It seems that the Illinois Legislature adjourned without extending the August 30th deadline to be certified as a candidate and appear on the state ballot. The reason they have to do this is because of the late date of the GOP convention which starts on August 30 in New York.
So, as it stands now, the President is not on the ballot in one of the largest states in the nation. The Democratic governor has said that this glitch will be fixed, but I wonder, what would happen if the Legislature just decided not do anything?
Just wondering.
Posted by Dennis at June 4, 2004 12:38 PMIL is controlled by Democratics at the moment. Dem Emil Jones is President of the state Senate and Dem Michael Madigan has been Speaker of the State House since 1983 (except for two years when Republicans held the majority). Blagojevich is the Dem Gov that replaced the Republican governor George Ryan.
Ryan came down on the right side of many issues. He supported Gay Rights and had something of Green streak. He was pragmatic on gun control and never talked about privatizing social security or Medicare. He commuted the sentences of 167 death row inmates to life in prison because of the unacceptable performance of the IL Judicial system that convicted them. He was however associated with corruption, fraud, and cronyism.
It does seem a bit odd though that the IL legislature ajourned without addressing this. Eight other states have already dealt with the late convention date. Everyone has known about this since the date for the GOP convention was set.
No doubt, Dem legistlators are playing at politics. If they don't act in the overtime session and let it go to Federal Court, they will be shooting themselves in the foot.
Posted by: dorsano at June 4, 2004 10:25 PMQuestion, is that a democratic controlled state or were the republicans in charge and they just overlooked doing it? I mean, at least one GOP person should have noticed that a perfectly standard operating procedure hadn't been done...
we can't tell if this was a deliberate slap in the face to Bush and his administration, or if it was a glitch. I'm favoring the glitch theory...simply because of one thing: term limits at the state level could very well have removed from office those who would have remembered doing it the last presidential election...and I think Illinois is a term-limit state...
Posted by: Paul Wartenberg at June 4, 2004 05:13 PM