OSSOFF TO HEADLINE SPRINGFIELD BASH — THE SOS CAMPAIGN SURGE — IT S DUSABLE LAKE SHORE DRIVE politico.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from politico.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Rich Hein/Sun-Times; Provided
North Side Democrats promised no backroom dealing in appointing a successor to former state Sen. Heather Steans, vowing the process would be open and transparent.
But state Rep. Kelly Cassidy said Monday that wasn’t the case and her decision to not engage in those dealings may have been a key reason why she lost the chance to win the appointment herself.
“I think that what it says is that we’ve got a long way to go to fix the culture, and get people accustomed to doing things in a truly open manner,” Cassidy said. “A deal that is supposedly high-minded is still a backroom deal.”
The hand wringing over the replacement process is so overblown. It’s not clear to me how a special election with little turnout is preferable. Plus people pretend Committeemen aren’t also elected themselves (in elections that might very well have higher turnout than specials). People are more than welcome to run for committeeman or vote out appointed incumbents. Plenty of great legislators were first appointed through this process. Once again a “process” complaint rather than substantive. I suppose it would be better to change the process so people shut up about it. But then when those specials are dominated by connected people who can put an organization together quickly, where will the complaining turn?