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{"id":393,"date":"2014-07-05T09:50:00","date_gmt":"2014-07-05T09:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/07\/abandon-hope-all-ye-who-live-in-illinois.html"},"modified":"2014-07-05T09:50:00","modified_gmt":"2014-07-05T09:50:00","slug":"abandon-hope-all-ye-who-live-in-illinois","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2014\/07\/abandon-hope-all-ye-who-live-in-illinois.html","title":{"rendered":"Abandon hope, all ye who [live in Illinois]"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Independent Maps, the group spearheading the proposed fair redistricting amendment to the Illinois constitution, has abandoned its effort after an unfavorable court ruling.<\/p>\n

This actually occured in the last week of June \u2014 see this Eric Zorn blog post<\/a> which links to news articles and provides commentary. \u00a0Essentially, if I understand correctly, the judge ruled that only the specific topics addressed in the constitution may be amended by a constitutional amendment process. \u00a0Zorn\u2019s post focuses on the parallel effort to institute term limits, though, so I\u2019m not sure if I\u2019m entirely reading this right, or whether Independent Maps would have had good grounds for a successful appeal, but judged its chances in the parallel fight over the number of valid signatures to be too low to win, ultimately, both battles.<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t post on this earlier because, to be honest, I couldn\u2019t figure out, from what I read, exactly what was going on, and didn\u2019t want to speculate. \u00a0It seems, from what I can tell, that it would almost be necessary to have a petition-based amendment to allow amendments, or citizen referendums, on a broader range of topics, then have a second petition drive for an amendment for a fair redistricting proposal.<\/p>\n

But then there was an editorial in the Tribune yesterday<\/a>, about the pension crisis, and a judge\u2019s ruling that earlier attempts at pension reform were invalid because not only are state employees\u2019 future pension accruals guaranteed at whatever the formula is when they are hired in, but their future retiree healthcare benefits are likewise untouchable. \u00a0If that\u2019s so, if there is no recourse for appeal, we are so screwed. \u00a0And it\u2019s preposterous to think that the constitution-writers meant to promise such a gigantically open-ended benefit. \u00a0(Ha! \u00a0How\u2019s this: \u00a0healthcare is guaranteed, on the basis of the same technology as when the employee was hired in. \u00a0No new drugs, no new cancer treatments. \u00a0But we\u2019ll give you a bed and some painkillers.)<\/p>\n

Funny thing is that the Trib suggested the very thing I\u2019d written about in one of my early blog posts<\/a>, and even tried the game of \u201cwrite your legislators\u201d and \u201cwrite a letter to the editor\u201d (which went unpublished): \u00a0an amendement to allow reductions or elimination of future retirement benefit accruals.<\/p>\n

And I was just struck by the futility of it. <\/p>\n

Madigan will do whatever it is that provides him the most power (and, ultimately, wealth \u2014 though it\u2019s my understanding that, for him, it\u2019s all about the power, and the wealth comes later, when he calls in favors). \u00a0If he wanted an amendment on the ballot, he\u2019d do it. \u00a0If he\u2019s happy with running the state into the ground, he\u2019ll keep it up. <\/p>\n

Madigan has already shown his ability to derail citizen-sponsored attempts at reform: \u00a0tossing signatures is an art form that\u2019s been perfected (it\u2019s how Obama got his start), as well as endless litigation.<\/p>\n

Could Rauner, if he wins, actually take on Madigan in the same way that he promises to take on the unions? \u00a0The only power Rauner has, ultimately, is veto power, including the \u201camendatory veto,\u201d \u00a0which as Quinn has discovered in his attempts at reform, isn\u2019t much.<\/p>\n

About the only option at this point is to throw the millions, tens of millions, hundreds of millions if needed, at Madigan\u2019s district, telling each and every voter, personally, that they bear responsibility for the downfall of Illinois in the near future. \u00a0But, then, he\u2019s probably got them all locked up with patronage.<\/p>\n

Time to move? \u00a0Oh, yeah \u2014 except that we, like pretty much everyone else who sees the situation Illinois is in and hasn\u2019t left, has reasons why a move would be difficult for our family. <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"