitution concerning term limits and anti-gerrymandering, Madigan wants an advisory vote on raising the minimum wage and a constitutional amendment to ban discrimination in voting.
First, the vote on a higher minimum wage is only advisory, and could either be voted on by the state legislature as a regular law or be made part of the Illinois Constitution by the voters.
Second, the ban on voting discrimination and undue restrictions could be done by a state law also.
Illinois does not have restrictive rules on voting, although it does for getting on the ballot.
Madigan wants his meaningless referenda to overshadow and crowd out Rauner’s substantial constitutional ones. I am surprised that he does not propose Illinois Constitutional amendments to make apple pie a protected recipe and motherhood an honorable vocation.
— Stan Palder, Chicago
