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GREEN PARTY CONDEMNS HO– USE BILL 6000, CALLS FOR ALL CHICAGO ALDERMEN TO DISAVOW AND REJECT “MACHINE PROTECTION ACT”

On February 23, Democrats advanced House Bill 6000, which would limit

potential challengers in future aldermanic elections in Chicago. The

bill significantly raises signature requirements in every ward, and

also gives well-financed, entrenched aldermen a new way to get

opponents thrown off the ballot.

HB6000, which passed the House Elections and Campaign Reform Committee

on a 5-4 party line vote, would raise the petitioning requirement in

Chicago aldermanic races from 2% of the votes cast in a given ward in

the previous election to a flat 500 signatures. This would mean an

increase in every ward, and an over 400% increase in some wards.

The bill also prohibits a voter from signing more than one petition,

which could mean that excess signatures can be used by a candidate to

invalidate the signatures their opponent has collected. A

well-financed incumbent could flood a ward with workers the first day

of petitioning, and effectively block other opponents from being able

to collect valid signature to launch a challenge.

“Chicagoans are fed up. We’ve watched public assets privatized in

mostly closed-door deals; schools closed and services cut while the

mayor controls massive TIF slush funds; and constant scandal involving

bribes and kickbacks,” said Phil Huckelberry, Illinois Green Party

Chair, and a resident of the Logan Square neighborhood. “Voters are

ready to throw Daley’s cronies out of office. So here comes Mike

Madigan to the rescue.”

“The intent here is to ensure that nobody gets on the ballot that the

mayor doesn’t want on the ballot. End of story,” said Alberto

Bocanegra, Cook County Green Party Chair and resident of the

Brighton Park neighborhood. “House Bill 6000 is nothing more than

a Machine Protection Act.”

“We challenge the aldermen of Chicago to speak out against this bill,

and the General Assembly to say no to doing any more favors for

Richard Daley,” said Tom Tresser, Green Party candidate for Cook

County Board President and resident of the Old Town neighborhood.

Tresser’s opponent this November, Toni Preckwinkle, is the incumbent

4th Ward Alderman. “The Mayor has already appointed 17 aldermen to

their current positions and will appoint two more shortly (to replace Flores

and Carrothers). The City Council is already a rubber stamp for Daley and

this proposed legislation will make it even harder to challenge his puppets.”

As written, there are likely legal issues with HB6000. The signature

requirements for some wards would exceed 5%, which would violate the

constitutionality test in the U.S. Supreme Court case Jeness v.

Fortson. And in 2009, a similar law in Rhode Island that prohibited

voters from signing multiple petitions was stricken down in U.S.

District Court. (That case, Fontes v City of Central Falls, is being

appealed.)

The law would be particularly onerous as it applies to wards in

minority neighborhoods, especially Latino wards. In the two lowest

voter-turnout wards of the city, the 12th and 22nd on the near

Southwest Side, signature requirements would more than quadruple.

Since the effective result of the law would make it particularly hard

for minorities to run for office, it may also run afoul of the 14th

Amendment and Voting Rights Act.

“Latinos in Chicago are sick of being bossed around by the mayor and

his lackeys,” said Bocanegra, who ran for 12th Ward Alderman in 2007

and is considered a particular target of this legislation. “People

want their elected officials to be accountable to them, not to the

Machine. It’s no big surprise to see the Democrats making yet another

power play to maintain control for their friends and family.”