A Constitutional convention can’t fix what ails Illinois

October 29, 2008
By Drew Thomason
Columnist

Initially, I was in favor of a constitutional convention, which would provide the opportunity to make changes to the Illinois constitution. It would give us the chance to add an amendment to recall constitutional officers, then allowing the citizenry to eject Rod Blagojevich from the office of governor.

But then one of my professors assigned my class to do a survey of 20 people in the Springfield area to find out what their opinions were of the constitutional convention, generally referred to as a con-con. It turns out, not many people knew what one was and weren’t all that excited about it. That is until I mentioned the possibility of a recall amendment, after which people couldn’t wait until November to cast their ballots for a con-con.

I use to be like the people that I surveyed. I thought the con con would be a good way to purge the system of incompetence. However, after studying Illinois politics as a serious student for eight weeks, I do not believe it is the answer.

First of all, the reason for Illinois dysfunctional government is not the structure, but rather the people in the system. A con-con right now seems like a referendum on the people in the government and not the actual structure itself.

This could prove dangerous and result into changes to the constitution that would seem beneficial in the long run but only hurt Illinois in the future once competent people have taken over the ship and are trying to right it.

Secondly, because of tight budgetary times, spending money on anything other than the bare minimum to keep the state running would be irresponsible.  Regardless of whether one cites the low or high estimated cost for a con-con, it would still cost the tax payers millions of dollars,  money that could go to keeping people employed by the state or keeping parks open.

Lastly, any changes to the constitution that are truly needed can be done through conventional channels, such as through the General Assembly, rather than by a con-con.  This is especially true once Senate President Emil Jones’ (D-Chicago), replacement has taken over the chamber.  No longer will Blagojevich have an alley in the General Assembly to block legislation.

Instead of a constitutional convention, Illinois needs to elect competent officers. We knew Blagojevich was a bad governor in 2006, but instead of swallowing party pride and voting for Judy Barr Topinka, we re-elected Blagojevich. 

If, after the next gubernatorial election there are still major problems in state government, maybe we should call a con-con. But until 2028, and most likely for an additional twenty years after that, the state can survive on its 1970 legal legs.