Friday, February 26, 2010  Chicago Sigs  Two recent stories, one
in the Trib and one in Progress Illinois, highlight the problems
with HB 6000, a proposal to make it more difficult to run for
alderman in the City of Chicago. The Trib also editorialized
about the bill. We echo those concerns; this bill will make it
harder for candidates to run for city council in the state's
largest municipality, with no apparent public policy benefit to
the voters of the city.  There are two key elements to the bill.
The first raises the number of signatures a candidate has to
gather on petitions from 2% of the votes cast in the last
municipal election to a flat 500. This would mean an increase of
anywhere from 17% in the 19th Ward to nearly 600% in the 22nd;
on average, it more than doubles the number of names required.
While 500 names isn't so onerous (it's the same amount as for
state House seats, even though House districts are much bigger
than wards), it is still a big jump from the current rule.  But
the number of signa