Illinois House Floor Debate — February 11, 2010

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Let the record reflect that Representative Coulson and Sommer are excused today on the Republican side of the aisle."

"Yes. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. If I can have everyone's attention, please. This weekend is Valentine's Day, February 14. On this particular day, we're celebrating something that’s not quite so joyous in DeKalb, Illinois and it has nothing to do with the earthquake this week. It has to do with the tragedy two years ago on Valentine's Day when five students were shot in their classroom. This Sunday we're holding remembrance services and I invite any of you, in the western suburbs in 09600097.doc 4  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 2/11/2010 particular, to come out at 3:00 on Sunday for laying a memorial wreath and at 6 p.m. for a candlelight vigil and remembrance. And it is remembrance that we want to do and that we owe these students. Gayle Dubowski, a sophomore, a 20-year-old from Carol Stream who was majoring in anthropology. Catalina Garcia, another sophomore, a 20- year-old majoring in elementary education from Cicero, an individual that brought great pride to her family for going on to school. Ryanne Mace, a sophomore, 19 years old from Carpentersville, majoring in psychology and had impressed everyone with her love and compassion. Daniel Parmenter from Westchester, a finance major who had just joined the NIU Starr newspaper and had impressed people with his hard work and devotion. And lastly, Julianna Gehant, an individual that had already served her country for 12 years in the U.S. Army and the Army Reserve over in Bosnia. She found that her life direction was taking her to elementary education and she was a junior, a 32-year-old junior, who was going to bring vast experience and life lessons to her classroom. These five individuals must be remembered. The way they gave their lives must be remembered. And we must move forward as a Body to deal with the violence in our society and most importantly to give people hope that they can break out of the lifestyle they might have to a better life through education. And all of us in our districts are struggling with people who are unemployed, who can't find jobs, who don’t have skills. These five individuals are showing the way that education can help change lives. Let us not forget them. Keep NIU and these students in your 09600097.doc 5  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 2/11/2010 prayers this Sunday and join us in DeKalb, if you can. Thank you."

"Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?" 09600097.doc 6  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 2/11/2010

"Thank you. Representative Mautino, I don’t often see an Amendatory Veto in February. So, it's been a while since this has taken place. The Governor's Amendatory Veto made two changes. It removed language that limited the maximum principal amount of the refunding bonds. Why would you want to remove language that would say how much money… how many dollars that you could…"

"…issue?"

"So, they… the Governor had to…"

"Well, now wait a minute. The debt amount can be higher, but the interest rate must be lower. So, then how do you pay off the debt?"

"May not be. Okay."

"These instruments of debt would cover things like… give me an example."

"All right. So… So…"

"Okay. A special service district for sewers. I'm familiar with that but there are special service districts…"

"Right."

"Okay. As I recall in my home town of Danville they have a special service district called Downtown Danville, Inc. And it was to try and maintain the facade and the shopping ambiance of downtown with the advent of shopping centers. I'm not sure how well that worked. They levied…"

"No, no."

"Not a TIF district. They levy a small assessment I believe only on property owners in what they call the Downtown District. So would that be covered under this Bill?"

"Okay." 09600097.doc 8  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 2/11/2010

"Okay."

"I assume that this has already been accepted… the Amendatory Veto has already been accepted by the Senate. Is that correct?"

"Was the Amendatory Veto… has it already been accepted by the Senate?"

"Alright."

"Not that it makes a great deal of difference to me, but did it clear the Senate unanimously or was it a… with a number of 'no' votes? I don’t have that information in front of me."

"Oh, that 'present' vote really bothers me because you can say so many things with a 'present' vote."

"Yes. 'Cause I had… as you'll recall, 'present' votes are becoming fodder for campaigns lately. It's… it's amazing. Even a presidential campaign. I know many of us who served in the General Assembly when the President served in the General Assembly were asked by the national media, What is a 'present' vote? One of the more interesting discussions I've ever had with a national news media person. And I managed to thoroughly confuse her and she's never called me back. But thank you for your forthright answers."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"

"Real quick, Representative. Is… does this have to retrofit any other boats or is it for any new sales?"

"Do you have to retrofit the current boat or does this apply to new sales… new boats?"

"So, it's because we have the current statute that requires it, correct?"

"The lanyard. So you're just adding this on as an extra safety feature."

"Thank you very much."

"Yes. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"

"Yeah. I don’t know… I don’t understand the Bill at all. I used to own a boat and I know what a cutoff switch is, but I didn’t have the lanyard or the wire attached to me and you got thrown out of the boat, the boat kept going. So, he's talking about it being hardwired… hardwired to what? If I fall out of the boat, how does the engine cutoff? If there's nothing attached to the operator to kill the ignition, how is the cutoff switch work?"

