Township building bill - will Gov. sign?

With the intense local public interest in township government, how did SB3010 stay buried out of sight in Springfield until last week in McHenry County?

Thanks to a Dorr Township resident, I learned of this bill last week and wrote about it on May 12. Today the Northwest Herald headlines it on Page 1. And, while "some" lawmakers were split on the bill earlier this month (when the House passed it on May 6 with a 98-19-0 vote), keep in mind that the Illinois Senate passed it two months earlier, ON MARCH 15, with a 39-4-0 vote.

Sen. Pam Althoff voted in favor of the bill. House Representative Jack Franks voted against it.

When the House was considering the bill, why didn't our local paper carry an article to alert residents and voters of this end-run around them? Why didn't Jack Franks' put news on his changeable lettering sign in front of his Woodstock office? Why didn't he issue a press release after the March 15 vote and give the voter two months to raise heck in Springfield with the Senators? How hard did Jack lobby fellow Representatives to defeat the bill?

What will this bill allow a township to do? Spend taxpayers' money on a new building that the taxpayers have said they don't want.

Right here in Dorr Township, where voters have twice told the Trustees that they, the voters, do not want a new town hall. TWICE. But the Trustees have been squirreling away money (over-collecting your tax dollars), and this bill will let them spend it in a way exactly contrary to the wishes of the electors of the township.

All that remains is for a little ink to drip out of the Governor's pen and that's it. To heck with the taxpayers. To heck with the voters. And do you think he won't sign it? To keep 98 Representatives and 39 Senators happy, will he just sign it? Or will he recognize it for what it is - an end-run around the voters) and have the backbone to veto this bill?

I laughed when I read Grafton Township Supervisor Linda Moore's comment that she plans to write to the governor and ask him not to approve the bill into law. Read her words again. First of all, when a bill is sitting on a corner of the governor's desk, the time for "planning" to write has passed. Nothing happens when you "plan." That's like "trying." Action happens when you "do"! What Moore needs to do is pick up the phone and call. And fax her request to the governor. And maybe a telegram.

This bill was introduced in Illinois Senate on February 4. When did Dorr Township officials first become aware of it? February 4? February 5? By the February 9 monthly meeting? Why was there no mention of the bill at the February 9, March 9, April 13, April 15, or May 11 meetings?