| Referendum
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For 3 weeks volunteers worked to obtain signatures to get a question on the ballot that would allow residents to vote on the highly controversial
$22M + smart meter project.
There is a process - yes.
And it needs to be followed - yes.
And that means everyone.
What we saw this past week was a disgrace to due process.
The objector (William Dawe) represented by Attorney and Smart Grid Amabssador, Kevin McQuillan, threw 4 objections at the wall, hoping to find one that stuck.
Pause.
Yes, we said Smart Grid Ambassador.
The attorney for Dawe is apparently a smart grid ambassador. You should expect to see him at some of the upcoming open houses.
McQuillan spent time, pro-bono he says, putting together pretty matrixes and implying fraud by petition circulators, which he subpoenaed, only to be told the same story. Petitioners adhered to the rules.
During the hearings, even the electoral board couldn't fully understand his matrix. We're not sure McQuillan could either as you will see from the link below.
After days of witness testimony (wasting everyone's time), 3 of the 4 objections were dropped. The remaining objection having to due with signatures. Meanwhile, the objector never asked for a records exam and the Board never ordered one.
A records exam requires both parties to convene at the board of elections office to view the official voter registration records. An impartial witness is there and both parties are given the opportunity to address any signatures in question.
But never mind. After both sides had closed their cases in chief, the Board came back at the final hearing and just announced on its own that the petitions didn't contain enough valid signatures.
It was all done in secret behind closed doors, and we were not given a chance to respond or to defend our petitions.
It's unprecedented and the violation of due process would make even the worst Chicago politicians blush.
Let us remind you that the city is under an investigation by the Attorney General for Open Meetings Act violations. (ie: making decisions regarding NSGI behind closed doors.)
City officials and/or staff can't just get together in a back room and invalidate signatures with no one watching. (As if this entire process hasn't been cloudy enough.)
All of the volunteers worked in good faith to get more than the required number of signatures.
We had instructions.
We knew the procedure.
We followed the process.
Wish we could say the same for the other side.
So will the question get on the ballot?
This remains to be seen. However, since the electoral board didn't know the procedure, didn't follow instructions, and totally messed up the process...we're pretty sure it will.
Was the deck stacked? Some think so:
Click here for a well stated opinion by Council Watchdog.
In the words of one long time resident..."This whole thing just keeps going from bad to worse." |
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