"I find that hard to believe."

"So rather than have the actual kill switch wired to the operator… and it's usually a thin piece of rope… a lanyard attached to… and they generally don’t rec… don’t recommend that you have it around your neck for obvious reasons… it's usually attached to your swimming suit or your… if you're wearing sneakers or a Bass Weejuns or whatever, you put it on your shoelace so that if you are bounced out of the boat as you move the wire moves which kills the ignition which kills the boat. Now, you're telling me that an operator is going to have somewhere on their body an electronic device that the operator would then have to initiate either a switch… I've seen operators knocked out of boats and off of ski… Ski-Doos who have been unconscious when they hit the water. The whole purpose of a kill switch is to physically wire it to the operator. When the operator is no longer in the boat, the device attached to the operator automatically kills the boat. Now we're… you're talking about a wireless device… I assume… it could be, I suppose, Velcro to your wrist or your arm or other places I don’t want to even imagine… but what… if you're thrown out, do you then have to activate the switch or does water activate the switch?"

"Well, is that a sensor or are you just glad to be out in your boat? That's the old joke."

"So, the sensor would be activated by distance not water?"

"Well, that makes sense because you're going to get wet on your watercraft, so that wouldn’t work. But if you get up from the seat… if you're in a power craft… a powerboat… if you get up from your seat to go back and see if… maybe you heard something in your IO drive that didn’t sound right… so, you left the driver's seat and just… it could take 5 seconds… you walk back, you may lift up the console, you may look at your gas gauge or just see if you think everything's working right on your inboard/outboard drive, then it looks to me like you're going to kill your boat. Now how far away do you have to be? Because you can move around on some of these watercraft devices three to six feet."

"Lou, in all seriousness, I don’t understand how this would work. And I realize technology has made great advances. If it's a wireless device that you can disable, then you have a potential problem in remembering to reenable the switch. If water were to impact the switch, then it's useless because you're going to get water on you or on the device when driving either a personal watercraft that operate at very high speeds or even a ski-boat or a pleasure boat that can also operate at a relatively high speed… 20, 25 knots would not be unusual. One of the more popular watercraft today is commonly referred to as a float boat which could be 25 feet in length and the icebox… the entertainment center is generally at the back of the boat. So, if the operator, who leaves the console… who's steering the boat, operating the throttle, with a wireless device if he or she decides to go back to the cooler and get Gatorade or some high-energy drink my fear is they're going to wander too far away and that will cut off the engine. So I'm afraid the… knowing how operators and how I used to work, you would… if I had one of these I would put it down. I would put it in a storage container in the float boat. I'd walk back to get in the refreshment center or whatever. Some of them even have barbecue grills on them. So, I… if I did fall overboard, at that time, then the device is stuck in a storage area 18 inches from the throttle and the steering mechanism. I fall overboard and there's nobody else on the boat, I'm going across the lake to pick up 09600097.doc 15  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 2/11/2010 friends and family members, then I don’t think the boat stops at all. It just continues. I don’t know how this law came about. No boat owners contacted me about this and I have a good friend that was in the boat business for years. The current situations is relatively foolproof. You have an… a lanyard attached to you and if you walk away that either pulls out the key or it breaks the connection and the boat will stop. And electric device to me has more questions than I think it has answers. And because of that and because when I was much, much younger I not only had pleasure craft I worked as a lake safety patrol officer, I don’t see how this would work. It appears to me that it might be the brainchild of a company that wants to sell this elec… electronic device. I've not read anything about it in any of the powerboat magazines that I read and for that reason… not certainly anything having to do with the Sponsor, a good friend and a man I hold in high regard, this to me raises more questions than it gives answers and I cannot in good faith vote for the Bill."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"

"Representative, I want to make sure I heard you correctly. One of your last comments, I think you stated that the delay was something that has been… I thought you said agreed to by both Parties?"

"I see."

"Okay. Well thank you for the clarification. I misheard it. There was a little bit of noise in here. I just wanted the clarification. Now, can you tell me what the reason is for a delay at this point?"

"Well, I just… I have a couple of concerns related to putting off the… the information that may be necessary to construct budgets at the local level. For example, as you know, it could possibly be a very difficult budget year for schools. We've heard that. We know that built into the education budget last year was about $1 billion in federal stimulus money that without replacement of some type of revenue could result in some substantial cuts to grant programs and even to areas that up 'til now have been pretty well protected like general state aid. To go along with that, school districts have to, by law, inform personnel 60 days prior to the end of the school year whether or not those individuals will return. I guess my concern is without a clear signal at least from the Governor's standpoint in the manner of a budget address that's given earlier that job becomes more difficult."

