- advertisement -
RSS
Unions line up behind ChangeDecatur
Search By Issue Local labor unions continue to throw their support behind an effort to change the form of Decatur city government.
Leaders of the Decatur Building and Construction Trades Council and Decatur Trades & Labor Assembly announced their support for ChangeDecatur on Saturday before marching with the group in the annual Jaycees Christmas parade in downtown Decatur.
ChangeDecatur's parade float featured a large ballot box.
"We're going to give the city of Decatur a big present - the ballot box to vote to take their government back and make it a government of the people, by the people and for the people," said Steve Daniels, a ChangeDecatur organizer.
Brian Burcham, an organizer of ChangeDecatur, told supporters at the parade, "This is not a union issue; this is not a nonunion issue. This is not a black or white issue, or a Republican or Democrat issue. This is a people issue, and we want you all to be there and help us change Decatur."
Despite Burcham's proclamation, the business lobby in the form of the Greater Decatur Chamber of Commerce is taking legal action to try to get the issue removed from the Feb. 5 primary election ballot.
Last week, AFSCME Local 268, which represents about 250 city employees, endorsed ChangeDecatur's push to replace the council-manager form of government with an aldermanic and strong mayor system.
"They're getting a lot of union support, that's a fact," Jerry Potts, union vice president, said of ChangeDecatur. "There are a lot of union people in Decatur, and they just feel that it's time for a change in government.
"If it doesn't happen now, it's never going to happen. This is Decatur's biggest chance, right now."
Earlier, the Painters and Glaziers District Council 58 also endorsed ChangeDecatur's efforts.
Jeanelle Norman, former Decatur Board of Education president, was fined $613 by the Illinois State Board of Elections last spring during her unsuccessful run for a seat on the Richland Community College Board of Trustees.
The state board recently sent a list of campaign committees that have not paid their fines to county clerks with the admonition that the candidates involved could not be certified on another ballot to run for any office until the fines were paid.
Norman said the fine will be paid before she runs for another office or by its due date.
"The main violation was for not reporting the organizing of the committee in a timely fashion, as required by the election guidelines," Norman said. "Nothing willfully or wantonly was done wrong. As you may recall, we were tied up in court, not knowing if my name was even going to appear on the ballot."
When the filing oversight was recognized, the filing was done immediately, she said.
"Needless to say, $613 is a lot of money," Norman said.
U.S. Rep. Phil Hare, D-Rock Island, said the acrimony in Springfield is not only testing the patience of Illinois voters.
The state's congressional delegation also is getting increasingly frustrated over feuding among Gov. Rod Blagojevich, House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President Emil Jones - all Chicago Democrats - thwarting lawmakers from passing and enacting any meaningful legislation.
"To me, they remind me of people in the schoolyard, arguing over who is the first to bat," Hare said during a meeting with the Herald & Review editorial board last week.
He said the state's representatives in Congress received playful teasing from other members about the "carnival" affecting their constituents back home.
Hare said he has sent letters urging those in Springfield to resolve their differences and tried to call the governor's office to find out what is going on but has had difficulty getting anyone to call him back. That has him sympathizing with rank-and-file state lawmakers such as state Rep. Bob Flider, D-Mount Zion.
"I'd rather be where I'm at dealing with Bush than where they're at," Hare said jokingly.
Ron Ingram can be reached at ringram@ herald-review.com or 421-7973. Mike Frazier can be reached at mfrazier@herald-review. com or 421-7985. Staff writer Mary Tallon contributed to this column.
Previous Page 
Subscribe 
Email Alerts
del.icio.us 
digg
newsvine
facebook 
» USER COMMENTS
» ADD YOUR COMMENTS
Here's your chance to share your thoughts about this subject. Please enter them below.
