City to give voters a choice

About a month ago, I wrote about a change in Illinois law that would lessen the likelihood that municipalities would have to hold primary elections. Here’s how it works:

Under the rules in effect for the two previous city elections, a primary was needed when there were three candidates for mayor and/or district council seats and when at least 11 people were running for at-large council positions. The way things stand now, five candidates for mayor or district council seats triggers the need for a primary election. Only when 21 people file petitions for at-large seats is a primary required.

As it turns out, Peoria’s home rule powers makes it possible to retain the previous system by referendum. The issue of placing the question on the November 4 ballot will be made by the time this column is appears in print.

I spoke to several members of the council. The group will almost certainly vote to put the measure on the ballot. One of them said, essentially, that there isn’t a snowball’s chance that the referendum wouldn’t be approved.

Why? Because there’s a concern that someone can get elected with a plurality, rather than a majority, of the vote. A mayor elected with just 40 % of the vote, for example, wouldn’t have much of a mandate.

There is another concern that incumbents benefit from having multiple challengers because it splits the “throw the bums out” vote. Council members believe Peoria voters like primary elections because it gives them more of a choice.

So why did the state legislature make the change in the first place? Money. The Peoria Election Commission says it would save about $75,000 if there isn’t a primary. But the feeling is that while everyone would like to save money, elections are an essential government service and ought not to be tinkered with.

The council must vote yes at the August 26 meeting in order to get the referendum on the ballot for the Nov. 4 general election. If needed, the mayor/district council primary election will be on Feb. 24, 2008. The general municipal election will be April 7, whether a primary election is held or not.

Needless to say, there’s strong support among the council for voter approval of the referendum in November.

A challenge for Ardis?

It might seem strange to be speculating on the city elections before the nation has even decided who is going to be president, or even decided who is going to represent the Peoria area in Congress. But the race for the 18th District seat that’s being vacated with the retirement of Rep. Ray LaHood might very well impact the race for mayor of Peoria.

First, one has to accept the reality that even though Peoria City Council elections are officially non-partisan, political parties do play a behind-the-scenes role in recruiting and supporting candidates. And candidates also are backed by powerful institutions and people.

And I’ve heard speculation that if Republican Aaron Schock defeats increasingly popular Democrat Colleen Callahan, then Schock and his campaign manager Steve Shearer will move to support a challenger for Ardis. That Ardis is also Republican doesn’t matter. Schock and Shearer want to punish Ardis for various slights. These include endorsing Democrat Bill Spears, who ran against Schock in the 92nd District back in 2006, and for endorsing Jim McConoughey in the GOP primary for the 18th District race.

So who would Schock back instead? One source suggested at-large council member Eric Turner might be convinced to run. After all, Turner is a big Schock supporter. But I can’t get over the fact that when Turner was eliminated in the last mayoral primary, he came out and endorsed Ardis, and took not a little bit of grief by some for doing so in front of a reputed drug house on the South Side. And Ardis routinely re-appoints Turner as Deputy Liquor Commissioner, a position he apparently enjoys and wants to keep.

I’ve also heard at-large council member George Jacob’s name bandied about as a mayoral candidate. Jacob tends to be one of the quieter council members during meetings, but he does a lot of networking behind the scenes. But it was Ardis who first helped place Jacob on the council, to fill the spot he vacated when was elected mayor. Jacob was picked over several others who actually ran for spots on the council. The word is that the Peoria Area Chamber of Commerce wanted one of their own on board, and Ardis agreed in an attempt to build bridges that may have suffered damage during the contentious battle between Ardis and then incumbent Dave Ransburg.

I haven’t heard any rumblings about Ransburg wanting to make another run for council. It’s my understanding that his sprinkler company is being sold off in parts. I feel sorry for the remaining employees. Ransburg’s own wealth isn’t at risk, I hear. So he’s either going to be too busy dealing with that, or he’s going to be rid of the responsibility freeing up his time for other things. I recall that he wasn’t exactly welcome when he let it be known he would like to be appointed to a then-open seat on the Peoria School District 150 board. My feeling is that Ransburg’s days of elected public service in Peoria are done.

I have no strong information about the district races, just speculation and background. In the 5th District, the Democrats would like to find a viable candidate to run against incumbent Pat Nichting. Trouble is that Democrats can’t get around having to make their most loyal supporters happy: Organized labor. There is too much internal opposition to recruiting anyone to run who isn’t a strong supporter of labor. But anyone who would have a chance in the 5th District is almost going to have to not have too strong as association with unions.

