New bill stifles peace activism at annual town meetings

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Give peace a chance – just don’t try it at your township’s annual town meeting.

In response to groups of peace activists hijacking the annual meetings on the second Tuesday in April, State Rep. Randy Ramey, R-Carol Stream, sponsored a bill to limit what can be done and when. It goes into effect Jan. 1, 2009.

Annual town meetings allow registered voters to make direct decisions about township issues by majority vote. Ramey said because so few people usually attend, a handful of people can have a large impact on township policy.

“We want to make sure there is transparency that will keep residents informed of decisions being made by township officials,” Ramey said.

Under the new law townships will have to publish their agendas 10 days in advance. It will take least 15 registered voters to get an issue added to the agenda, which must be filed with the clerk by March 1, and the agenda items must be restricted to township business only.

“The issue was organizations and groups coming in and trying to get a referendum on the ballot through the township meeting when it does not have anything to do with township government,” Ramey said. “They come en masse to town meetings and put advisory referendums on the ballot. The war is a federal government issue, not a township government issue.”

In 2005, Ramey was a township trustee in Wayne when activists from DuPage Against War Now – DAWN – swept through to push  their referendum, he said.

Amy Tauchman of  DAWN and Kane County peace activists said the new law will further limit discussion on the Iraq war.

“It is a reasonable argument that in a war, everyone is going to pay, including townships,” Tauchman said. “I think any time that you are reducing the ability of a population to talk about the issues of the day that affect them, you are destroying democracy a little bit.”

Mary Shesgreen of Kane County Citizens for Peace and Justice said their efforts in Aurora and Batavia townships in 2006 put  non–binding referendums on their ballots asking if the U.S. should begin withdrawing troops from Iraq. Both passed, according to Kane County election records.

“The war is everybody’s business,”  Shesgreen said. “When the federal government won’t respond to an outcry from the people, then the people turn to the most local elected body – which in this case is the townships.”

Bill Kruse, 82, a retired minister from St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Geneva, was one of the electors who got the question on the ballot at the 2006 annual town meeting in Geneva.

“We have that constitutional right to get a referendum that is not binding, to find out where do people stand,” Kruse said. “Even in a Republican district, this referendum won more votes for peace than for war.”

Batavia Township Supervisor James Anderson said they have always tried to be as open and accepting as possible at their annual town meetings.

“Whether you’re for or against the war, it’s not something the township should be involved in,” Anderson said.