"And actually I appreciate the fact that that approach is being taken so that it's transparent, that information can be received, but the kind of specific information that you would get from a Governor indicating the priorities for the budget from his standpoint will come later if we give him more time rather than earlier. And I would just say that that makes it more difficult for providers and especially school districts who face other statutory deadlines to make the decisions that they need to make. And it just seems as if in this situation we need the information as soon as possible and this puts off what is an inevitable bleak picture."

"You don’t agree that it would be better to have the information earlier so that you can make…"

"Representative Currie, I… I know you have a vast amount of experience and understanding of this process and I respect that, but I have to respectfully disagree with a couple of points. Number one, this year especially I would think that the sooner we know what the priorities of the… the Governor of the State of Illinois are, the better off we are for planning purposes in order to deal with what's 09600097.doc 20  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 2/11/2010 going to be a very, very difficult year. Number two, the Governor has been in the executive office for over a year now. We've seen monthly forecasts of revenue. I think everyone has a pretty good idea that we're facing a pretty steep cliff. Why he has not been able to, at least at this point, plan for a budget address that would point out those priorities, I think it's not excusable. I think that was a leadership role. He could have put a Web site up a month ago, planned back from the original date, accomplish the same kind of transparency and input that you’re talking about and he failed to do that. I think that the people of the State of Illinois shouldn’t have to wait. Schools districts shouldn’t have to wait and other providers because the Governor didn’t think of this earlier. He should have done it earlier and it's not the responsibility of everyone else to react to that lack of planning. I would request that this Body look at this as what it is. It's just an attempt to put off and deflect the responsibility for this to others rather than assuming the leadership role, present a budget in a timely manner so others can make decisions that are appropriate regarding services that they can provide at the local level. Vote 'no'."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"

"Now, Leader, I need to know, is the date that's set in the Constitution, what is the actual date that… that we should do this?"

"Statutory.

"And last…"

"Right. And I'm not going to go back and talk about Governor Edgar. We're having to deal with this right now. And I'm also going to be very honest that last year, we know, we came and we moved this date and I thought it was a very wise thing to do because we had just impeached Governor Blagojevich, he had just taken over and it made sense that he wasn’t ready. That made sense. But you said something that he's wanting to do this because he wants to hear from the people. You said something like that. What was that?"

"Okay. Mr. Speaker, to the Bill. Let me tell you that I don’t have to have a Web site to tell you that my constituents already know what's a priority. The priority is, is that you do your job. You do it on the day that the Constitution says and you come forward and you present the budget so that we, their Representatives, can get to work on a budget. You're delaying a process and the people are getting tired of the games that are being played. Nobody has to put a Web site out to know we're broke. We're broke and it needs fixed. Ladies and Gentlemen, you vote for this you're delaying the process again. Let's get to work. Ask the Governor to do his job so that we can do ours. Let's get it done. Get him in here. Let's direct his… let us… let him tell us what his budget plans are, give us a blueprint so that we can get to work. It's about time and our constituents… you don’t need to poll them on a Web site. I can poll them in the coffee shops every day and I know you can too. They want us to get busy and they want him to get busy and fix the problem. Vote 'no'."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Will the Sponsor yield?"

"Representative, you alluded to the change in the date during Edgar and Thompson but was it a fact that the adjournment date was June 30 rather than May 31? So, I mean, that makes a big difference." 09600097.doc 23  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 2/11/2010

"You know, I honestly don’t care when he presents it quite frankly for the simple reason that it is what it is. That he uses humane does that mean they're going to gas in the chamber this time so that we all don’t feel the pain? I mean, we have not done a good budget in I don’t know how many years. Last year the Governor presented a budget. We let him do it later because he had just come in, and then we proceeded to throw it out in lump sums and make a total fiasco of it. If we would spend the time between now and when the Governor presents his budget to actually go into appropriation hearings where we sit down with the agencies and on the points in the Governor's letter we actually are updated on where the money is and how much money there is. Nobody is even envisioning that this is going to be a good budget year. I don’t care when you present the budget. It's going to be a tough, hard thing to do. So, if he presents it in March, what difference does it make one way or the other if we start going over where we're at now? And if we would get those pledges that he's actually going to and that the Speaker would actually convene regular appropriation hearings like we used to have so we could actually go over where we are now in line items and where we're going to be as we start into the new fiscal year and then actually get together on a reasonable budget. I think this is going to be painful for all of us. So, basically partisan or not I don’t care when he presents it, we're 09600097.doc 24  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 2/11/2010 going to have the same problems and I don’t think it's going to get any better. Between now and March if it gets any better it will only be because the Federal Government has increased things they're going to give us or the economy has picked up. And if we're hoping for that to bail us out of this deep abyss that we're in, I don’t think that's going to happen. So, accommodate him. Who cares whether we accommodate him or not. I hope he uses a teleprompter this time and I hope we certainly get the things on our desks. The disks that we need. The meetings that we used to have the night and the days before with his people so that we can go in with our staffs and listen to what's in that budget so we can starting off whether it's February or March with some informed amount of information that we can move forward in to try and make the best of a really bad situation for this state. I don’t… I don't care what the Bill says. You know, if you want to move it to March and you can accommodate that, fine, but I'd like some accommodation from the Leader because the Governor doesn’t send or set the time we go into appropriation committees. We don’t go in until after he presents the budget. We should be in now seeing what's actually in this year's budget and where we're at. If that was accomplished, at least we'd be doing something between now and the time he presents this woefully bad budget."

