Private landowners in Illinois should be celebrating this morning.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed into law a bill Friday that will make it harder for public entities to seize land. The bill was sponsored by Rep. John Bradley, the common sense Democrat from Marion.

The bill was crafted in response to an inane 2005 U.S. Supreme Court decision. In Kelo vs. City of New London, the court went too far in ruling that economic redevelopment was a legitimate purpose to take private property through eminent domain. Most agree that taking land for schools, roads and airports should be part of the federal and state constitution, but economic development should not qualify in all instances.

The Illinois law, which takes effect Jan. 1, will require clear evidence that the land is necessary for public use before it can be taken. It also will require governments to reimburse property owners for relocation expenses and possibly legal fees.

"Illinois property owners should not have their property forcibly taken from them," Bradley said. "Economic development is crucial to our community and Southern Illinois as a whole, but there must be a reasonable balance between economic development and private rights. The rights of landowners need to be preserved while making sure government does not overstep its boundaries."

The governor and Bradley were supported in their efforts by the Illinois Association of Realtors, who viewed eminent domain as intrusive and abusive.

"This law goes farther than anything we've ever done to protect the rights of property owners while making sure that important public projects can still move forward," the governor said in a statement. The bill had bipartisan support in Illinois. Sen. Dave Luechtefeld, R-Okawville, supported it.

"Obviously, we can't undo what the Supreme Court has already done," he said. "But the state can provide some safeguards to protect the rights of property owners, and that is what this new law essentially does."

Topinka's decision

Republican gubernatorial candidate Judy Baar Topinka faces a fascinating political decision as the campaign counts down toward Labor Day, when voters really start paying attention.

Given that the Blagojevich campaign will have outspent Topinka on television advertising by at least a 3-to-1 margin before Labor Day, the state treasurer will enter the final 90 days of the campaign at least 10 points behind in polls, I am guessing.

Therein lies the interesting strategic decision. To catch up, will Topinka launch into an attack mode after Labor Day, spending her political donations to drive up Blagojevich's negative ratings? Or will she focus on painting herself as a positive candidate, with fresh ideas and alternatives? Can she just stipulate that Blagojevich's negative ratings will stay high and possibly go higher and save money?

Topinka will have enough money after Labor Day to defend herself in advertising and to make sure more of her ideas resonate with voters.

One of her best ideas came this week, when she proposed a special session of the legislature to tackle high gas prices. Topinka would like Blagojevich to suspend some of the state tax on gasoline, a suggestion the governor has dismissed.

Topinka said she would like to lower the state and local gas tax when prices are between $2 and $2.50 a gallon. When the price tops $2.50, the tax would be eliminated on any amount over that.

The average price in Illinois is around $3 a gallon this weekend. If it stays that high until election day, Topinka will have an issue that hits home.

"Someone tell Rod Blagojevich I'm not going away on gas prices until he does something to help Illinois families struggling with high gas prices," Topinka said.

SIU plagiarism

Southern Illinois University could offer a settlement to fired assistant professor Christopher Dussold, and his lawsuit would go away. Instead, the administration has drawn a line in fighting charges of plagiarism raised by the former SIUE economics/finance teacher, as it should.

Dussold ripped off a statement of teaching philosophy from a computer science teacher at the College of Charleston and presented it as his own. Dussold was being considered for tenure when he turned in the plagiarized work. He suffered the consequences.

Since his firing, he has tried to change the issue, saying he was let go as retaliation for earlier incident. Lately, he has been on a crusade, trying to prove that even administrators at SIU plagiarize.

Unfortunately for Dussold, it does not matter whether anyone else did it. Dussold admitted to taking someone else's work for personal gain, a firing offense.

As The Southern wrote in an editorial this week, "For the sake of the university's reputation, SIU must fight Dussold's claims and prevail. When the court hears his claims, then sees the work he plagiarized, the case should be thrown out quickly."