Recall elections in Illinois? No thanks!

Politicians are already spineless enough

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Eric Zorn is a former opinion columnist for the Chicago Tribune. Find a longer bio and contact information here. This issue exceeds in size the maximum length for a standard email. To read the entire issue in your browser, click on the headline link above. Paid subscribers receive each Picayune Plus in their email inbox each Tuesday, are part of our civil and productive commenting community and enjoy the sublime satisfaction of supporting this enterprise.

Today — this Tuesdays — I will talk with WGN-AM 720 host John Williams at 11 a.m. about what’s making news and likely to be grist for the PS mill. The WGN listen-live link is here.

I can’t recall, and that’s OK with me

Lakeview resident Daniel Boland is behind a petition drive to give Chicago voters the right to recall their mayor, and I hope he fails.

I see the appeal. When an elected leader lets you down — just doesn’t seem ready for the job and isn’t inspiring confidence, which is a fair summation of Mayor Brandon Johnson’s first year in office — remorseful citizens can give that leader the early heave-ho and get a do-over. Message: “You serve at our pleasure.”

But absent credible evidence of criminal misconduct — an indictment, say —recall is a bad idea. Elected leaders need the wiggle room to make tough, even unpopular decisions and shouldn’t have to be worried at every moment that some furious grassroots organization or deep-pocketed interest group will rise up to try to take them down. They already worry enough about that every election cycle, and instituting recall seems like a recipe for timid, incremental, finger-to-the wind leadership when bold, long-range planning may be called for.

Johnson has been platitudinous and opaque since his swearing in nearly a year ago and his transition from activist/county commissioner to chief executive of the city has been rough. But I’m still hopeful that he’ll grow into the job. He won the chance to do that, and the last thing I want is to push him back into campaign mode and out of governing mode.

The battle to unseat him in the 2027 regular municipal election will begin in about two years. If voters want to get rid of him, they can do it the old fashioned way and elect a challenger.

I’m not too concerned about this because Boland’s effort is almost certain to fail.

From the Tribune:

Under Illinois law, Boland would need to collect 56,463 valid signatures on his petition by Aug. 5 for the recall mechanism question to appear on ballots in Chicago this fall. … If the question makes it onto Chicago’s November ballots, a majority of voters would need to approve it and then recall supporters would likely have to collect an even larger number of signatures as part of another petition drive before a formal recall vote could be placed on a subsequent ballot — likely years into Johnson’s first term.

Still, let me call the question

Notes and comments from readers — lightly edited — along with my responses

Jewish leaders and the refusal to sit down with the mayor

Don N. — You wrote disapprovingly of Jewish alders and other leaders in the Jewish community not wanting to accept Mayor Brandon Johnson’s invitation for a meeting. You don’t fully appreciate their perspective, so let me share it with you, as I am Jewish: His tie-breaking vote to call for a ceasefire in Gaza desecrated the memory of those murdered in Israel by Hamas terrorists on October 7. Would you sit down with someone who essentially urinated on the grave of a loved one and then says, after you express anger, gee let's talk? What they are thinking: “May he burn in hell.”

Amy Parker — Many Jews understand these ceasefire resolutions to be part of a well-structured Palestinian propaganda campaign that characterizes Israel — and by extension, the worldwide Jewish population — as a uniformly, foundationally bad actor. They are performative and accomplish nothing to help the unfortunate Gazans who are largely victims of Hamas. But they do foster anti-Semitism. The time for Mayor Johnson to seriously address the discomfort of Jewish leaders and lawmakers was before casting his vote, not after. I don’t know the man personally, and I doubt he is anti-Semitic, but his support of the resolution makes it clear that he is fundamentally ignorant of the drivers of anti-Semitism and its pernicious impact on Jews everywhere. His attempt to reach out was a day late and a dollar short: Weak sauce, in my opinion, and deserved the slap-down it got

Zorn — I reject the idea that calling or voting for a ceasefire in Gaza is necessarily tantamount to disrespecting the dead or an act of anti-Semitism. Johnson might well have seen his vote as an attempt to protect those innocents still living who will die — who have died — as the invasion continues, and a hope that a pause in the carnage might give the opposing sides the space to negotiate an end to the conflict.

On the pro-Palestinian protests

Michael Gorman — The protestors who blocked major roadways and are occupying college campuses strike me as mostly idealistic, mostly young people who see what is happening to the Palestinians in Gaza and in the West Bank and think it is unconscionable.

Laurence E Siegel — The protesters never seem to mention the role of Hamas breaking the cease fire back in October and starting the current conflict. Is Israel overdoing it in response? I believe so. But it would be nice if the protesters condemned violence on both sides

Steve T. — I was one of those “prisoners” in the mess on the road leading to O’Hare International Airport. I was just trying to get my daughter back to school, then make an hour’s drive to help make arrangements for my Dad’s funeral. Look, I love living in a country that cherishes freedom to protest, but please don’t compare these performative, disruptive sideshows to the Civil Rights movement of the 60s.

Heck, don’t even compare them to good-faith labor actions. If I can’t make a flight because unfairly treated airport employees are picketing for fair treatment, I’d grumble but honk my horn in solidarity because they are putting the pressure on the folks who deserve it — the airport bosses themselves. Monday struck me as brave laziness — a low-stakes risky but easy way to get attention. I, too, want peace in the Middle East. Give us a way to help that happen, not a made-for-the-cameras event, whose only lasting effect will be grumbling and derision from people who lack the power to change the system.

Zorn — Condolences on the loss of your father.

