On a fast track with no accountability

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What's the point of sunshine? It is to give vision, through newspapers like this one, to citizens in our democracy. Unless we can be in the room when elected officials act on our behalf, and follow the paper trail of their stewardship, the "by the people" part of Abraham Lincoln's description of democracy is meaningless.

It is from us, the people, that officials derive authority. It is up to us to hold them accountable for their decisions on our behalf. That is our job. The Open Meetings Act (putting us in the room) and the Freedom of Information Act (giving us the paper trail) are excellent tools.

But what if officials build barriers to accountability?

What if they find ways to enact policy so quickly that we "the people" have no chance to voice an opinion, and ways to blur accountability so no one can be held responsible? What if those who "represent" us subvert democracy for their own political benefit?

In other words, what if they act like the Illinois General Assembly?

The enacting clause of every bill passed by our legislature asserts: "Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly." But the people had nothing to do with the electric deregulation of 1997, which led directly to the huge electric rate increases we see today.

We the people had nothing to do with the smoke-and-mirrors budgets of recent years, the unjustified pork, the payoffs to powerful campaign contributors, the diversions of pension funds, the arbitrage schemes and creative borrowing that sends the bills for current state operations to our children and grandchildren.

We the people didn't ask for that.

But we did ask for school funding reform, for meaningful ethics in government, for election policy to make our representatives and senators accountable to us, the voters, not to party caucus leaders who pay their campaign bills with co-mingled dollars contributed by special interests. Where is all that?

We the people get a lot of things we don't ask for, and very little of what we want, from the men and women by whom we are "represented" in Springfield.

What about the Open Meetings Act? The legislature exempted itself from that. What about Freedom of Information? Oh, we get the information. We just get it after the fact. Sometimes we see the train approaching in a blur, but usually it just runs over us without even blowing the whistle.

This is democracy? It doesn't look like it.

Democracy's broken

How did this happen? Who is to blame? The answer to the first question is complicated, but the answer to the second question is easy: It is our fault. We the people watched it happen. We allowed democracy, our most precious legacy, to erode before our eyes and did nothing to stop it. We even participated.

In 1980 we ratified the "cutback" amendment, concentrating power in the hands of a few. The Senate president adopted rules in 1993, and the speaker of the House followed suit in 1995, giving them full control over the policy process and rendering moot the opinions of the other 175 legislators who represent us.

In 1994 we ratified an amendment shaving a full month from the spring legislative session. It wasn't needed, we were told, because the legislature now is more "businesslike." Indeed it is.

As power gravitated to the caucus leaders, so did the flow of political dollars. In the past, you could tell whose pocket a legislator was in by his campaign finance records. Today, the funds are co-mingled and given out to legislators in "contested" districts by their leaders. Accountability is lost.

In return for control, the leaders protect their caucus members. They prevent controversial issues like school funding reform from coming to a vote, and when a politically volatile bill must be enacted, they bestow what we called in the days of Richard Nixon "plausible deniability."

When challenged on their bad votes, legislators now say: "I didn't know what was in the bill." And they are telling the truth. Their leaders keep them out of the loop for their own political good. Legislators have elevated their own ignorance to the level of justification for votes on lousy bills.

How to fix it

What is the remedy?

In 2008, the Illinois Constitution will be up for grabs. If 60 percent of the voters want a constitutional convention to be called, it will happen. Many believe that will give us a chance to reform the legislative branch.

But it's not that simple. Those who now exert undue influence over the legislative process, with campaign contributions and political favors, will do what it takes to stack the convention delegation so that any new constitution would reflect their interests and, in fact, increase their power.

There is an alternative.

The Illinois Democracy Project, an all-volunteer citizens' initiative, will put another question on the ballot in November 2008. It will require a 21-day period of public review for all non-emergency legislation. It will put "the people" back in the loop and break the legislative leaders' strangle hold on power.

The "Show Us Amendment" will eliminate the excuse of ignorance. It will curtail the pork and the payoffs, the borrowing against the future. As the paths to bad policy are blocked by the power of a people unleashed, bills that we the people will find acceptable will be offered to fill the void.

Illinois can lead the nation.

Dysfunction in the "people's branch" of government is a national epidemic today. Google "democracy project" and you'll get 715,000 links. The "three men in a room" process of making high-impact policy (the governor and the legislative leaders decide everything) is common in America today.

While others are holding colloquiums and wringing their hands, the Illinois Democracy Project is taking action. We know of no other initiative of citizens to take back control of state government, to restore the "will of the people" as a factor in public policy and hold legislators accountable to their constituents.

In 2008, when elections take center stage in the social drama that is America, the eyes of the nation will turn to Illinois and to the Show Us Amendment that will accomplish these goals. The citizens and voters of Illinois will show other states the way back to democracy.

Any citizen can play a role.

Like the thousands of members of the Illinois Parent Teacher Association, any citizen can volunteer in this project. It costs nothing. We need signatures on petitions. You can print out a petition form, and instructions for circulating it, at the Project Web site, www.showus.org.

We are not political. We are not affiliated with or funded by any organization, state or national. We are merely citizens trying to "tune up" a constitution that has not been meaningfully reformed in 36 years. Visit our site and, if you agree with our cause, join us in this historic effort.

Jim Broadway is chairman of the Illinois Democracy Project. A journalist for 36 years, he publishes State School News Service (www.stateschoolnews. com).