"I was seeking recognition before the vote. Don’t sit up there and shake your head at me, Tim. My light was on before the vote was called."

"I hurried back here as fast as my little legs could carry me. So, in other words, if you aren’t on the floor when you make the call we have no right to ask questions?"

"Oh, I know the parliamentary procedure. You know, I have visited some banana boat republics and I've watched their parliamentary procedure and there is a great deal of similarity. I would just like to say this, in the worst fiscal crisis the State of Illinois has seen since the Great Depression we can't even give a damn budget message on time. So let him deliver the budget message in March which leaves the General Assembly about six weeks to figure out how to get out of a $12 billion hole that your side has dug. No wonder you didn’t want any questions. You don’t want any answers. You don’t want to give any answers to questions. You don’t even know how the hell you got in this hole. So, no, I don’t blame you. I wouldn’t want to answer any questions if I was on your side of the aisle either. So continue your games. Obfuscate, blame 09600097.doc 27  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 2/11/2010 everybody else. It couldn’t have been us. You've run every lever of power in this state for eight years. Are you proud of it? Are you proud of what you've done? Look at it this way, maybe you can sell some state assets to that pawn broker you nominated for Lieutenant Governor, maybe he can give you enough money to get out of the damn hole that you built."

"Well, thank you, Mr. Speaker. And while you're talking to the pawn broker I wonder if you could have him recommend somebody 'cause they know people in every walk of life who could exam the electricians… the electronic voting system here because I swear that I pushed the 'no' vote on that last Bill but I see that according to the electronic record and the one and only Tim Mapes who keeps track of all of these things that somehow my vote from my finger to Tim Mapes brain there was a mis… miscommunication. So I would like to be rec… the record to reflect that had my vote been recorded I would have voted 'no' on 2240, the Amend… the Motion to Concur."

"You are a gentleman and a scholar."

"Mr. Speaker, just having witnessed what unlimited amounts of money can do to a caucus, I've filed a Resolution to discharge the Rules Committee of House Bill 5008. Under the applicable House Rule 54(a), Section 2, all Motions will be assigned Standard Debate status. I wish to debate my Motion to Discharge. Upon the conclusion of the debate, I ask for a recorded vote on the Motion to Discharge. Under Rule 49, Article IV, Section 8(c) of the Illinois Constitution, which is generally disregarded here, any vote shall be by a record vote whenever five Representatives shall so request. I am joined by at least five Members on my side of the aisle to so request. We wish a recorded vote on the Motion to Discharge the measure House Bill 5008 that simply says if campaign limitations on all of us are good enough then campaign limitations and spending limitations are good enough, for the four Legislative Leaders. That's all the Bill does. It treats the four most powerful people in this Body and across the 09600097.doc 29  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 2/11/2010 rotunda the same as all of us. I move for the immediate discharge of House Bill 5008."

