Time for ethics, political reform

May 6, 2010 By KATHY CICHON kcichon@stmedianetwork.com

While there’s still much work to be done, plans for an “innovative” and “groundbreaking” partnership among several school districts and Aurora University to establish a charter/magnet hybrid school took a step closer to reality this past week.

“It’s very exciting,” Sherry Eagle, director of Aurora University’s Institute for Collaboration, said Wednesday. “The university and four school districts coming together with community partners to share in the responsibility of educating the community’s children in math and science.”

Partnering with Aurora University on the project are Indian Prairie District 204, West Aurora School District 129, East Aurora School District 131 and Oswego Community Unit School District 308.

To help make this possible, Illinois House Republican Leader Tom Cross, R-Oswego, and Rep. Linda Chapa La Via, D-Aurora, recently introduced a charter school reform bill in Springfield.

“This bill will enable the Institute for Collaboration of Aurora University and its partners to form a charter school for students in the top 3 percent of their class in math and science,” Cross said in a news release. “These third- through eighth-grade students will be taught problem-based learning. They will research real issues facing the city, local businesses or industries, and develop solutions.”

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The Illinois Supreme Court on Thursday threw out a sound law passed by the General Assembly in 2005 to protect health care in this state. The court threw out a sound law that has worked. The court threw out a sound law and essentially told the state’s lawmakers: Don’t even bother to try this again.

This is a disastrous decision.

It declares that caps on medical malpractice awards violate the state constitution’s separation-of-powers clause. The caps limited noneconomic damages, such as pain and suffering, to $500,000 in claims against doctors and to $1 million in claims against hospitals.

The Legislature acted appropriately in response to a crisis. Malpractice costs were skyrocketing in Illinois because insurers were afraid to do business here. They were afraid of runaway jury verdicts. They also knew that more than 20 states had some caps on damages, making those states much safer places to do business.

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Posted by Michelle Manchir

SPRINGFIELD — House Republican leader Tom Cross today called for limits on how much legislative leaders and political party campaign committees can give to candidates in general elections, saying it was a necessary change that Democrats refused to put into a new state reform law.

The legislation was unveiled at the Capitol just a week before the Feb. 2 primary as Republicans try to show voters this year how they differ with Democrats on reforming the way elections are paid for in scandal-ridden Illinois politics. Democrats control state government and the Republicans are looking to regain relevance for the first time in years.

Cross’ legislation aims to fix what critics say is a loophole resulting from last year’s campaign finance reform measure that Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn signed into law. Democrats agreed to put limits only on contributions from legislative leaders and party committees in primary races, which are fights within each party. But they refused to apply those limits to the general election because those races are all-out warfare between Democrats and Republicans. Spending should not be limited when the fight for control of legislative chambers is at stake, Democrats argued.

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Daily Herald Editorial Board

None of us should want a few powerful people deciding who gets to represent us or what ideas get considered. We’re supposed to get to decide that for ourselves when we go to the ballot box, as we all should do Tuesday.

But an Illinois law to take effect next year gives too much control to already too-powerful legislative leaders and political parties in Illinois.

That campaign finance law placed limits on what everyone will be able to spend on primaries. But it created a gaping hole that allows for a power grab for the critical fall general elections. The law limits donations from everyone in general elections, except the four legislative leaders and political parties. They are not limited at all.

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With Illinois paralyzed by gridlock and teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, many citizens are angry about what is happening in Illinois state government. They want change, but it never seems to happen.

I have heard those cries for reform and have suggested that if you can do one thing to change the political culture in Illinois, it’s changing legislative redistricting.

What is redistricting? Every 10 years, the United States conducts a federal census, which is the official count of how many citizens live in our country and where they live. After the new census figures are reported, Illinois is required to redraw the boundaries of legislative districts to rebalance population equally among the districts. This process is known as “redistricting.”

For the past 40 years, a few powerful Illinois state legislators have created districts that ensure their re-election by drawing their own legislative boundaries behind closed doors. The result is that 98 percent of the elections for the Illinois State Legislature are won by the incumbent. The Legislature could create more competition and bring about fair elections, but they haven’t — and they won’t. There are powerful interests who do not want to see this happen.

