Illinois citizen and activist John Bambenek began a petition drive on Wednesday to place a state constitutional amendment on the November 2010 general election ballot. 
 
The initiative is titled the “Bambenek Put-Back Amendment”.  Bambenek, a political reformer and resident of Champaign, Illinois, is leading an effort to implement a comprehensive package of reforms designed to end the back-room dealings of the General Assembly. 
 
“We started this non-partisan reform effort to reform the Illinois General Assembly and put the people back in charge,” Bambenek told the Illinois Family Institute.  “If you’re like us, you’ve witnessed the mess in Springfield with utter shock.  We were told it was just Rod Blagojevich, but now he’s been removed and the mess remains.  The only consistent feature of our dysfunctional state government is the legislature.”  
 
According to Bambenek, most legislation is written behind closed doors and is never seen by most legislators (much less the public) before they are required to vote on it.  Legislative leaders have complete control over which bills get considered and which ones die.  Illinois voters send 177 legislators to Springfield, but the power is only vested in four of them.
 
In a press release issued on September 23rd, Bambenek detailed what the amendment, if passed, would accomplish.  The Bambenek Put-Back Amendment will fundamentally change the Legislature by converting it to a unicameral (or one chamber) body and return to three-member districts with cumulative voting (total of 177 members).  Additionally, it will implement long ignored reforms such as redistricting, setting term limits of no more than four two-year terms, limiting legislative leaders’ terms to only one session (two years), ending shell bills, requiring a seven-day public viewing period for all legislation, providing for any bill to get an up-or-down vote upon motion of at least 25 members, and greatly modifying the process for legislative pay raises.
 
Bambenek is the principal author of the Bambenek Put-Back Amendment and an author of several books, including a book on the Illinois Constitution– a subject on which he is considered a leading expert.
 
Bambenek is also co-founder of the Illinois Citizens Coalition (ICC) and one of the chief proponents of the Constitutional Convention vote that took place in 2008.  The ICC [www.yesforillinois.com] is a political action committee (PAC) created to inform, encourage, and organize Illinois citizens to take more of an interest in the workings of state government. 
 
In addition to political activism, Bambenek runs a charity called the Tumaini Foundation which strives to provide educational opportunities for AIDS orphans and other disadvantaged children living in rural Tanzania.

For a full text of the “Bambenek Put-Back Amendment” go to: http://www.putbackamendment.com/?page_id=3

In order to obtain ballot status, the “Bambenek Put-Back Amendment” will need to accumulate 500,000 signatures. 
 
Those interested in helping to get this Amendment on the ballot can download signature petitions at: http://www.putbackamendment.com/?page_id=9