Putback Amendment is for our common good

To the Editor,

The WHAT Amendment?

The Putback Amendment, that one. The question is: What is the Putback Amendment and why should I vote for it? Allow me to present the highlights.

Passage of the Putback Amendment would enact term limits on our Illinois legislature, stop gerrymandering, ensure fair elections, require transparent legislation and move us back to a Unicameral legislature with three member districts. These are all good things.

Here’s the facts:

Term Limits – The legislature is meant to be a part-time job and not a lifetime career. The amendment would limit total service of elected state positions to eight years and no more irrespective of how many offices they were elected to. Guaranteed legislative turnover – no more career politicians looking out for themselves only. If eight years is good enough for the office of president of the United States, why not for our state, folks? Oh, horrors! They won’t be able to stay in office for life.

Gerrymandering – The amendment makes this a thing of the past as it takes the politicians out of the redistricting process, and instead, ensures objective maps with full public participation.

Fair elections – The amendment brings to a screeching halt the political games that keep good, qualified independents and third-party candidates off the ballot.

Transparent legislation – Requires seven-day public viewing of all laws before they can be passed, so we can all have a chance to see them and make our objections known prior to passage. It also stops the current practice of writing legislation in back-room secrecy with limited opposition input. Makes sense, doesn’t it?

Unicameral three member districts – Long story short, this enhances accountability and ensures representation of political minorities in all districts.

Unlike the ‘Fair Map’ amendment that addresses only gerrymandering and upon challenge will most likely be found unconstitutional, the Putback Amendment will be found constitutional. Why? Because it meets the constitutional requirement of making either a procedural and/or a structural change while the Fair Map amendment fails to do so.

We can expect both the Democrats and the Republicans to do both of the following: Push strongly for the Fair Map amendment or denigrate the Putback amendment because both parties have a vested interest in keeping their incumbents in power. Know that both parties fear the passage of the Putback Amendment and will be working hard to defeat it. Both parties will strive to get only the Fair Map amendment on the ballot knowing full well that it will be found unconstitutional and thereby guarantee their ability to conduct same old, same old. In other words, there’ll be no change in our deplorable Illinois politics unless the Putback Amendment passes.