"Mr. Speaker, I'm absolutely shocked and appalled by Speaker Madigan's objection. If I were the Speaker of the House, I might be led to object too, but I've been here 25 years, not much longer to go, hope I can leave on good terms but I'm not going to leave here like anybody's lapdog. I've seen firsthand from both sides of the aisle what unlimited dollars from the Speaker, the House Minority Leader, the President of the Senate, and the House or… the Senate Republican Leader, I've seen what that money can do. I've seen a race where $900 thousand was put in to by the President of the Senate. I've seen House races where both sides have put in more than 600 thousand, 700 thousand dollars into a race for a seat that pays $66 thousand a year. Is it about good government? I don’t think so. Is 09600097.doc 30  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 2/11/2010 it about how you obtain power? Better yet, is it about how you retain power? I think so. I know the Speaker and I have great respect for him. And I don’t think and I've never had a Republican Leader ask me for anything although I've seldom been on the receiving end of money from the House Republican Leader. But I know what both Leaders ask for. They don’t ask for a 'yes' vote on every single Bill. I'm not saying that they do. But I am saying they generally ask for one vote when they give that kind of money or staff assistance or in-kind whether it's the leader of the political Party on both sides of the aisle. And that question generally is, can I have your vote for Leader of our caucus. Now if you just were given a half a million dollars and three crack staffers and partial royalties of Parliamentarian Ellis' next book what's your answer going to be? Sure… yeah… I'll vote for you. Is it any wonder in my 25 years here I've only seen one instance of any kind of serious attempt to dislodge a Leader? It wasn’t on your side of the aisle, it was on ours. You can't overcome that. You can't overcome the money. You can't overcome the influence. And you can't overcome the power that these four people have over the process. And am I endangering the Bills that I've asked to be out of Rules Committee? Probably am. Probably won't see very many. Why? Punishing me? I don’t care what you do to me. I could care less. Only people you punish when you take that attitude are the people who come to my office, who voted for me, who want me to file a Bill to redress some grievance that they think they have. You don’t punish me. 09600097.doc 31  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 2/11/2010 You just punish the people we're supposed to represent. You can send me out of here at the end of the year in any way, shape, or fashion. I'm not leaving with my tail between my legs. I'm not leaving with my head down because I know every day, every day that I've been here, I've tried my best. Haven't always succeeded. Haven't always done things the way perhaps I should have, but by God, none of you can say when I leave here in a few months that I didn’t respect the process and I didn’t try to maintain the highest standards of what we could be, not what we are so often. But what we could be. And this is one of those Bills that could make this place a little more Representative democracy. That's why the four Leaders don’t like it, although my Leader has signed on to it. I don’t think Speaker Madigan will. He made that obvious last spring. No reform Bill was going to pass with that restriction in it. No way. No how. Mr. Speaker, you're a remarkable man. You have tremendous capabilities and abilities. I respect you. I respect the discipline you have and I respect the institutional knowledge that you have. But I can tell you this, you're just a few months younger than I am, our time is passing. A generational torch is here whether we like it or not. The new generation isn’t going to do what you and I have been used to. I came up probably the same way you did but in a different part of the state. I know what it's like to work on campaigns at the age of 16 and 17. And we did things then that would absolutely be castigated in every way. As a 17-year-old, one of my jobs to work precincts was to hand 09600097.doc 32  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 2/11/2010 out half pints of whiskey. Am I proud of that? No. It was an accepted part of working precincts many, many, many years ago. I've changed. I know in some respects you've changed, but it's a generational change, Mr. Speaker. You can't stop it. I can't stop it. And it shouldn’t be stopped. Business as usual is on its last leg. Will we be the last state to reform ourselves? Will we and must we continue to be the laughing stock of all states of the union? Will we continue to be the only state in the country who has the biggest city in that state could have a quorum of aldermen who are convicted and have spent time in the federal penitentiary? Must we be the only state that may well have two successive Governors in prison? Must we be the only state in which pay-to-play should be the state motto? Or are we really going to try and change. Change isn’t easy, Mr. Speaker. It isn’t easy for me. It isn’t easy for you. It isn’t easy for any of us. I wanted to stay in this chamber. My desire was to drop dead on the House Floor. Oh, there's lots of people who have offered to help me. I love this chamber and I love this process. But I love more what it could be. What we could make it be. Not what it is. I'm not the only person leaving, Mr. Speaker, because of sheer frustration with the way things are done here. You have people leaving on your side of the aisle who are every bit as frustrated as I am. And there are people on my side of the aisle leaving not because we're burnt out, not because we aren’t capable, not because we don’t want to stay here, but after a while when you beat your head against a brick wall day after day, week after 09600097.doc 33  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 2/11/2010 week, month after month, and you find out the brick wall isn’t damaged at all and all you have to show for it is a headache, it's time to go. It's time to debate House Bill 5008. It's time to end the culture of cash in the State of Illinois. I'm disappointed that we couldn’t debate the Bill. I think it has some merit. It may have passed. It may have failed, but you, Sir, don’t even give us that option. You don’t give anybody on this floor the alternative to debate a concept… an idea whose time is coming whether anybody on this floor wants it to or not. It will happen. I hope I live long enough to see it. Mr. Speaker, I'm disappointed in the objection. I would move to overrule the ruling of the Chair. And I would ask for a recorded vote on our Motion. And our Motion at this point can only be, we move to overrule the Chair by not giving us… and I dare say some people on your side of the aisle, an opportunity to debate what we know is going to happen. I don’t know why we'd insist on delaying it. It's time to stop being what we are and working on becoming what we can be, and move this state from the sewer of politics and corruption to the shining state in which I was born and a political career that my father gave to me and I promised him when he passed I would never ever do anything to Sullen his memory or to Sullen the view in which the voters have held me in my district for more than 12 terms. It's time to stop. It's time to start a new day. And why do we persist in delaying the inevitable? I move to override the Chair."

