10 signatures reached
To: Dick Durbin, Senator, The Illinois State House, and The Illinois State Senate
Dick Durbin, Esteemed Senator from IL, listen to the voters
Commit to honoring the voters and let Illinois know that you won’t allow your vote to defeat our votes. Announce that in the event of a close race, you’ll align yourself with regular voters, not Democratic Party elites who have pledged their super delegate vote.
Why is this important?
To: The Honorable Senator from Illinois, Dick Durbin.
The Democratic Party nomination should be decided by who gets the most votes, and not who has the most support from party insiders. The superdelegates make up about 15 percent of all the Democratic delegates casting votes for a nominee at the party's summer 2016 convention. There are 712 superdelegates, made up of Democratic elected officials and other prominent party leaders, who have the power to tip the scales. This process is undemocratic and fundamentally unfair to Democratic primary voters.
Why does this petition single out Illinois Senator Dick Durbin?
The Answer; Common Ground.
Flashback to the Iraq War: Senator Dick Durbin (IL), voted against the Iraq War and stated on the Senate floor in April 2007 that as a member of the Senate intelligence committee, he had known in 2002 that US intelligence knowledge did not match the Bush Administration's public case for war. Robert Naiman reported in the Huffington Post, Durbin said. "So, if they didn't want to read the reports themselves, information we had in the intelligence committee was not the same information being given to the American people, I couldn't believe it." Senate Democrats had another option. They could have met with Dick Durbin, and asked him: "That's why we have Democrats on the intelligence committee, to enable that conversation.”
Since 21 of the 50 Democratic Senators voted against the Iraq War, including both Dick Durbin and Bernie Sanders, it has become obvious who didn’t do their homework, many of them superdelegates for Hillary.
The Democrats have approximately 4,768 total delegates, with about 2,385 needed to win, Clinton's 500 (or so) means she's already one-fifth of the way there, but why?
Bernie Sanders has enjoyed a special agreement with the Democratic leadership in the US Senate. He votes with the Democrats on all procedural matters in exchange for the committee seats and seniority that would be available to him as a Democrat. Sanders is free to vote as he wishes on policy matters, but he has almost always voted with the Democrats. Bernie is known as the amendment king because the works across the aisle and has a fine legislative reputation.
Fast Forward: Senator Durbin (and others), with the current political gridlock in Illinois, the established politicians are becoming increasingly unpopular, but why? Could it be the privatization of schools (Charter), parking meters, red light cameras, and fewer funds for education and other public programs?
Back in 2012, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) went on strike to fight for educational justice. CTU members stated, “We do not intend on taking this anymore." But Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel characterized the protest as "a strike of choice" because, he claimed, "The city has already made an offer that is close to the demands of the union." But in reality, nothing could have been further from the truth.
Why were the teachers striking? The Chicago Teachers Union was looking for a contract that included: fairness in pay, protection of benefits, fair evaluation procedure, teacher training, and a timetable for air conditioning.
On February 9, 2016 in a move the Chicago School district acknowledged was unprecedented for the middle of a school year, Chicago Public Schools cut millions of dollars from school budgets, forcing principals to refigure their plans with the second semester just underway.
In fact, community colleges and universities across Illinois have had their budgets slashed (including Map Grants) in direct connection to the budget gridlock between Governor Bruce Rauner and ultra high-ranking democrat Michael Madigan, many teachers have lost their jobs, and the populace is getting restless.
Chicago police dash cam video of Laquan McDonald's final moments, where the 17-year-old is shot 16 times walking away from officers, and certainly did not continue “to approach the officers,” as stated initially by law enforcement.
Bernie Sanders said in a statement about Rahm Emanuel back in December of 2015, “Any elected official with knowledge that the tape was being suppressed or improperly withheld should resign. No one should be shielded by power or position.” The truth is, the public call for Rahm Emanuel to resign has come from diverse groups, and his approval rating is dismal. Rahm is also a superdelegate for Hillary Clinton. The time has come for the established members of the Democratic Party to distance themselves from those members with negative approval ratings stemming from manifold scandals.
We are calling on Illinois Democratic superdelegates to pledge to support the will of the voters at the Democratic Party convention in Philadelphia.
Commit to honoring the voters, and let Illinois know that you won’t allow your vote to defeat our votes. Announce that in the event of a close race, you’ll align yourself with regular voters, not Democratic Party elites.
