Prairie State Wire

Former Republican Senate candidate Mark Curran admits he’s not sure how much difference a GOP-sponsored proposal that would give voters the power to recall elected officials really has.

“The truth of the matter is in the case of many of them, voters already have that ability when they go to the polls every two year,” Curran told the Prairie State Wire. “Personally, I’d rather see something like term limits put in place. I think anything short of that is a waste of time and not really substantive.”

While the ability to recall the governor has been on the books for more than a decade, Curran fumes that what he sees going on in Springfield these days can only be thwarted by keeping the powers of lawmakers in check.

“With term limits, you get to address the Mike Madigans and Jim Durkins of the world or people that have been there forever and have become too comfortable with the system,” he said. “We need to get back to citizen legislation instead of relying on career politicians mostly interested in advancing themselves.”

Currently, longtime House Speaker Mike Madigan finds himself at the center of a still unfolding federal corruption probe involving ComEd and a pay-for-play scheme in which bribes were allegedly steered to him in exchange for favorable legislation.

“There’s not nearly enough talk about term limits because none of these individuals want to put themselves out of work,” Curran added. “The powers that be love their part-time jobs with all the perks and benefits.”

Put forth by state Rep. Mark Batinick and state Sen. Jason Barickman, the GOP-sponsored proposal would require voters from at least 25 counties across the state signing off on a recall petition. In addition, a bipartisan group of current state representatives and senators must also endorse the action.

Finally, to start the recall process against statewide lawmakers, the plan would require signatures from 12% of the voters who cast votes for governor in the prior election. The issue would require the vote of at least 60% of all voters in order for an official to be shown the door via the recall process.