In the 3rd District, there’s a chance Bob Manning won’t run because he wants to spend more time with his family. Fourth-district councilman Bill Spears almost didn’t run last time, but ended up running for the state legislature two years ago. Barbara Van Auken is almost certainly going to run for re-election in the 2nd district. And more than one person has discussed the possibility of running against her, but I’m not at liberty to say who they are. Randall Emert, an employee of the U.S. Postal Service and a volunteer at Manual High School, is on the record on his blog and elsewhere that he’s considering running for Clyde Gulley’s 1st District seat.

Blogs take District 150 to school

When Peoria School District 150 announced they were cutting 45 minutes out of the school day of each primary school, the news was buried in the middle of a story on an inside page. I didn’t notice it. Then the wife of and old friend casually mentioned it to me, and I commit to writing about it on my blog. Then Peoria blogger Diane Vespa — a Realtor who mainly used her site to network and do some “mommy blogging” — read what I wrote and was so indignant she had to go into full “mommy protect” mode.

Through her blog and her ceaseless efforts to organize the opposition, the board started backing down. Oh, at first, they insisted their scheme was educationally sound and saved money. But back down they did. The scheme began as one that shortened face-to-face teaching time from about one month per school year AND eliminated special teachers for arts, music and gym. Before Vespa and her merry band of dissidents were done, the board had quietly restored all but 20 hours of the lost school time, and the teachers were back as well.

Diane will deny she’s a citizen journalist. But don’t ever deny that blogs don’t empower the people.

In the interest of full disclosure: Diane and her husband advertise on my blog. Her blog: peoriarocks.blogspot.com and my blog: pundit.blogpeoria.com

Voters can take back the school board

When school board members say without shame that they don’t need to talk to voters, just the school administration, before they make decisions that affect families, it’s time for change on the school board.

Unfortunately, it’s hard to make changes on the District 150 board because so few of them are up for re-election at any one time. And their terms are for five years. Unfortunately, Debbie Wolfmeyer’s District 2 seat isn’t up for re-election in until 2011.

But District 3 member Mary Spangler isn’t running for reelection on April 7. The election is about eight months away, which is not too soon to start looking for someone who wants to represent the district, which is roughly located in the center bluffs. The ideal candidate has strong academic credentials and an analytical mind, to better deal with the educational jargon, trendy theories and faulty logic that Superintendent Ken Hinton and other administrators dump on the board.

Heroes at the Wal-Mart

This is so cool. This month’s issue of Wal-Mart World magazine has two people I know on the cover: Kathleen Close and Tommy Smith. Both are long-time employees of Store 1323 (the Wal-Mart on N. University in Peoria).

Co-workers nominated Kathleen for the Sam Walton Hero Award because she spearheaded the effort to get Tommy the help he needed to get away from people who were taking advantage of him. Tommy is developmentally disabled. He is a valued employee at Wal-Mart, but needed help escaping the situation.

I worked with both Kathleen and Tommy when I was an associate there more years ago than I care to count. Both of them are great people and a pleasure to work with. It does not surprise me that Kathleen stepped up and took responsibility for helping out Tommy. Kudos to both.

A novice mistake by LaHood

What can I say about Darin LaHood? He’s the better choice, I think, than incumbent Kevin Lyons in the race for Peoria County State’s Attorney. As a former federal prosecutor who headed an anti-gun violence task force, as well as an assistant prosecutor in Cook County and Tazewell County, he’s more than qualified to be Peoria’s “No. 1 crime fighter,” as he calls the position.

When you combine that with seeing criminals and troublemakers returned to the street before the police finish the paperwork, it would seem that LaHood would have a shot at winning. Especially since he has more money and, one would think, the advice of his father, one of the most electorally popular politicians in the area.

So what was LaHood thinking when he knocked on the door of the family of a child rape victim to gather information about the crime? LaHood says he was doing his job as a candidate. There was criticism out there already that the man accused of this and other sexual assaults wasn’t in jail already because LaHood declined to prosecute.

But instead of giving LaHood the dirt, the girl’s family called Lyons office and said there’s a guy out here claiming to be the new state’s attorney. Or at least that’s Lyons version. LaHood says he never presented himself as the new state’s attorney. Lyons called a press conference and claimed LaHood was interfering.

Personally, I think the press conference did more harm to the case that the underlying behavior that led to the press conference.

Visiting this girl’s family was a mistake. Whatever benefits there are were forgotten as Lyons spun this as something more horribly than it was. It certainly doesn’t look good to the average voter.

If Lyons thought there was a real criminal or ethical violation, he would have filed complaints with the appropriate agencies.

But Lyons is taking heat himself over bringing the press into it. Now, the case is likely to be moved

I’m thinking LaHood dodged a bullet.