Who woulda thought anyone would have taken me seriously last October when I suggested that Illinois voters should be enabled to dump incompetent, dishonest and otherwise dreadful public officials by a “recall” referendum?

The idea was so, well, California-like, where voters in 2003 recalled the bumbling Gov. Gray Davis. And it so unlike Chicago and Illinois, where such a reform would be regarded as just another useless goo-goo (good-government) gesture.

But here comes the Illinois House, advancing with remarkable ease legislation that would allow voters to dispose unceremoniously of the governor, members of the General Assembly and executive branch officers elected statewide, such as the attorney general and secretary of state.

Last week, the House voted 80–25 (!) to tack onto the legislation an amendment that would exempt circuit, appellate and supreme court judges from recall. Such a wide margin of approval signals, according to the conventional wisdom, that the House will approve the legislation and pass it on to the Senate, where it has a less certain future.

But as one of the earliest advocates of the Illinois recall, I suspect political gamesmanship. If the House, and its Speaker, Rep. Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) was really serious, it would have added one other amendment:

Include local and county officials in the recall.

This would truly test the seriousness of the lawmakers, because, (1) it would fly in the face of one of the strongest lobbies—local government—in Springfield, and (2), it would be regarded as a symbolic, if not real, swipe at Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, Cook County Board President Todd Stroger and the rest of the shifty affiliates of the regular Democratic party.

But amend the legislation to include local miscreants they must. It’s about the only way to vice the hereditary monarchy and its descending levels of earls, dukes and lords that believe they are beyond the reach of serious, intelligent voters. In a way, they still would be because it would take a majority to remove the scoundrel, the same number that got him elected in the first place. Yet, it would give voters the satisfaction of knowing that they wouldn’t have to wait until the net regularly scheduled election when an emergency arises, such as the need to quickly punt Stroger.

The legislation also should be amended to remove one sneaky item: It would allow the targeted politician to run, along with other candidates, to replace himself. That sure increases opportunities for mischief, such as loading up the candidate list with so many stalking horses that an organized campaign could get the ousted politician named as his own successor.

Of course, none of this may matter if the bill is just Madigan’s way of having some fun pinging Gov. Rod Blagojevich and Senate President Emil Jones for the audacity last year of snipping some of the speaker’s pork out of the budget. Madigan could safely back such legislation, knowing that Jones would want to, or have to, block it. Blagojevich already has put himself on record as favoring reform, leaving the task of killing the recall legislation up to his pal, Jones, anyway. Jones can get away with not even calling the legislation for a vote in the Senate because he has zero chance of retaliation by voters in his own district. And even less chance of retaliation by members of the Senate who rely on Jones for a share of Democratic campaign funds.

In the bizarre universe of Springfield, I suppose there’s another possibility, now that I think about it. Jones could add an amendment that would add local and county officials to the list of politicians who could be recalled, knowing that such a move might kill the whole shebang, possibly at his covert direction. Jones would look good, and his toadies would take the heat. Of course, that scenario is way too cynical to imagine happening in Illinois politics.

Possibly all that’s left for the voters is a constitutional convention, at which the voters could institute the changes themselves. A new ConCon is sounding more appealing all the time.

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Dennis Byrne is a member of the Chicago Daily Observer Editorial Board.