Referendum Goes Mainstream

Channel 2 picks up the effort:

• An internet blogger who claims to be a Chicago police officer wants to fire 25 aldermen.
  
  The Second City Cop blogger says it's his response to West Side Ald. Ed Smith. Last week, Smith said police and firefighters should no longer be immune from the cuts in pay and benefits that are hitting other city workers.
  
  
• The cop blogger wants this non-binding, advisory referendum on the February 2010 ballot: Should the Chicago City Council be reduced from 50 aldermen to 25?
  
  It's a far-fetched idea, maybe, but it could save taxpayers more than $10 million a year.

$10 million? It'd save over $32 million in aldermanic "discretionary" funding alone. Add in another $2.5 million in salaries for aldercreatures, $10 million or more in staffing cuts, the ward yards consolidated and lord knows how much graft and corruption eliminated, and we're talking somewhere in the neighborhood of $50 million and more.

We're hoping this takes off now that the local media is starting to cover it. At the very least, it might energize some grass-root types who have better access and better organizational skills.

In the meantime, we're going to suggest people print out petitions and gather signatures where ever they can - church, school, public gathering. We suggested keeping it away from work because someone will bitch. Remember, only registered voters and the person collecting signatures has to have the bottom portion notarized (do not number the pages). Many banks do it for clients, someone said the Credit Union will do it for members. We're still looking for a volunteer to collect these things, bind them and submit them. As soon as a viable candidate steps forward, we'll get their name and collection point to the readers.

In the meantime, spread the word. We might surprise some people.