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February 7, 2008
From: Jim Broadway, Chairman, Illinois Democracy Project
Subject: Suspension of Show Us Amendment Petition Drive
First, I want to thank and commend everyone who has played a role in drawing attention to the dire need for legislative accountability reform in Illinois. Your vision, your dedication to democracy and your hard work are appreciated. However, for reasons explained in this memorandum, we are suspending our Show Us Amendment petition drive at this time.
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As the memo explains, it has now become clear that our petition drive goal is far beyond the range of possibility. This is true for reasons that relate to the way we approached our campaign and to the environment in which we tried to conduct it. The decision to suspend the campaign does not mean that the need for civic engagement on the high-priority issues of state policy has gone away. The need is still there, and is more apparent than ever. We simply are not well positioned to act on that need at this time and it would be irresponsible to allow the hundreds of Show Us volunteers to continue exerting efforts on a strategy that our experience clearly shows cannot succeed.
I truly believe, as I noted in the memo, that we have gone two decades without democracy being reflected in the high-impact legislation passed by our General Assembly, so we can afford to wait two more years to get the remedy right. My recommendation now is that advocates regroup, under new and effective leadership, around a revised proposal that can achieve the goal we seek under conditions that augur more positively for success.
Toward that end, I pledge to support a renewed effort in any way I possibly can.
Sincerely,
Jim Broadway
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