It is time to change redistricting in Illinois and give control of this important process to an independent group of citizens who have Illinois’ best interest in mind, not those of the state Legislature. The Illinois League of Women Voters, the Better Government Association, the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, Pat Collins of the Illinois Reform Commission and reform-minded organizations are spearheading a petition drive aimed at placing a constitutional amendment on the ballot to change legislative redistricting in our state. The petitions must be signed by at least 400,000 Illinois citizens and filed by May 1 to be on the November ballot.

The Illinois Fair Map Amendment would place redistricting in the hands of an independent commission guided by an established set of criteria to promote competition and protect minority voting rights. The proposal requires public hearings and public display of proposed maps and allows for submission of maps by the general public. The proposal bans the use of incumbent addresses and voting history in the initial mapmaking process. It also allows for the appointment of an independent “special master” to provide for a fair, unbiased resolution of redistricting in case of a stalemate and eliminates the provision of drawing a name out of a hat to resolve the process.

I join the many reform and good-government groups in supporting the Illinois Fair Map Amendment.

If there is only one thing you can do to change the highly political culture in Illinois — this is it. I urge you to circulate and sign a petition to get this issue on the November ballot. For more information and to obtain a petition, go to ilfairmap.com, or contact the Illinois League of Women Voters at (312) 939-5935.

Illinois House Minority Leader Tom Cross is a Republican from Oswego.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/commentary/1982176,CST-EDT-open10c.article

PLAINFIELD — The idea of armed police officers walking through grade-school corridors didn’t sit well with many educators in the 1980s.

Police officers weren’t too keen on the idea, either.

Plainfield police Chief Bill Doster was part of a group from Illinois who traveled to Los Angeles to meet with police there who created the D.A.R.E. concept.

“Our job was to lock people up, not prevention,” Doster said. “(D.A.R.E.) changed the whole dynamic.”

The village of Plainfield began its D.A.R.E. program in 1989.

Now school administrators and teachers work with officers to make the program as relevant to the kids’ lives as possible.

In addition to lessons on illegal drugs and alcohol, the program includes talks on topics such as Internet safety and abuse of over-the-counter and prescription drugs.

“We’ve talked about dropping D.A.R.E., and the feedback was they like to see the officers in the building,” said Cathie Pezanowski, director of curriculum and instruction for Plainfield School District.

Today, several people from Plainfield are involved with the program on a statewide level.

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By Heidi Terry-Litchfield – hlitchfield@morrisdailyherald.com

JOLIET – Pam Heavens was just a small-town girl with big dreams when she moved from Coal City, where she grew up, to Joliet in 1983.

Heavens, who has a disability which causes the use of a wheelchair, never let the disability stop her.

“I owe it to my dad, who never said ‘no,’” she said at the Will Grundy Center for Independent Living’s annual awards dinner Wednesday night.

When Heavens first moved to Joliet, she worked at Easter Seals, which she credits with the start of what has become WGCIL.

“Easter Seals was instrumental in the charter board when we got finalized to open our center,” she said.
After three years of planning, WGCIL opened its doors in 1989.

For the 20 years since it’s inception, Heavens has been the only executive director at the center.
She was honored at the awards banquet for her 20 years of service and received a congressional record from Debbie Halvorson, which was presented by Nick Allen and Greg Bales; resolutions from Illinois Senator A.J. Wilhelmi and State Rep. Jack McGuire; a plaque from State Rep. Tom Cross; and resolutions from Will County Executive Director Larry Walsh and Joliet Township.

Read the whole article at the Morris Daily Herald.

La junta consultiva de la herencia hispana de la ciudad de Aurora esta buscando candidatos calificados para su programa de becas. Para solicitar una de las becas, tiene que: vivir en Aurora o asistir un instituto de educación superior en Aurora, completar la solicitud de beca, incluir un resumen y un expediente escolar, responder a dos preguntas incluidas en la solicitud, e incluir una referencia. Puede encontrar la solicitud y otra información aqui. La fecha límite es el 4 de diciembre.

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