From the Chicago Tribune (Editorial)

Now it's the Senate's turn

April 9, 2008
With the Illinois House voting to let citizens add a recall amendment to the state constitution, Senate President Emil Jones and his fellow Democrats have a choice:
Will they, too, let the rest of us vote a recall amendment up or down on Nov. 4?
Or will they be just the kind of arrogant and unresponsive public officials who make citizens yearn for the power to recall them?
The betting of some Springfield prognosticators is that, with House members voting 75-33 Tuesday to permit a November vote, Jones won't dare give senators a chance to agree. To do so would imperil Gov. Rod Blagojevich, the other member of what must be the world's tiniest mutual admiration society.
We're not so sure, though, that Jones is that bent on humiliating his fellow Democratic senators.
Yes, Illinois Dems reasonably can expect a good day come Nov. 4, especially if local talent Barack Obama heads their ticket. But not every Democrat is a sure bet.
Example: State Sen. Debbie Halvorson of Crete wants to pick up what's been Republican Jerry Weller's congressional seat. She's already stuck explaining to voters—many of whom don't know her—that they shouldn't hold against her the serial antics of Blagojevich. Does Halvorson also want to spend seven months explaining why a senator with her supposed stature in Springfield couldn't even get her leader to let voters decide whether to amend their constitution? We'd love to hear her excuse—but not as much as her Nov. 4 opponent would love to hear it.
And imagine the embarrassment to Obama—not great, perhaps, but delicious—if Jones, the U.S. senator's political patron back in Illinois, flat-out prohibits voters from having an option to recall inept pols. The national political writers would have a grand reason to start writing again about the Illinois culture of political sleaze—not a topic Obama is eager for them to revisit.
Jones tried to wave off questions Tuesday, claiming he hadn't yet read the bill—it's not "War and Peace"—but quipping that he'd support the idea of recall "as long as they include the House members." In light of the Democratic dysfunction in Springfield, our guess is that not so many Illinois citizens are guffawing.
That said, Jones and his Democrats have so many ways to game this: They can bury recall legislation in a dead-end committee, they can change it in ways the House won't accept, they can ignore it.
Or Jones and his fellow Democratic senators can give Illinois citizens a voice. If the senators, or the citizens, don't want this amendment, they're free to vote against it.
What Jones and Co. aren't free to do is ignore the overwhelming majority of Illinois voters who expect to see a recall amendment on the ballot when they go to the polls Nov. 4.