In this e-mail:
- Recall Amendment and Impeachment
- Ethics Legislation
- Intern and Volunteer Opportunities
- Announcements
Dear Neighbor,
The ongoing corruption trial and recall amendment dominated the news and discussions
in Springfield this week. As you have likely seen in the news, the recall
amendment did not pass the Senate, but an ethics bill that will ban pay-to-play
politics in Illinois has been agreed to by both the House and Senate.
Recall Amendment (SJRCA70) and Impeachment
The proposed Constitutional
Amendment for Recall needed 36 votes to pass out of the Senate, and failed with
a vote of 33 yeses, 19 nos, and 2 presents. I am alarmed at recent
accusations in the federal government's corruption case involving the
Blagojevich Administration, including possibly the Governor himself, but I
voted no on the recall amendment because it is unlikely to remove this
Governor from office, is fundamentally bad public policy for Illinois, and the
State already has a better mechanism - impeachment - to address wrong doing by
our elected officials.
To begin with, passing a Recall Constitutional Amendment may not actually
result in the removal of Gov. Blagojevich. Whether the Recall Amendment
can be retroactively applied to remove a sitting Governor from Office is an unresolved
question of law. Even if Governor Blagojevich is eligible to be recalled,
it would involve many expensive and time consuming steps to actually execute a
recall. At the end of the day, angry voters might reduce his term by a
matter of months, maybe a year.
Moreover, recall as a permanent part of the Illinois State Constitution overly
politicizes future public policy discussions. Voters have regular opportunities
to hold our elected officials accountable. Recall is an anti-democratic
mechanism that disenfranchises the planned and larger base of regular voters in
favor of special interests that can threaten recall and the smaller vote totals
associated with special elections. More disturbingly, it will have a
naturally chilling effect on politician's willingness and ability to tackle
important but potentially controversial issues (in an environment where our
elected officials are already too hesitant to vote their consciences in my
estimation). Beyond these damaging public policy implications, recall is
obviously expensive, time-consuming, and distracts our leaders from other vital
concerns such as chronic budget problems. Only 18 states provide for
Recall of state elected officials.
The existing impeachment process can efficiently remove Governor Blagojevich
from office if the illegal corruption charges that have been alleged are
proven. Unlike recall, impeachment has no chilling effect on the legal
acts of future public officials. Moreover, the existing procedures for
impeachment can be carried out by the House and Senate at far less expense and
in less time. Impeachment is the tool to address wrongdoing; regular
elections are the tool to vote out of office politicians with whom we are displeased.
As the newest State Democratic Senator in Illinois and a past supporter of
Governor Blagojevich, I am saddened and troubled by recent public accusations
that the Governor is guilty of vast public corruption. I am certainly
ready to conduct my Constitutional duties to determine if laws were broken by
our Governor if the House votes to impeach him.
Banning Pay-to-Play Contracts in Illinois (HB824)
This week the Senate and the House reached agreement on a revised pay to play
ethics Bill that will accomplish our goal of banning pay-to-play in the State
(House Bill 824). This bill:
-
Bans political contributions from businesses that have contracts of $50,000 or
more with any statewide officeholder (Governor, Lt. Governor, Secretary of
State, Attorney General, Comptroller, or Treasurer) for a period of the
officeholder's term or two years after the end of the contract, whichever is
longer;
-
Bans political contributions from businesses to challengers for those statewide
officers;
-
Bans businesses with pending bids from making
contributions during the entire bid process;
-
Requires all businesses with contracts over $50,000 to register with the State
Board of Elections before they can bid for a contract. The State Board of
Elections will maintain a searchable database that lists relevant political
contributions by these businesses and their associates.
I am a chief sponsor of this Bill and believe it is an important step in
improving the culture of corruption in Illinois. That said, I do believe it is
just a step. We have much further work to do, including placing limits on
campaign contributions and requiring full disclosure by lobbyists regarding
their contracts.
We have a great deal of work
to change the culture of corruption that eptimizes Illinois government
today. I will continue to advance sensible proposals that fight corruption and
allow us to believe in the honor of government service again.
Interns and Volunteers
Our district office is
accepting applications for unpaid full and part time summer internships from
talented college and high school students.
Please contact Jen at jen@heathersteans.com
for more information.
Our district office is happy to welcome a new part time
school year/full time summer intern, Jarrod Wolf. Jarrod
Wolf is a rising 3rd year at the University of Chicago double majoring in
public policy with emphasis on environmental public policy and environmental
studies with emphasis on environmental economics.. He is beginning
his second term in student government and is the current Chairman of the
Coalition of Chicago Colleges, an organization representing the unified student
political voice of eighteen universities within the city of Chicago.
Announcements
General Assembly
Scholarships
State Senator Heather Steans will be selecting college-bound
students to receive General Assembly Scholarships, which cover all tuition
costs for one year at the following state institutions in Illinois:
Chicago State University Eastern
Illinois University
Governors State University Illinois
State University
Northeastern Illinois University Northern Illinois University
Southern Illinois University - Edwardsville Southern Illinois University -
Carbondale
University of Illinois - Chicago University of Illinois -
Springfield
University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign Western Illinois University
Eligibility
Requirements:
All
applicants must reside within the boundaries of the 7th Legislative
District, verified by ID submitted.
Applications may be
obtained by e-mailing Jen Walling at jen@heathersteans.com,
visiting Senator Steans's district office at 5533 N. Broadway, or
applicants may call the district office to have one mailed to them.
All applications must be completed and returned to
Senator Steans's office by May 30, 2008.
CHA opens Section 8 list
RentBetter is the Chicago Housing Authority Section 8
Voucher Program, a federal program that helps people with low and moderate
income afford housing in the private market.
Those with vouchers pay 30-40% of their income for rent; the Federal
Government pays the rest directly to the landlord.
The Chicago Housing Authority has opened up its application process
for the Section 8 voucher program for the first time in ten years. There are 40,000
slots available on Chicago's Housing Choice
Voucher Wait List. This process
is open to individuals earning less than $26,400 and families
of 8 earning less than $49,750 (Income limits set by HUD and are subject to
change).
Registrations are accepted online at www.rentbetter.org or applications are
available in our office at 5533 N. Broadway, Chicago, Illinois. Applications are accepted until close of day
on May 15, 2008. The lottery for the
40,000 slots will be held after the closing date and registrations will be
treated equally no matter when they are received.
Seniors Ride Free
Seniors
age 65 and older can ride for free on CTA, metra, and PACE public
transportation starting March 17, 2008. To obtain a senior reduced fare
card, please visit www.rtachicago.com/seniorsridefree/
