Bean Counting Last July, U.S. Rep. Melissa
Bean was one of 15
Democrats who voted in favor of the Central American Free Trade Agreement.
After CAFTA passed by two votes, some labor unions, who fought the
bill’s passage and played a key role in Bean’s ouster of
17-term Republican Phil Crane in 2004, vowed to yank their support. At the time, Tom Balanoff, president of Illinois’ largest labor group, the
Service Employees Union International, told IT that he was “very disappointed in Melissa
Bean.” But that appears to be a moot point. Capitol Hill
observers note that after the CAFTA vote, business interests picked up the
fundraising slack when Bean’s labor support split. According to the
Federal Election Commission, Bean has amassed a war chest of $1.8 million
— one of the largest in Congress — with which to face a
challenge by Republican David McSweeney for the 8th District
congressional seat in November. Here come the brides On May 27, two women will be united in holy matrimony
at a private ceremony in Chicago — then they’ll go to Canada
and get married for real. The Rev. Dan
Rodriguez-Schlorff, a minister and openly gay
Green Party candidate for state treasurer, will officiate at the first
ceremony. The vows he plans to lead the women through, though similar to
the traditional till-death-do-you-part covenant, will be spiritual, not
legal, he says. Rodriguez-Schlorff says that the women approached him
last fall, before he announced his candidacy for the job also sought by
banker Alexi Giannoulias, a Democrat, and Republican state
Sen. Christine Radogno. He says he kept his promise to the women despite his pursuit of a
constitutional office in a state where gay marriage is still legally
prohibited. Rodriguez-Schlorff says that his performing the
ceremony is separate from his political activities yet “embodies the
ideals of the Green Party.” Primary Support Because 80 percent of Springfield residents voted in
favor of switching to an open-primary system in March, at least a dozen
other communities statewide have decided to also put the question to their
voters in November. At their annual township meeting, held earlier this
month, electors from Gardner, Springfield, Pawnee, Maxwell, and Capital
townships — all in Sangamon County — supported the inclusion of
an open-primary advisory referendum on the November ballot. Other townships voting for the effort, orchestrated in
Springfield by Sangamon County Board member Sam
Cahnman, include Burton, Honey Creek,
Schaumburg, Moraine, Belmont, East Grove, Harmon, and Marion. Cahnman, a Democrat in the race for 99th House district
seat, is running against incumbent Republican Raymond
Poe, who had been opposed to having open
primaries but changed his mind in light of the support for the idea in
Springfield.
This article appears in Apr 27 – May 3, 2006.
