Guy who 'gets it' says we have ourselves to blame

It's not every day a reporter walks into my office with high praise for a just-interviewed source.

Something close to that occurred after staff writer Jake Griffin talked to Patrick Collins for Thursday's Page 1 story on our almost inexplicable failure to vote this week.

Griffin and co-writer Ashok Selvam delved into why, with our state near financial ruin, and its government a late-night punch line, only about one in four registered voters cast a ballot.

Collins, the former federal prosecutor who brought George Ryan to justice, authored the report that recommended sweeping changes in campaign finance and other reforms, a report that's been largely ignored.

Part of the problem, Collins said, was the awful idea to schedule an election so soon after the holidays.

"When I woke up Tuesday morning and saw snow coming down, I thought it was celestial verification that it was a bad idea," he told Griffin.

"This guy gets it," Griffin said.

Collins and others discussed the whys and wherefores of the primary date. One legislator said she proposed moving it to August, a date common in other states, but no one bit, so now she's suggesting the third Tuesday in March, where the prospect of snow dims but isn't out of the picture.

But for all the talk of the weather and other excuses for the turnout, Collins says, voters still sent a message that we ain't ready for reform.

The reforms in Collins' report weren't enacted because people didn't put enough pressure on their representatives.

"There are people who die for the right to vote and I think we're taking it more and more for granted." he said. "Folks have got to participate or we shouldn't complain about the government we have."

A few other postelection thoughts:

Bragging liberally?

An alert reader pointed out that on the day-after-the-election front page of some Daily Herald editions (not DuPage), only one politician was "ideologically labeled": a conservative. We get these kinds of complaints all the time, evidence of our liberal bias. And, it may very well be true that we tend to label conservatives more than others. But it's been my observation, as the guy who handles the letters to the editor, conservatives tend to wear their conservatism on their sleeves, almost like a badge of honor. You'd think they'd be happy to be identified as such. On the other hand, when was the last time you heard someone bragging about his liberalism?

Just a thought.

A guaranteed gimmick

Remember Alan Dixon? As I recall, he sprang into the secretary of state's office on the strength of a TV commercial promising voters they'd no longer have to change those flimsy license plates in the dead of winter each year. Dixon was true to his word, invented the five-year plate, saved the state millions, and, next thing you know, he was a U.S. senator.

I mention this because I have a gimmick for state candidates who wish to win next election cycle: Get rid of the robo-calls. Based on the letters, calls and e mails to the newsroom, this seems to really stick in the craws of residents (can't call 'em all voters, you know). There was federal legislation passed allowing people to block unwanted calls, and people signed up in droves. But, in a shocking development, lawmakers excluded themselves from the law. I won't go into all the arguments we hear about sense of entitlement, protecting their own and such; suffice it to say the candidate who finds a way to do this will be a national hero.

Or something like that.

jdavis@dailyherald.com