HAVE CHALLENGERS
BECOME DESPERATE ?
PALATINE (February 26, 2004) – Using a campaign technique often
attributed to old-fashioned Chicago-style Democrats, challenger Pat Sutarik
appears to have pulled statistics out of the "air", thrown them against a "wall"
and hopes that they'll "stick". She has released inaccurate
and erroneous figures that she claims
indicate Representative Bassi's voting record.
The Chicago Tribune says "Sutarik, one of the challengers,
accused Bassi, the incumbent, of voting "present" -- neither yes nor no -- on
31.7 percent of all bills voted on this legislative session. She said
Bassi voted "present" on 1,198 of 3,775 bills."
"But Bassi said there were only 1,550 bills voted on
in the 93rd General Assembly, and she voted present on 95, or 6.13 percent, of
those. She said she couldn't imagine where Sutarik came up with her numbers."
"They're outrageous," Bassi said. "It just shows how little she knows about how
the legislature works."
|
|
Total Votes Cast |
"present"
Votes |
Percentage votes cast as
"present" |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bassi's Correct voting record |
1550 |
95 |
6.13% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sutarik's inaccurate claims |
3775 |
1198 |
31.70% |
The Daily Herald says, "No one could explain Wednesday why
such a large discrepancy (in the numbers) exists."
Again from The Daily Herald, " . . . according to House
Republican Leader Tom Cross's office, during the 93rd General Assembly, the
House has voted on only about 1,500 proposed laws. Bassi has cast a
"present" ballot on 95 votes - about 6 percent of the time, his office said.
Legislators usually
vote "present" if they haven't fully examined a proposed piece of legislation,
if a better alternative exists, for procedural reasons or if the bill needs
work, said Cross's chief of staff, Bill O'Connor. "
The Chicago Tribune added, "Bill O'Connor, chief of staff
for House Minority Leader Tom Cross (R-Oswego), said voting present is almost a
routine practice, not just when voting on unfunded budget bills but also on
"shell" bills--bills without content that are filed after a committee deadline
to be attached to an amendment later."
Bassi added that of the 95
"present" votes she said she cast, a significant number were on budget
legislation and not issues. She said a number of Republicans voted "present" for
the budget because they felt the state had no way of paying for the
expenditures.
For more information, contact Representative Bassi at (847)
776-1880.
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