[Peace-discuss] Recent letters in News-Gazette regarding April 8 Township Town Hall Meeting.

[Jan & Durl Kruse]

Prussing, her ilk reject democracy

Monday April 21, 2008

An aspect of the annual township meeting overlooked by Esther Patt in  
her recent letter is that the meeting can be used to place only three  
nonbinding referenda on the general election ballot the following fall.  
This means groups supporting different referenda have to compete for  
ballot space.

At the recent Cunningham Township meeting, many AWARE members and  
others tried to make the case that the municipal election process in  
Urbana needs reform and that the existing single plurality system  
should be replaced by instant runoff voting (IRV). IRV advocates argue  
this system encourages more candidates to run for office, produces  
wider voter participation and is more democratic.

The nonbinding referendum supported by AWARE would have urged the city  
council to place a binding referendum before voters and give them an  
opportunity to decide whether IRV should be adopted. Given the three  
referenda limit, they believed that such a referendum was much more  
important to vote on than other proposals, including one to put the  
Chief Illiniwek issue on the ballot.

If there were no limits, AWARE members were open to letting people vote  
on the Chief. They were not rejecting democracy by urging others to  
support their referendum.

But Urbana Mayor Laurel Prussing and other Democratic Party leaders  
were rejecting democracy by opposing the IRV referendum being placed on  
the fall ballot. Their effort allowed this partisan group to  
effectively kill an opportunity for citizens to decide whether IRV  
should be supported through a binding referendum. Shame on these local  
Democrats.

GARY STORM

Urbana
  Find this article at:
   
http://www.news-gazette.com/news/opinions/letters/2008/04/21/ 
prussing_her_ilk_reject_democracy


Groups will unite to challenge Democrats

Wednesday April 16, 2008

The April 8 Cunningham Township annual meeting was the day and event  
when local Democratic Party operatives tried to kill democracy.

Democratic Mayor Laurel Prussing was quoted as saying Tuesday was the  
night they (the Democrats) took back the township. That is, the local  
Democratic Party faithful took over the township meeting from the  
township residents.

Democratic Party loyalists have tried to suppress township residents'  
ability to exercise freedom of speech. It appears local Democrats fear  
that the voice of the people may jeopardize their lock on local  
governmental control.

I suppose local Democrats expect that folks will walk away with their  
heads hung low, accepting the Democrats' plan. However, this attempt to  
strong-arm the public and claim that only Democrats know what's best  
for all township citizens has only coalesced the determination of those  
shunned at the township meeting. A new group is now forming. It  
includes independents, Libertarians, Republicans, (true) progressive  
Democrats, Greens, Socialists and other disenfranchised residents who  
continue to be blocked and excluded by the local Democratic Party  
leaders.

The movement to reclaim free speech and democracy has been joined. The  
people plan to reclaim not only our township, but perhaps city hall as  
well. What we witnessed on April 8 was party politics over people. The  
will of the people shall prevail.

JAN KRUSE

Urbana
  Find this article at:
   
http://www.news-gazette.com/news/opinions/letters/2008/04/16/ 
groups_will_unite_to_challenge_democrats


 
Just what are local Democrats afraid of?

Wednesday April 16, 2008

At the April 8 annual township meetings, several advisory referendum  
proposals brought forth by local citizens were rejected. Leading  
figures and elected officials of the Champaign County Democratic Party  
showed up en masse to defeat the proposals.

Their stance reveals how partisan politics can harm noble local causes.  
It is disappointing because they stopped the proposals from getting on  
the meeting agendas, which would have given people the chance to  
address their merits before voting on their inclusion in the November  
ballot. Since they were advisory referenda, we are left wondering why  
it is wrong and dangerous to allow citizens to express their views on  
important issues like the ownership of the water system and the  
adoption of a more democratic election system, instant runoff voting.

I am very satisfied that in the City of Champaign township,  
partisanship did not prevent citizens from uniting around the cause of  
transparency. As a result, citizens will have an opportunity to vote on  
whether municipal contracts and expenses should be posted on the Web.  
It was Green Party gubernatorial candidate Rich Whitney who made local  
citizens aware of the mechanism in annual township meetings allowing  
citizens to present advisory referendums. I urge fellow citizens to  
start thinking and drafting advisory proposals for next year's meetings  
because we can keep this democratic mechanism alive.

KOSTAS YFANTIS

Champaign
  Find this article at:
   
http://www.news-gazette.com/news/opinions/letters/2008/04/16/ 
just_what_are_local_democrats_afraid_of
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