[Peace-discuss] *News Gazette Front page coverage of Referenda*

[Ricky Baldwin]

Good work, Durl!

That was probably the best article that would get past
the editors at the evil NG.  

Now I think we need to generate some letters to the
editor - there will certainly be some on the other
side - and we need to do it right away.  Both Carl and
Dave Green and I have offered in the past to help if
folks don't have the time or confidence to get out
something under 250 words.  But I feel sure we can all
do this.

Just remember to include your address and a daytime
phone number.  The shorter the more likely to appear
in print.

Let's keep it up, folks!  We can win this!
Ricky 

--- Jan & Durl Kruse <jandurl at insightbb.com> wrote:

> 
> 
> Voters get opportunity to weigh in on war, Bush
> By Mike Monson
> Monday October 30, 2006
> URBANA – Champaign County Clerk Mark Shelden
> fields lots of phone  
> calls during election season. Of late, many of them
> have been from  
> irate Republicans, outraged to see the wording on
> some of the  
> advisory referendums on the Nov. 7 ballot.
> 
> What's making them so mad?
> 
> Voters in Champaign and Urbana – in Cunningham
> Township and City of  
> Champaign Township specifically – are being asked
> whether they  
> support an "orderly and rapid withdrawal" of U.S.
> miliary personnel  
> and bases from Iraq.
> 
> Voters in both townships are also being asked if
> they support the  
> impeachment of President Bush and Vice President
> Cheney "for  
> misleading our nation into war" and "for permitting
> the illegal use  
> of torture" and permitting domestic spying.
> 
> In Cunningham Township, there's a third advisory
> referendum asking if  
> the Illinois governor should resist, to the extent
> of his authority,  
> any further mobilization of Illinois National Guard
> units for service  
> in Iraq on the grounds the war is "illegal, immoral
> and harmful to  
> the well being of the people of the state."
> 
> Shelden said the callers to his office generally
> "are upset because  
> they don't like the language. They think it's kind
> of skewed language."
> 
> Skewed or not, voters in Champaign-Urbana on Nov. 7
> are going to  
> provide an indication of the local level of support
> for the war  
> effort and for the Bush administration itself.
> 
> The questions got placed on the ballot when members
> and supporters of  
> AWARE, the Anti-War, Anti-Racism Effort, a local
> anti-war group,  
> jammed the annual town meetings in Cunningham and
> City of Champaign  
> Township on April 10 and made motions to place the
> advisory  
> referendums on the ballot, as they are entitled to
> do under a little- 
> known state law.
> 
> Durl Kruse of Urbana, an AWARE member, said the idea
> to use the town  
> meetings to place advisory referendums on the ballot
> came from Rich  
> Whitney, the Green Party candidate for governor, who
> was in Champaign- 
> Urbana in early April to speak at a state conference
> for the Illinois  
> Coalition For Peace & Justice.
> 
> Kruse said he called Carol Elliott, the Cunningham
> Township  
> supervisor, and Linda Abernathy, the City of
> Champaign Township  
> supervisor, and found out that town meetings could
> be used that way.
> 
> There was no opposition to the advisory referendums
> at the Cunningham  
> town meeting, but there was a spirited debate and
> close votes at the  
> City of Champaign town meeting, with veterans and
> Champaign Mayor  
> Jerry Schweighart leading the opposition.
> 
> Kruse said he thinks the advisory referendums will
> get majorities in  
> Urbana, and "I like to think they could pass" in
> Champaign.
> 
> "I think you're seeing a growing awareness and
> acknowledgment there  
> has been blunder, after blunder, after blunder,"
> Kruse said. "We have  
> the right to hold them accountable."
> 
> Schweighart said opponents of the referendums have
> only themselves to  
> blame. He said he tried to publicize the town
> meeting and get people  
> to attend to oppose the referendums.
> 
> "We attempted to bring this to the attention of the
> people and we  
> didn't get enough turnout, and we lost it by about
> two  
> votes,"Schweighart said.
> 
> Shelden, a Republican, said he personally thinks it
> should take  
> petitions signed by residents to get an advisory
> referendum on the  
> ballot.
> 
> Currently, outside of the town hall meeting, it
> takes signatures  
> equivalent to 8 percent of the people who voted in
> the last  
> governor's election within a jurisdiction to get an
> advisory  
> referendum on the ballot, he said.
> 
> 
> 
> Find this article at:
> http://www.news-gazette.com/news/2006/10/30/ 
> voters_get_opportunity_to_weigh_in_on_war_bush
> Comments>
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