An abuse of power that must not go unchecked
Democratic Senate President John Cullerton said the Illinois Senate convening in private Wednesday to discuss the state's record $13 billion debt was "no big deal."
As your monitor of your tax dollars and your monitor of your public servants, we'd like to help you decide if that's true. We'd like to tell you if any senators talked about raising your taxes. We'd like to tell you if any talked about cutting spending. We'd like to tell you if any seeking election spoke of trying to make tough decisions to dig the state out of its historic deficit hole.
We can't. We can't because the media was not allowed to attend a session with the National Conference of State Legislatures. Neither were any of the taxpayers who fund state government and senators' salaries.
No big deal? This is a mammoth, unprecedented deal that ought to infuriate every citizen.
Republican Senate Leader Christine Radogno's spokeswoman Patty Schuh said it was unfortunate something "very innocent has taken on the appearance that it was sinister."
After more than a year of calls to clean up Illinois' government systems, after one governor remains in prison and another is headed for a corruption trial, it is far more than unfortunate that many of our public servants still don't get it. They don't get that this private conducting of the public's business is wrong. And immoral. And downright dangerous.
We'd like to tell you which of your public officials said what and who all was there, but we can't know for sure. We were locked out.
Can you imagine if your school board held a meeting with the doors locked to discuss which schools to close? Or if your town trustees held a secret meeting to discuss raising your property taxes?
This is nothing less than an outrageous and audacious abuse of power. And Cullerton's other comment ought to have all of you steaming and ready not to take it anymore.
This is meant for senators to "feel like they can ask questions and have a free exchange of ideas without having to be worried about what the press might report," Cullerton said.
Senator Cullerton, this is a democracy in Illinois. It is not China. A free exchange of ideas reported by a free media and consumed by a voting public is exactly what needs to happen all the time. All the time.
The frightening reason why Illinois' senators don't get what a horrible thing this was is because they do it to a lesser extent all the time. Legislators pass Freedom of Information laws that apply to everyone but them. Cullerton, Radogno, Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan, Republican Leader Tom Cross and Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn met secretly last year and devised a budget. They then gathered their troops together in private political party meetings, fed them enough details to see if they had enough votes to approve it, and then, in public, approved it. The near-secret budget deals occur every year. The private caucuses occur nearly every day legislators meet. Rank-and-file members say that's the way it's always been done.
Well, the way it's always been done must die a certain death.
As the secret Senate session uproar ensued, senators said they didn't realize the meeting was closed. That just strains credulity. You didn't notice no one was in the balcony or in the media sections in the front of the chamber? These public servants should have stood up and walked out. Quinn, who claims to be for transparency, should have expressed outrage. Attorney General Lisa Madigan, who portrays herself as a champion of public access, should have told the Senate leaders what they did was wrong and unconstitutional.
If our senators can't discuss our money and our business in the heat and light of day, then they ought to retire or resign. Or we voters need to do it for them.