SB600 goes to the House floor and Tom Cross throws a tantrum

By DOUG IBENDAHL • October 15, 2009

Great news. SB600 was called for Third Reading in the House late this afternoon. Third Reading is the last step. That typically means a floor debate, followed by a final vote.

After a short debate, Tom Cross asked for an immediate recess to allow the Republicans to caucus. That was granted and the House quit for the day.

The House is scheduled to reconvene at 10:00 A.M. on Friday morning. (Note they rarely start exactly on time. Sometimes it may take an additional 30 minutes before members are called to order.)

Given the many dishonest games Tom Cross has played in the past on SB600, it’s safe to assume he’s going back tonight to think of the next divisive stonewall to erect.

Tom Cross and a few others have proven they will say or do anything to prevent rank-and-file Republicans from having a vote again in their own Republican Party.

Every Illinois Republican should watch what happens tomorrow. You can watch the floor proceedings live on the web at: http://www.ilga.gov/house/audvid.asp. Then click on “Watch Live Session Video.”

There will be silence until they are called to order. At that time, the stock photo of the House floor will also be replaced by the live action.

We can’t prevent Tom Cross from destroying our Party more. We can’t force him to be an honest leader and do the kinds of things that might slow the steady shrinkage of his Republican caucus’ size.

But we can witness.

The good news is there are some House Republicans who do get it. There are good Republicans in the House who do want to empower Republicans. Some do want you to have a real voice again. Those are the Republican State Representatives we’ll help next year.

Similarly, watch the proceedings tomorrow and find out which State Representatives not to support, ever.

If SB600 gets a vote on the floor, it should pass. The Democrats already have the same right to vote so there is no reason for them to be the bad guys by killing a pro-democracy, pro-accountability reform. Combined with some Republican votes, the bill should pass by a healthy margin - just as it did in the State Senate back in April.

But there are never any guarantees in Springfield - especially when Cross and some others are willing to pull out all the stops to keep you disenfranchised.

Let’s keep up the pressure. Please take a minute to email the Republicans AND the Democrats in the House. Urge them to vote YES on SB600.

Republican State Representatives

Democratic State Representatives:

Doug Ibendahl is a Chicago Attorney and a former General Counsel of the Illinois Republican Party.

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This entry was posted on October 15, 2009 at 6:42 AM and is filed under Ibendahl on Politics, Making the Case for SB35 (formerly SB600). You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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