It’s no secret that Gov. Rod Blagojevich is
probably the most unpopular Illinois governor in living memory.
The entrenched politicians and special interest
groups who oppose a state constitutional convention are rightly worried
that the public’s mistrust, even hatred, of this governor will skew
November’s vote. Every 20 years, voters are given the right to call a
constitutional convention, and the next opportunity is this Nov. 4.
Opponents fret that Illinoisans may decide to make the constitutional
convention vote a referendum on Rod Blagojevich. If that happens, they say,
then illogic and emotion will prevail and terrible consequences could
follow.
Ridiculous.
The truth is that Rod Blagojevich is a walking,
talking poster child for a constitutional convention.
Blagojevich’s disastrous, harmful and
years-long fight to the death with his political nemesis, House Speaker
Michael Madigan, has featured numerous and often dangerous attempts to
exploit the constitution’s needlessly vague language.
For instance, the courts have gone back and forth on
gubernatorial veto powers, and Blagojevich has seized his opportunities.
The governor believes he can use his amendatory veto power to write totally
new legislation and send it back to the House and Senate for approval.
Others say his amendatory veto authority should be limited to only minor
corrections to whatever passes both legislative chambers.
Trouble is, the constitution’s language is so
vague that nobody really knows who is right.
Nothing in the Illinois constitution specifically
gives the governor any authority to create what are known as administrative
rules. In the past, the General Assembly would pass legislation, but it
would also allow state agencies to come up with the details needed to
implement the new laws. Many years ago, the legislature created an
oversight committee to make sure the governor’s rulemaking stayed
within reason, and Blagojevich even signed a law a few years back to give
the legislature more power to stop his rules.
Since then, however, Blagojevich has used
administrative rules to create completely new programs out of nothing. When
the special legislative committee tried to stop him, he said it had no
authority to do so, thereby ignoring the law that he, himself, had signed.
Blagojevich essentially believes that he has almost
dictatorial powers to create new taxpayer-funded programs without the
General Assembly’s approval. Speaker Madigan retaliated by demanding
that almost all bills had to include language forbidding the governor from
creating new rules. The fight has basically halted all major legislation
this year. A court recently shot Blagojevich’s argument down, but he
still won’t admit defeat.
The constitution allows the governor to call special
sessions of the General Assembly, but Blagojevich insisted that he had the
authority to call special sessions any time he wanted. That case went to
court as well.
The point is that Blagojevich has done us all a favor
by attempting to exploit these and many, many other constitutional
loopholes. We now know where they are and how to close them. And we also
know that if we don’t do something about this, then Blagojevich or
the next governor who decides he’s a dictator can’t be
stopped.
So, if you believe as I do that Gov. Blagojevich has
abused his constitutional powers, you should vote “Yes” on a
constitutional convention.
Rich
Miller publishes Capitol Fax, a daily political newsletter, and
thecapitolfaxblog.com.
This article appears in Oct 2-8, 2008.