One thing is increasingly clear about the race for the Democratic nomination for president: This is going to be a long primary season, and why pledge allegiance to the status quo if the populace votes for Bernie Sanders.
Sincerely,
Eric Sterling: IL 16-CD for Bernie, Dekalb Area For Bernie
The Democratic Party nomination should be decided by who gets the most votes, and not who has the most support from party insiders. The superdelegates make up about 15 percent of all the Democratic delegates casting votes for a nominee at the party's summer 2016 convention. There are 712 superdelegates, made up of Democratic elected officials and other prominent party leaders, who have the power to tip the scales. This process is undemocratic and fundamentally unfair to Democratic primary voters.
Why does this petition single out Illinois Senator Dick Durbin?
The Answer; Common Ground.
Flashback to the Iraq War: Senator Dick Durbin (IL), voted against the Iraq War and stated on the Senate floor in April 2007 that as a member of the Senate intelligence committee, he had known in 2002 that US intelligence knowledge did not match the Bush Administration's public case for war. Robert Naiman reported in the Huffington Post, Durbin said. "So, if they didn't want to read the reports themselves, information we had in the intelligence committee was not the same information being given to the American people, I couldn't believe it." Senate Democrats had another option. They could have met with Dick Durbin, and asked him: "That's why we have Democrats on the intelligence committee, to enable that conversation.”
Since 21 of the 50 Democratic Senators voted against the Iraq War, including both Dick Durbin and Bernie Sanders, it has become obvious who didn’t do their homework, many of them superdelegates for Hillary.
The Democrats have approximately 4,768 total delegates, with about 2,385 needed to win, Clinton's 500 (or so) means she's already one-fifth of the way there, but why?
Bernie Sanders has enjoyed a special agreement with the Democratic leadership in the US Senate. He votes with the Democrats on all procedural matters in exchange for the committee seats and seniority that would be available to him as a Democrat. Sanders is free to vote as he wishes on policy matters, but he has almost always voted with the Democrats. Bernie is known as the amendment king because the works across the aisle and has a fine legislative reputation.
Fast Forward: Senator Durbin (and others), with the current political gridlock in Illinois, the established politicians are becoming increasingly unpopular, but why? Could it be the privatization of schools (Charter), parking meters, red light cameras, and fewer funds for education and other public programs?
Back in 2012, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) went on strike to fight for educational justice. CTU members stated, “We do not intend on taking this anymore." But Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel characterized the protest as "a strike of choice" because, he claimed, "The city has already made an offer that is close to the demands of the union." But in reality, nothing could have been further from the truth.
Why were the teachers striking? The Chicago Teachers Union was looking for a contract that included: fairness in pay, protection of benefits, fair evaluation procedure, teacher training, and a timetable for air conditioning.
On February 9, 2016 in a move the Chicago School district acknowledged was unprecedented for the middle of a school year, Chicago Public Schools cut millions of dollars from school budgets, forcing principals to refigure their plans with the second semester just underway.
In fact, community colleges and universities across Illinois have had their budgets slashed (including Map Grants) in direct connection to the budget gridlock between Governor Bruce Rauner and ultra high-ranking democrat Michael Madigan, many teachers have lost their jobs, and the populace is getting restless.
Chicago police dash cam video of Laquan McDonald's final moments, where the 17-year-old is shot 16 times walking away from officers, and certainly did not continue “to approach the officers,” as stated initially by law enforcement.
Bernie Sanders said in a statement about Rahm Emanuel back in December of 2015, “Any elected official with knowledge that the tape was being suppressed or improperly withheld should resign. No one should be shielded by power or position.” The truth is, the public call for Rahm Emanuel to resign has come from diverse groups, and his approval rating is dismal. Rahm is also a superdelegate for Hillary Clinton. The time has come for the established members of the Democratic Party to distance themselves from those members with negative approval ratings stemming from manifold scandals.
We are calling on Illinois Democratic superdelegates to pledge to support the will of the voters at the Democratic Party convention in Philadelphia.
Commit to honoring the voters, and let Illinois know that you won’t allow your vote to defeat our votes. Announce that in the event of a close race, you’ll align yourself with regular voters, not Democratic Party elites.
One thing is increasingly clear about the race for the Democratic nomination for president: This is going to be a long primary season, and why pledge allegiance to the status quo if the populace votes for Bernie Sanders.
Sincerely,
Eric Sterling: IL 16-CD for Bernie, Dekalb Area For Bernie