The Local Blackball

Tribune:

In a handful of North Shore communities, the candidates running for office in April will face no opposition, spend no campaign money and find no need to pepper the village with yard signs. They were handpicked months in advance by a local single-party organization known as a caucus.

Some community members view the practice as undemocratic because a self-selected committee chooses the vast majority of eventual winners long before the election. Others say the process evens the playing field so qualified people can win seats, even if they don't have lots of money or a network of powerful friends.

Ah, but the caucus is a network of the powerful.

Caucuses are undemocratic. Period. They essentially blackball anyone who would challenge whatever group has packed it. Non-caucus candidates rarely win. Wilmette has at least formally gotten rid of them.

There are also related issues---the need to reform FOIA in Illinois and local governments and boards politicking in a self-interested manner with taxpayers' money. That's wrong and against the law. The law should be enforced without citizens having to sue. And maybe the legislature could do something about that petition pain. Sigh.