Joan P. — The civil rights movement engaged in tactics directly related to attacking segregation. The Freedom Rides, the sit-ins at lunch counters, the Montgomery bus boycott, bear no resemblance whatsoever to blocking access to airports. Others were not prevented from riding buses or eating at lunch counters, no one was prevented from traveling or going to school or shopping, etc. The civil rights movement did not aim to infuriate innocent people. It may have been a consequence, as people faced their own racism, but it was not the goal.

David Leitschuh — With regard to the current leftist street activism (I will not dignify these actions by referring to them as protests), are people fully aware of the visceral anti-Semitism and anti-Americanism on open display? Leaders are chanting, “Death to Israel” and “Death to America,” and those chants are enthusiastically repeated by the crowd.

It is noteworthy that amid all the loud demands that Israel cease their military response against the Hamas terrorists, there appear to be no voices being raised for release of the hostages continuing to be held by Hamas, including US citizens.

Jake H. — Why didn't police just arrest the protesters immediately? There weren’t a lot of them. Was the thinking that it's the better part of PR. and conflict avoidance to just let them tire out? I don't get that when people are prisoners in their cars.

Zorn — I don’t know the thinking, but my guess is that police will move a lot more swiftly during the Democratic National Convention to make sure airport access is maintained.

Peter Zackrison — I expect these protesters wanted to get their message out to a huge national audience.

I think they may have considered or even tried “polite” protests in designated places with little or no coverage.

When the protests were polite and friendly, they got almost no media coverage. Do you think the coverage this protest got will incentivize them to similar protests in the future? I think so.

Zorn — If any publicity is good publicity, then maybe. I remain very interested in the whole subject of effective vs. ineffective protest.

Patrick Kennedy — How about some Zorn Scorn for the protesters whose chants begin with, "Hey-hey, ho-ho..."?

Zorn — Seems nitpicky to complain about stale protest chanting given the gravity of the issues that are often involved, but I agree that it suggests a certain lack of original, independent thought. “Hey-hey, ho-ho, ‘hey-hey, ho-ho’ has got to go,” in other words. But I do like the idea of “Zorn Scorn” and may steal it for a feature now and again.

The killing of Dexter Reed by Chicago police officers

Michael Gorman — It’s obvious that the seat belt violation story was cooked up after the fact, but I must ask: Why, for minor traffic and equipment infraction — tail lights out, not wearing a seat belt, tinted windows, etc. — don’t police simply take a picture of the license plate and follow up with a ticket sent by mail? This would reduce high-speed chases and violent interactions.

Zorn — The speed-camera ticket idea — cite the vehicle, not the driver — could work for many minor infractions. Illinois law restricting window tinting is so complicated and requires precise Visible Light Transmission —VLT — measurements to write a citation that would hold up in court.

Police would probably tell you that they discover guns and drugs often enough in minor traffic stops that drastically limiting them would increase crime.

Skeptic — The idea you championed of schools teaching teen drivers how to conduct themselves in encounters with police is intriguing. It could save lives, but I’m afraid that some would claim that teaching people their rights and how to enforce them would be seen as teaching them how not to get caught for criminal behavior. Imagine, for instance, the reaction from Mothers Against Drunk Driving if schools told kids how to avoid taking a roadside Breathalyzer test when a cop tells them to do it?

Wendy C. — I don't see the value of suggesting people must fear the police; it's counterproductive to achieving a relationship between law enforcement and the public.

Zorn — I would not say “fear” is the right word. Drivers need to understand that traffic stops are tense situations for both parties and a healthy respect for that dynamic is not only the decent thing to do, it increases the chances that you will be let off with a warning.

K Mason — This tragedy reminds me of Sandra Bland's death in a jail cell in Texas in 2015. Pulled over for allegedly failing to use a turn signal. Dead because she didn't treat the officers with sufficient humility and was jailed for it. Her video of the traffic stop shows the officer wildly over-reacting and threatening to light her up with his weapon.

Zorn — The traffic stop on Bland was bogus and the way the police officer responded to her understandable pique with violence and then charged her with a crime was grotesque. See my contemporaneous column, “Why, yes, Sandra Bland was ‘irritated.’” But her injuries were not serious, and her death by suicide in the jail days later suggests there were other contributing factors to her distress. So the cause and effect is not nearly as straightforward as the stories where people are fatally wounded by police when confrontations escalate.

MAGA Rascal?

Collin Callahan — “The Mincing Rascals” is one of my favorite podcasts. But I wish you guys would consider bringing a Trump supporter into the mix. There must be someone less intense than John Kass with whom you can mince reasonably!

Zorn — I draw a distinction between Trump voters — those who hold their noses and pull the metaphorical lever for him because they simply cannot vote for what the Democratic candidate stands for — and Trump supporters — those who are enthusiastic about him as a political leader and who prefer him over similarly conservative but less deranged Republicans. The former I can have an interesting conversation with. The latter I simply cannot.

Does this go against my view just above that we need to learn to talk with one another? I don’t think so. Talking with someone in a somewhat private setting in an effort to reach understanding or even resolution is not the same as platforming them or debating them in a setting that rewards peacocking and will likely just generate heat but no light.

But I’ll pass along the suggestion to our host, John Williams.

Ya gotta see these tweets!

Here are some funny visual images I've come across recently on social media. Enjoy, then evaluate:

Which of the above visual tweets is the best?

Vote for your favorite. I’ll share the winner in Thursday’s main edition.

Usage note: To me, “tweet” has become a generic term for a short post on social media. And I will continue to call the platform Twitter if only to spite Elon Musk:

There’s still time to vote in the conventional Tweet of the Week poll!

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