May 03--Dear state Sen. Bill Brady,
We understand you are now the chief Senate sponsor of a proposal that would allow for the elimination of the Illinois lieutenant governor's office.
Congratulations. We, along with many voters in your central Illinois district, would appreciate the opportunity in November to amend the Illinois Constitution to dissolve an office that is largely ceremonial. Doing so would save taxpayers roughly $1.6 million annually. Getting rid of one statewide office is a small step toward downsizing government, but an important one.
There's a problem, though. We understand you're offering an amendment to the proposal, which could be heard as early as Tuesday in a Senate committee.
Amending the measure essentially kills it.
There wouldn't be enough time for the amended version to pass.
Because your proposal would change the constitution, the deadline to get it through the General Assembly is Saturday at midnight. The constitution requires that amendment proposals be approved six months before the fall election and be read in the House and the Senate three times, on three separate days. The general election is Nov. 8.
Sen. Brady, drop your amendment or hand the proposal to a sponsor who will run it as is. That version already got through the House. The Senate could meet the deadline if you don't change the language. But if you change it, it has to go back to the House. The three-day requirement will mean the chance for citizens to vote on this amendment is dead this year.
The House sponsor, Rep. David McSweeney, R-Barrington Hills, passed the proposal 95-10 with broad bipartisan support, including from the two House members whose districts nest inside your Senate district, Keith Sommer, R-Morton, and Tim Butler, R-Springfield. They were comfortable with the bill, which would put the attorney general in charge if the governor was unable to serve -- the only tangible role of the lieutenant governor.
Your amendment changes the succession order to the next highest-ranking official of the governor's political party: attorney general, secretary of state, comptroller, treasurer, and then majority or minority leader in the Senate and House -- someone who is of the same political stripe as the outgoing governor. That is, your amendment would keep the office of governor in the same political party.
But if you demand those changes, voters won't have the chance to weigh in on this proposed constitutional amendment. They have been waiting decades. Literally. Various proposals to eliminate the office of lieutenant governor have swirled around Springfield since the 1970s.
