People don’t learn and don’t care to be bothered until it is their State in the spotlight and the laughing stock of the country when preventative measures (proper and constant vigilance toward limiting powers of Government and any individual parts [like a Governor] within a government)….

As for IL, and the case in some other States, is that most will resist any change as they want to keep the power consolidated in the Governor because they feel they will most often control the Governors Office but not necessarily the “majority” within their State Senate….. Many States (most the battle-ground States these days, MI/PA for sure and others just barely getting Republican Governors into office) have just a few (but very large in population) Liberal enclaves that over-ride the rest of the States more rural and conservative votes to force in Liberal Democrat Governors (as well as US Senators) even when/where they may not be able to hold control of their Legislative bodies….. so (again) they want to keep the power in the power of one person in the Governors office….

this is a learning opportunity and a wake up call, which most won’t head that we cannot wait for the crisis’ of/in government to occur before we examine how to better address situations and put processes in place to protect ourselves…. It is too late to wait and when Liberals are over-running a State government to pass Super-majority requirements to pass Tax increases, yet many States hadn’t put that into place while having more Conservative controls in their States and now GET WHAT THEY HAVE COMING as the Tax increases will be piling up…. Safeguards/restraints must be put in place during the goods times to protect us from the worst practices of BAD GOVERNMENT….

excerpt from here

Lastly, and beyond all these immediate/current concerns, will everyone learn the Lesson!?!? ALL States should amend Laws/Constitutions to REQUIRE a Special Election in these cases to avoid any potential for corruption. There is an alternative, and the one that I PREFER is, by letting a State Legislative body make the selection – WITHOUT GOVERNOR APPROVAL OR VETO! If you want to save the CO$T$ of a Special Election, let names be entered into nomination into a States’ Senate body, deliberate, and let the States’ Senate make the final appointment. You will have an honest/open discussion and vetting of anyone that gets promoted to the US Senate from any State in these situations then. Another reason why Illinois especially needs to let IL Senate decide (permanent change to their process) is because if a Special Election is held we know record number of Dead people in IL will come out to vote for the Democrat in the Special Election!!

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I’d prefer States change their Constitutions/Laws to have their State Senate do just that…. People interested in a seat can say so and find a sponsor within the Senate body to put their “candidacy” forth…. Each “candidates” merits, qualifications, dirty-laundry, aired and considered and the people can call and promote or complain about those in consideration via their State Senators Offices…. Doesn’t ensure it is trouble free, but is a process in the hands of people more closely elected by the people (concerns of each/every area of a State) rather than being in the hands of one person….

Like the article said, if they want a special election they’ll have to amend their constitution.

i’m not a Constitutional scholar, and have no legal training, but it seems to me that under this clause, elections are the normal means of filling vacancies, but a state legislature can pass a law which allows the Governor to appoint a replacement. i understand that Illinois has such a law, but if the legislature wants to change the law, they have the right to do so.

You can argue that’s bad policy, that it sets a bad precedent, but it isn’t something that requires a change in the US Constitution. Does the Illinois state constitution deal with this?