Ethics showdown looms at Capitol

SPRINGFIELD - State lawmakers could vote by the end of this week on a plan giving voters the power to recall the governor.

A proposed constitutional amendment was filed Wednesday and House leaders expect a vote in the coming days. This comes a year after the Illinois House approved a broader recall plan that was ultimately shot down in the Illinois Senate.

"If any state needs to give voters the power to recall ... it's Illinois," said state Rep. Jack Franks, a Marengo Democrat and sponsor.

Boosting the chances this year are new leadership in the Senate and a massive push from good-government groups and the media to reform lingering issues within Illinois government and politics.

Gov. Pat Quinn has long been an advocate of recall, although giving such power to voters was left out of a report recently filed by the ethics reform commission he put together. That commission's recommendations are currently being debated at the Capitol.

But on Wednesday, a group of suburban lawmakers proposed a series of reforms that, unlike Quinn's commission, seek to steer the ethical focus back to the executive branch where one former governor sits in prison and another awaits trial.

For instance, state Sen. Susan Garrett, a Lake Forest Democrat, said the public needs to know more about the myriad boards and commissions involved with state business. Her legislation puts more information online and requires those entities to post audio and video online so people can go back and check what they've been doing.

"We weren't sent to jail," said Garrett. "The governor was sent to jail. It is ironic that the focus is on legislature when the wrongdoing was occurring at a much higher level."

As for recall, should lawmakers sign off on the constitutional amendment, the issue would be presented to voters next year for approval.

As proposed, recall would work this way: If 15 percent of voters who cast a ballot in the previous gubernatorial election signed a petition in favor of recalling the governor, there would be a special recall election. Only one recall attempt per term would be allowed.

If the recall was successful, the lieutenant governor would become acting governor until a special election for governor was held. But unlike the 2003 recall of California Gov. Gray Davis where a cavalcade of the famous and infamous ran to replace Davis, the Illinois recall measure requires a special primary held on the same day as the recall election. Voters would choose a new governor in a special general election within 60 days.

Initially, voters would only be able to recall the governor. But Franks said he hopes someday to apply the voter's recall power to all elected officials.