Obama 1 of 6 State Senators (Out of 52) To Vote Against Real Estate Lobby

By Paul Hogarth

Chicago does not have rent control. In 1997, the Illinois legislature passed -- and Republican Governor Jim Edgar signed -- SB 531 (the Rent Control Preemption Act), which prohibited local jurisdictions from passing it. At the time, no city in Illinois had rent control -- but the real estate lobby had a national effort to quietly stop it in places before it starts. SB 531 passed with little fanfare: the State House voted for it 96-18, and the State Senate approved it 46-6. One of the six senators who voted "no" was Barack Obama -- although many liberal Democrats voted with landlords and the Senate's Republican majority. Obama's vote -- when one considers how few people stood up with him -- is an example of his core progressive principles.

Full article here.