From the Tribune:
If voters could recall Gov. Rod Blagojevich, they would try it, Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn says
Governor's No. 2 backs legislation to allow the public to try to oust elected leaders
By Jeff Long | Tribune reporter
10:11 PM CDT, April 6, 2008
Urging Illinois residents to contact their legislators about putting a constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would allow for the recall of elected officials, Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn said Sunday that Gov. Rod Blagojevich would "almost certainly" be the target of such an effort if it passes.
But he stopped short of saying whether Blagojevich should be recalled.
"I'll make my position on that crystal clear when it happens," Quinn said in an interview after a news conference Sunday in the Thompson Center.
Quinn called the news conference to urge support of a bill coming up for a final vote in the House early this week.
It would put a question on the November general election ballot that would amend the state constitution so that elected officials could be removed from office—a measure allowed in 18 other states but not in Illinois.
With a similar resolution before the state Senate, both houses must pass the proposition by a three-fifths majority for the question to be put to voters Nov. 4.
Proponents have said their dissatisfaction with Blagojevich prompted the resolution.
But the resolution also met resistance.
Though Blagojevich publicly has embraced the concept of recall, his House floor leader, Rep. Jay Hoffman (D-Collinsville), angrily denounced the bill. Also opposed are Comptroller Dan Hynes and Chicago Mayor Richard Daley.
Quinn, a Democrat who said he has backed such an amendment for three decades, called the measure an important way to give power to citizens and to keep elected officials accountable.
Under the proposed constitutional amendment, to hold a recall election for state elected officials—governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, comptroller or treasurer—would require petition signatures equal to 12 percent of the most recent vote total for that office.
Quinn used this example: Based on the number of votes cast for governor in 2006, it would take 418,401 signatures to put a gubernatorial recall on the ballot.
To get a recall for a state legislator would require a petition with signatures equal to 20 percent of the turnout for that office in the most recent election, Quinn said.