Welcome to the House Rep. Mell!



Deborah Mell is the newly elected member to the Illinois General Assembly. 
Today, she will be sworn into her new position as the representative for the 40th District (Chicago).
 
Immediately after the swearing in ceremony, she'll make her first vote in that body.

The newly seated General Assembly will vote, again, on the impeachment of IL. Gov. Blagojevich.  While the General Assembly has already voted on the issue, the House Leader Mike Madigan wants to make sure his "i"s are dotted and "t"s crossed, by having the newly seated group also vote on the measure.  Someone aptly described this as the "belt and suspenders' strategy.

What makes this vote so interesting for Mrs Mell is that she happens to be the sister to Illinois First Lady Patti Blagojevich, and sister-in-law to the Governor.  Hence, she'll be casting her first vote on her kin's future.

She has three choices:
        1. She can vote FOR impeachment and make her family mad.
        2. She can vote AGAINST impeachment and retain her friendship with the first family
        3. She can vote PRESENT

Her vote won't matter much, as Rod lost last week's vote 114(Yes) -1 (NO) -1 (Present). 

Because #3 is the closest thing to voting "I wish I had another family", I'm predicting she'll select door #3. 

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Card Check

    The Employee Free Choice Act is still alive and breathing.  The new incoming Secretary of Labor was a co-sponsor of the legislation while she was a member of Congress.  Hence, it's presumed she's still a strong advocate.
    But, the unions are having some PR problems.  First, the car company bailout did some damage to the reputation of unionized auto workers.  The scale of their pay, along with the infamous "job bank" did not improve the "woe is me" status that unions wanted to portray.
    Then there's this:   Trouble in Service Worker's Union may Dim hopes for Labor.

The Washington Post article points to a range of problems for the unions including graft and corruption in the leadership ranks.  In addition, the largest union is holding their breath over the yet-to-be-released taped phone calls between their President and Governor Rod Blagojevich.

This is the same group that wants to replace that burdensome private ballot vote with their own form of "fairness". 

Like Rep. Mell, many in the union wish they could approach the future without those pesky old relationships.