Legal Blog of Thaddeus M. Bond & Associates

After the embarrassingly corrupt tenures of former Governors Ryan and Blagojevich, many of us hoped that those in Illinois government would clean up their act. To the contrary, all they have done is offer meaningless proposals designed to get good publicity but to continue to concentrate all of the power in the political elite. Legislation was recently submitted to create a constitutional amendment that would allow a recall of the governor. The process of recall is so incredibly difficult, requiring petition signatures from 15% of those who voted in the last election, that it will be impossible to use. Of course, only the governor can be recalled, not any other office holders who have just as much potential for and/or history of corruption. Another piece of legislation proposes campaign contribution limitations. The mucky mucks all claim this bill will help reduce the influence of money on politicians. This provision is also a joke in that it only limits the contributions that we regular citizens can make. There are no limits to the amount a political party or a political action committee can contribute to a favored candidate. This so called reform will only serve to concentrate more power in the unaccountable legislative and party leaders and will take even more control away from the voters. Illinois politics is a cess pool. Nothing that has happened in recent weeks would indicate that we have any serious chance of cleaning it up.

Waukegan's mayor has recently been pushing to have the city host an auto racing event through downtown streets. He claims this short lived event will provide an economic boost to the city. As usual, the concerns of city residents and property owners are being ignored. Has anyone looked at the damage such a race might cause to the streets, sidewalks, parkways and surrounding areas? Who will repair the damage? Who will pay for it? We suspect these costs will be dumped on the property owners even though they did nothing to cause the problems. Has a study been done to determine if the area can even handle the expected crowds? Where will all the spectators park? What guarantees do we have that there won't be trespassing and vandalism to downtown properties? There has to be some quieter, less invasive event that could help promote the city and bring additional dollars to town. The property damage and cost of city services will far outweigh any benefits that will be gained from such a race.