Hilarious miscalculation by Rove... and the August filing dates are in play in several other states... ________________ GOP lawmakers pay dearly to get Bush on ballot November 21, 2003 BY DAVE MCKINNEY Sun-Times Springfield Bureau SPRINGFIELD--In a delicious political irony, House Republicans were forced to go to great lengths Thursday to ensure that President Bush's name gets on the Illinois ballot next year -- and Mayor Daley's early-retirement package hung in the balance. The price the House GOP paid to benefit Bush meant voting to spare Democrat Secretary of State Jesse White steep election fines. Plus, they had to agree to Democratic demands to permit the same type of flawed paper ballots to be counted in Illinois that Republicans fought against in Florida to hand Bush the 2000 presidency. The complex gamesmanship came as lawmakers were winding down their fall legislative session and passed groundbreaking ethics legislation to Gov. Blagojevich. State law requires Bush be certified as a candidate in late August. But that is in doubt because his likely nomination comes Sept. 2 at the GOP convention in New York City, something national Republicans failed to consider when setting the convention date. "I'm happy as a bipartisan person, as a leader on the Democratic side of the aisle, to make sure we have a fair election and let the president on the ballot," said Rep. Lou Lang (D-Skokie), the election bill's House sponsor. To waive the certification requirement for Bush, the House GOP pinched its nose and joined Democrats to pass an election package 84-21. Now in the Senate, the package would wipe away more than $900,000 in election fines to White and other officeholders and permit paper ballots with hanging or dimpled "chads" to be counted. "There's an awful lot of Republicans who said, 'Whoops, what do we do?' " said Rep. Bill Black (R-Danville), who supported the measure. "If we don't pass this bill, there's a strong possibility our presidential candidate would not be on the Illinois ballot in November." Senate Republicans were so shaken by the uncertainty over Bush's fate that they voted en masse Thursday evening to block Mayor Daley's early-retirement legislation as leverage. The mayor needs his plan by Jan. 1 to balance the city budget and avert layoffs, but it fell fell five votes shy of the 36 it needed to pass. It could resurface today. Late Thursday, Senate Republicans were mulling their options, but they appeared dead-set against linking Bush with all of the other Democratic election proposals. "The day we pass the most historic ethics package this General Assembly has ever seen, we won't waive fines for candidates who can't follow the law," said Patty Schuh, a spokeswoman for Senate Minority Leader Frank Watson (R-Greenville). "It's ludicrous." The House bill's language could wipe away hundreds of thousands of dollars in election fines levied against dozens of Illinois politicians, led by White, who has $797,600 in pending fines from the state Board of Elections. That huge fine was levied under a 1998 election law designed to crack down on campaign funds that file state election disclosures late.
