State Rep. Jack Franks (D-Marengo) presented a constitutional amendment to allow the recall of a future Illinois governor.

It didn’t include the other statewide elected officials.

It didn’t include legislators.

It didn’t include judges.

It didn’t include local officials like McHenry County College Board members who just gave MCC’s ex-president well over a $200,000 going away present.

Or the Grafton Township Trustees, who refuse to allow a referendum vote on a proposed new $5 million township hall.

And it wasn’t a straight citizen initiative.

It requires that 20 House members and 10 Senators would have to agree before a recall petition going forth. Half the representatives and senators will have to be from different parties. Obviously, that means any one caucus can smother the effort before it gets off the ground.

GOP Floor Spokesman Bill Black said the following:

“If any state deserves to have the ability to remove their governor, it’s Illinois.

“This is not the language I had expected,” stated Republican State Rep. Bill Black.

“It would appear to me that any caucus could stop a recall in its tracks.

“That’s not citizen recall.

“It’s better than walking away doing nothing.

“We could have done better. We should have done better.

“It’s kind of like winning the game in the bottom of the 9th with a wild pitch. I would have rather have had a home run.”

U.S. Senator Dick Durbin appeared during the debate and said he just stopped in to make sure that the

Of course, the recall of a current U.S. Senator, one Roland Burris, would be a possibility, if the proposal were a true, rather than the fake citizen recall plan being presented.

“This way there would be real checks and balances…an extra level of accountability on us,” Franks said, commenting on the requirement that state representatives and senators have to pre-approve any recall proposal.

“You say it’s a grass roots’ initiative,” said Republican Mike Bost, who early on called for Governor Rod Blagojevich’s impeachment.

“I can’t see that it’s a grass roots’ initiative (if you have to get through the General Assembly).”

“Is it the perfect bill? No,” Franks replied.

Ron Stephens asked Roland Burris to step forward and tell the General Assembly whether he would be willing to face a special election.

He wasn’t in the room of course.

“You’re going to call this reform on the 5 or 6 o’clock news in Chicago. What about the other statewide officers? What about the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate?

“I wonder why they were left out,” Stephens asked sarcastically.

“I want to make sure Illinois is an outlier (and I think it is as far as having only the governor,”
Dave Winters said next.

“I believe in the other states it is either the voters or the legislators who can initiate recall,” Franks said.

“This a complete sham,” Winters said.

“This is only going to happen, if people are really upset,” Franks later explained.

“What would stop anyone (some rich person) from (putting in a pile of money to get rid of) a governor?” Will Davis asked.

“That could happen to you today,” Franks replied.

“Hopefully, we’ll pass campaign finance reform and we won’t have that problem anymore,” the sponsor continued.

“This may be the most important bill we pass this year,” Franks said before the vote.

The constitution amendment was adopted 109-6-2