Should Illinois Have a “Con Con?”

Story by Keri B. Lynch

Sept. 24, 2008 – On Nov. 4, Illinois voters will decide if they want lawmakers to re-work the state constitution.  Specifically, they will vote on whether the state should hold its Seventh Constitutional Convention. The 1968 convention resulted in the 1970 Illinois Constitution, which is still in place today.

Three participants of the last “con con,” as the convention is popularly known, said they put the option on the ballot every 20 years to “force a discussion.”  Last week these attorneys and politicians debated the merits of a 2008 convention at John Marshall Law School in Chicago.

“Then there was an almost universal belief that we needed to go back and review the entire constitution,” said 1968 convention participant and law professor Dawn Clark Netsch.

The last convention was supported by both parties and business and labor groups, Netsch said at the event hosted by the Chicago Lawyer Chapter of the American Constitution Society.  Today, she said, only a few individual issue groups want single changes to the constitution.

“There is no support like that now,” said Netsch, who was also a member of the Illinois General Assembly for 18 years. “One reason is it’s a pretty good, modern constitution.”

Changing the constitution could weaken it or make it worse, Netsch said, by opening it up to hot button issues that are dominant now.  This was one reason she opposes a convention at this time, along with a lack of public education on the issue.

“There would be a lot of money involved with special interests now and they are better organized and better funded,” Netsch said.  “(But) the whole point of a constitution is it’s a basic charter, not a statutory compilation.”

Besides the concern over powerful special interests, Netsch and the other attorneys and politicians were concerned that the politicians in power now would be responsible for establishing rules and choosing delegates if a convention were held.

“The process is broken down,” said Rep. Mike Fortner (R-West Chicago), who has held state office for two years.  “It is dysfunctional.”

Fortner researched the state’s history and found 17 amendments to the constitution since 1970, he said, but no issues have been brought to voters in 10 years.

“There is no real way to bring questions to voters now,” Fortner said. “Fundamentally, this is the basic charter of how to run the state, but interaction between the two branches is not working.”

Changing leaders is not enough, Fortner said, as the same problems continue to “hamstring” the state government.  Fortner said he thinks it is appropriate to call a constitutional convention now.

Attorney Ronald C. Smith said being frustrated is not sufficient reason to change the state’s constitution.  Governments need stability, he said, and the people have ample opportunity every two or four years to tell the politicians what they think.

“There are winners and losers in politics,” Smith said.  “You can’t make everybody happy.”

Describing the last convention as “fractious” and a “blood bath,” Smith, a law professor at John Marshall Law School, said it is not as easy to change the constitution as it may sound and the result in 1968 was one of the best constitutions in the country.

“So I ask why do we want to change it?” Smith said. “Just because a few people can’t get their way on a few issues, is that reason to mess with the constitution?”

Acknowledging the current problems in Springfield, Netsch and Smith said the constitution is not a “self-executing” document and hosting a constitutional convention in all likelihood would not work.  Just hosting a “con con” sounds deceptively simple, Netsch said, and would not necessarily clean up all dysfunction in Springfield.

“The crisis is not constitutional; it’s with the leaders in Springfield,” Netsch said.

But certain issues may need to be addressed on a constitutional level, said Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn, such as the state’s tax system, which he called “antiquated.”

“Illinois has one of the worst tax codes in the country,” Quinn said.  “We ought to use that as an issue to hold a constitutional convention to correct the unfair tax system.”

Issues on ballots in other states concern recalling elected officials and redistricting rules, Quinn said, and the Illinois legislature is not addressing these important issues. Insiders won’t correct themselves, Quinn said, and Illinois voters should have the ultimate say.

Why not Illinois, Quinn asked, when there are important issues such as ethics, privacy, sustainability, healthcare and affordable housing to be addressed.

“If we don’t do this in Illinois, the government won’t correct itself and will stay on its course,” Quinn said. “The stakes are high.  If we don’t use this opportunity now, we’ll have to wait another 20 years, another whole generation.  I don’t think we should wait.”