Oak Park voters in the upcoming election will be asked to weigh in on an international trade agreement, but whether the nonbinding referendum proposal passes is a secondary concern to the man who led the effort to get it on the ballot.
“Whether or not the goal of passing the referendum is successful, the goal of educating the public is and has been, and that’s probably the more important issue,” said Oak Park resident Tom Broderick, who is petitioning voters to reject “secretly negotiated rules” in a pact that the federal government is negotiating with 11 other countries in the Asia-Pacific region. “(The referendum is) a method for educating folks.”
The Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, is a free-trade pact aimed at shaping a comprehensive agreement that would not only reduce tariffs and other barriers to open markets but also establish standards on a range of issues affecting trade and international competition. Over the years, negotiations of the pact have been criticized by a number of organizations and lawmakers for not being transparent enough.
The Oak Park question, which is more than 150 words, was placed on the ballot after a voice vote of registered voters at an annual township meeting in April. The proposal calls upon the Oak Park Village Board to enact an ordinance declaring the village to be a Trans-Pacific Partnership-free zone because of concerns about how the negotiations have been taking place.
“My standpoint is it’s a very undemocratic process,” said Broderick, who has been active with the Illinois Fair Trade Coalition and the Greater Oak Park Democratic Socialists of America. “If the agreement were open to the public, however you want to define it, that would be fine. I’m all for open trade between human beings. I don’t like secretive deals at all.”
Under state statute, any group of registered voters in a township may request that an advisory question be considered at the township’s annual meeting. If a majority of registered voters present at the meeting vote in favor of the advisory question, the township clerk must submit it to the county clerk for placement on the ballot. The village of Oak Park and Oak Park Township are geographically the same, but each has a separate governing body.
Oak Park Township Manager Gavin Morgan said the petitioners needed to submit 15 signatures of registered voters to the clerk in order to place the question on the agenda for the April 8 town meeting, which was attended by about 100 residents.
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“It’s direct democracy,” Morgan said, adding that the township’s board of trustees is not involved in the process. “It is an opportunity for people to bring issues that are of concern to them to a wider audience.”
Advisory referendum questions that do not deal with specific local issues have appeared on ballots in the past. In Oak Park Township, for example, voters in recent years have been asked to weigh in on the Iraq War, fracking and nuclear power.
Broderick said he is unaware of proposals dealing with the trade agreement appearing this year on ballots elsewhere in Illinois.
Oak Park voters this fall also will consider an advisory question regarding universal background checks for firearm ownership. Oak Park banned handguns in 1984, but the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the ban in 2010.
The full text of the trade referendum proposal:
“The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a massive trade agreement crafted by multi-national corporations and government trade representatives from various countries along the Pacific Rim. Classified top secret, by the Obama administration, negotiations have occurred behind closed doors. While corporate advisers have been allowed to ship the TPP, our Congressional Representatives have only restricted access. The TPP would elevate corporations to equal status with sovereign nations. This will allow them to drag governments before foreign tribunals to demand taxpayer compensation over policies they claim would determine their expected future profits. Current and future legislative policies regarding health, food safety, worker rights, financial regulation and a clean environment would be jeopardized. Shall the voters of Oak Park reject the secretly negotiated rules laid down without our consent and call upon the Village Board of Oak Park, IL to enact an ordinance declaring the Village of Oak Park, IL to be a Trans-Pacific Partnership-Free Zone?”