"Mr. Speaker and to all of us… all of you on the House Floor, and with all due respect to you, Mr. Speaker, I heard several times in your explanation and the reference to your position and your views and therein lies the problem. There are 177 Members in the House and the Senate and one person dictating how we're going to run this state is unacceptable. As Bill Black said, and I wont get it correct, but those days are over and if they're not, they should be over. Everybody in this state involved in this system or otherwise acknowledges that we have a problem. We have become the laughing stock of the entire country. And when one person dictates whether or not a Bill or a concept, an idea, a new thought can be debated or not, that's not a democracy. That doesn’t work. And while I find it ironic that you want to say that it won't work under the scenario of a General Election, it's okay because… or it's not okay because it wont work under the General but it worked under the Primary scenario. There's some inconsistency there. This was not a compromise. This was a take it or leave it Bill that the Governor signed, 09600097.doc 37  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 2/11/2010 who at the time of the signing said it was not a whole loaf. That we needed to do more. That this did not accomplish what needed to happen. Every reform group in the State of Illinois that worked on this said this is a start. We need to finish the job. Every editorial board that opined on this said it was a start and that was the kind way they approached it, that we needed to do more. Everybody in this chamber knows we didn’t get the job done. The people of the State of Illinois know we didn’t get the job done. Why can't we have a vote on this Bill? If you don’t like it, take it to committee and kill it. But we can't even have a vote on the very essence of the problem… one of the problems of this state. Can't even have a vote it. Nope, I've decided we're not going to have a vote on it. I've decided. I'm the one person. Ain't going to happen. I will tell you when you can have a vote. I can… I will tell you when a Bill gets to Rules. I will tell you whether or not this Bill's going to go forward and get to the Governor's desk. One person in the State of Illinois has decided that campaign finance reform is done. One person has decided that four Legislative Leaders… and I confess and know that I'm one of them… will have more power as a result of the Bill that passed not less. Every Member in this chamber loses power and money under the Bill that passed and the four Legislative Leaders get stronger. Why on earth do you let that happen? That's almost comical. You let the Speaker get even stronger and the President of the Senate even stronger, the Minority Leaders even stronger. We regulate everybody else. We're going to 09600097.doc 38  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 2/11/2010 spend this Session regulating everybody else in the State of Illinois. You're a business, we're going to regulate you. You're a homeowner, we're going to regulate you. You're a not-for-profit, we're going to regulate you. You're a lobbyist, we're going to regulate you. But we're not going to regulate the four Legislative Leaders because that would… that would… well, mainly because a couple of them aren’t going to let it happen. Not mainly, the only reason we're not going to regulate us is 'cause two people won't let it happen. Governor wants it. Every single one of you on the other side of the aisle, when you're asked about it, will say to the press or to the public or to a constituent we need to go further on campaign finance reform. Yeah, but the Bill won't get assigned to committee. I can't vote on it, but if it did, I would. When are we going to quit the charade? When are we going to change the system? This is one way to change the system. This is one way to finally say what you always say to all of us at night at dinner, or at some establishment, or in your offices, or wherever we run into each other, we really need to change this. A couple of people have too much power. We've got to do what they say. You complain about it all the time to everybody. And here's one opportunity, a pretty significant opportunity, to say, I'm not going to let it keep going. I'm going to stand up… And that's tough to do, isn't it? None of us like doing that. We don’t like to challenge that person with authority 'cause that's tough. And its awkward. And there can be some repercussions. And there can be some big ones. 09600097.doc 39  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 2/11/2010 But if you're ever going to do it, now's the time. This can set the tone for this Legislative agenda, for this Session, and for the future. Now's the time to say enough is enough. I'm sorry, Mr. Speaker, I respect you. You do a good job, but on this issue we need to move forward. On this issue time… now is the time to change the way Illinois government operates. Now is the time to say to the people of Illinois, we got it. We heard you. We're going to make a change. A significant change. I don’t like being the laughing stock of the country. I don’t find any joy in that. There's nothing humorous about that. It affects all of us. And this is one way to restore a little credibility and integrity to the people's House and to the people's Senate. We can do it. You can do it. For those reasons, I would ask you to vote with us on this Motion. This is the golden opportunity to say to everybody, we heard you. We're going to move forward. Thank you, Mr. Speaker."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Just want to make a couple of points. Yesterday, I had a… had a group here from Crawford County, Illinois, that came down to the House Floor and had the opportunity to talk about the process with them. And I talked about the committee process and I talked about the Rules Committee and I talked about how this works and one of them asked a question regarding why… how does happen that a Bill isn’t able to be debated that we're interested in back home? We have some issues… what happens? So, well, there's this committee called the Rules Committee and 09600097.doc 40  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 2/11/2010 I explained it and I explained the power involved and you know, I remember the look in their eyes. The look in their eyes when I described to them how their government really works… when they found out that this… this chamber and this government of the people is controlled by an individual it was liked they were punched in the stomach. It's like they got the wind knocked out of them. Are you kidding? That's how this works? One person? Then one of them said, well, then, that one person… that one person can, if… if they want to stop a Bill that maybe some individuals who can make huge campaign contributions… that person deals with those groups and that can possibly influence. I said, bingo, that's what we have. Ladies and Gentlemen of the House, this… this is a great opportunity. We had last spring momentum. We had gotten to a point where we were… we were disgusted as a Body. Our Constitutional duty was fulfilled and we impeached and removed a Governor. We had momentum. But then something happened. We had House Bill 24. Go back and look. I'm not going to do it, but I could name multiple Members on both sides of the aisle that… that supported a Bill that at the right time was doing the right thing. But what happened? I went back just a few minutes ago… you know how many people removed themselves as a cosponsor from House Bill 24 that had the kind of limits that we're talking about in House Bill 5008? You know how many people removed themselves? Zero. Why didn’t you remove yourself if you didn’t think it was the right thing to do? But right now you have an opportunity, if you really believe in what you believed in a year ago, to 09600097.doc 41  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 2/11/2010 override the Chair. And I know it's not an easy thing to do. But if your name is still on House Bill 24 and you believe in that concept and you didn’t remove your name, how you going to vote in a couple of minutes? You going to have any courage? Are you going to vote your convictions? You going to vote for what you signed up for a year ago, real campaign contribution reform or are you going to vote because you have to because you're afraid. Call it what it is. You're afraid of voting for your conviction. And what are we talking about here? Are we talking about voting for House Bill 5008? We're not. We're talking about discharging that Bill from Rules so we can have a full and open debate about it. Speaker Madigan just a few minutes ago started the debate. He had some points that he wanted to make regarding the Bill. That's what the process is supposed to be about. If there are some… some issues related to it bring those out here. We always have debates on Bills where people say, I think it's a mistake because of this problem with the Bill and someone else will counter that and we have a full and open debate on it and then we get to vote 'yes' or 'no', right. Why can't we vote 'yes' or 'no' on what could be one of the most important changes we can make. Ladies and Gentlemen of the House, the combination of power and money has resulted in a corrupt state, one that has become the laughing stock of this country and maybe the world. We have to end that. You have the power to do that. How do you do that? What's the first step? How do you begin on that process? You start by making the vote to at least debate the Bill. That's 09600097.doc 42  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 2/11/2010 all. If you're convinced later that's it's not the right way to go, you can vote against the Bill. You know, it's time. Those watchdog groups last year… you remember what they said? They said, okay. We'll take what we can get right now. But they also said they vowed to fight another day. You remember that? They were going to fight another day. Today's the day. Today is that day. Have the courage… have the courage to vote your conscious. Override the Chair and let's debate this and we'll go home and talk to the people about how we really want their government to change."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Ladies and Gentlemen of the House, I have a unique privilege in this chamber for several reasons. I've only been here seven years, but I'm about the same vintage as the Speaker and Mr. Black so I've spent a few years on this ball of mud. I also have the privilege of representing a predominantly rural area of northwest Illinois, part urban, part rural. And the reason I call that such a significant privilege is I write weekly columns and 17 newspapers are kind enough to write what I print. I work very hard at staying very much nonpartisan and I speak often with great praise and admiration for Speaker Madigan. And certainly as we worked last year on the Legislation to create campaign finance reform, I was literally dumbfounded by the reform groups who made the statement, the one thing we absolutely will not accept is all of the power only going to the Legislative Leaders and that's exactly what we did. But throughout all of this my 09600097.doc 43  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 2/11/2010 admiration and respect for Speaker Madigan, arguably the most powerful politician in the State of Illinois, my respect for him has always been there. And then the day before yesterday he creates a YouTube. And I'm sure it's been watched by everybody in this chamber. And let me just give you a little quote because he put it on YouTube. He obviously wanted the world to see it. Those do-nothing dropouts over there. That would be us on this side of the aisle, the dropout do-nothings. And there were many more Scathing attacks that we don’t come to the alter. And I will have to tell you, Ladies and Gentlemen, I was amazed. I was astounded. And I was at a loss to understand how something like that could come from the man who has led this chamber with great respect of both political Parties year after year after year. But once again he now rises not only to be the proud Speaker of the House which he truly is but now two days ago he has decided to refer to us as dropout do-nothings. Maybe… Maybe it was just me. I took it very personal. I don’t think I'm a dropout. I don’t think I'm a do-nothing. I would love… I would love nothing more than to see this opportunity to discuss something that is so important for every citizen of the State of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I plan on, unlike Mr. Black, being around here for many more years. I hope I continue to have the privilege of serving with you, but I have to tell you, Sir, that YouTube was a cheap shot."

"Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The Gentleman from Crawford made… made some very good points. But Lieutenant, you have 09600097.doc 44  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 2/11/2010 just reminded me that of the Speaker's remarks of yesterday and I was a little offended when I was called a dropout because, Speaker Madigan, I was a dropout. I dropped out of college. I dropped out of college when my friend Billy Boehme was killed in a helicopter crash in Vietnam. So sometimes when you use words… I don’t know somebody that I know said words have meaning. So, I don’t know why you chose to go there but you did. But I do have a hint as to why… you know, normally when Representative Black makes a Discharge Motion or one of our Members makes a Motion that your side objects to the Majority Leader or one of the other Members… any Member from your side that will do as they're told… will make the Motion to object. But not today, not today. Why is that? I believe it's to send a message. I think that the message is clear. And I think that the Speaker's remarks earlier made it even more clear. I heard him say that behind closed doors a compromise was made, a deal was cut last year. And I… I, the wise Speaker of all, know that we can't make any more changes. I know and so that's the way it will be. A compromise was made last year. Mr. Speaker, I would… I would suggest that the ways of your thinking are numbered. I believe messages have been sent throughout the country, most recently in the State of Massachusetts. What were those people upset about? They were upset mostly that their government wasn’t listening to them. That their government had lost touched with their problems. They were upset that their government had spent nine months talking about a problem that no one seemed to have a real grasp of while job after job was lost 09600097.doc 45  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 2/11/2010 and no one was listening. They were mostly upset that across America in chambers like this with Leaders like you we live one way and force them to live another and those days… those ideas are over. It is a new day in America, where people will be heard whether you like the way they deliver their message or not. They will be heard. The days of single power brokers, the old style Chicago machine, is dead. It's going to die right here in Illinois. We will see to it and ironically we'll see to it by your very actions… actions today. Today is the beginning of a new day for Illinois and a new day for America and we have Mike Madigan to thank for it because he wants to hold on to every bit of power he can for as long as he can to dominate every thought that he can so that he can say… Well, I don’t know what he wants to say. I don’t know what he's going to say to his grandchildren about that because it doesn’t sound like something you'd want to share with your family."

"Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Thank you. Mr. Speaker, thank you very much, I'll be as brief as possible. There's little I can add to the eloquence of House Republican Leader Mr. Cross. The Gentleman from Crawford, Representative Eddy, I think said it very well. What's so sad about what we are about to vote on many of you think that you are voting on House Bill 5008 and you're not. 09600097.doc 46  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 2/11/2010 You're simply voting on an opportunity to possibly debate House Bill 5008 which the Speaker started the debate on 30 minutes ago. The ceiling didn’t fall in. The chandeliers didn’t fall down. He debated the merits or the demerits of House Bill 5008 for some time giving reasons and rationale why it may not be a good Bill and it may not be a good Bill. But as Roger Eddy and Leader Cross clearly said, all we're asking you to do is to let it be discharged. By overruling the Chair, you will let House Bill 5008 to the floor and we can hear a full and complete debate from Speaker Madigan, who's a brilliant attorney and I'm sure he can enlighten us on the recent Supreme Court decision that may be what we want to do, we can't do. I don’t know that all of us completely understand the recent Supreme Court decision. Why, maybe it's a good idea; maybe it's not a good idea. I thought that's the way the process was supposed to work. That's what I loved about this institution when I came over here. It's why I still love the institution because on most days… well, on some days… that is the way it works. Legislation is debated. Weaknesses are pointed out. Strengths are made even more stronger by Amendment and debate. The Bill will pass or fail. I've brought many Bills to the floor that I thought were positively brilliant. They didn’t pass. I've brought Bills to the floor that I thought were somewhat strange. They passed. I've brought Bills to the floor that I couldn't even remember why I brought them. Luckily for me I tabled those. But all we're asking you to do is to overrule the Chair to allow House Bill 5008 to be sent to 09600097.doc 47  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 2/11/2010 the floor to be debated. There's no guarantee it will pass. It may not pass, but we've already had a pretty good debate on it. We won't… but just to start, that's all we're asking you to do. I don’t know why it's so hard sometimes to do that. I don’t think Speaker Lyons will take it personally if you vote to overturn the Chair. I got to be in the Chair off and on when the only two years of my 25 I was in the Majority. I enjoyed it. I think I was overruled on occasion. You don’t take it personally. But you're not voting on the merits of House Bill 5008. You're voting on a simple Motion to overturn the Chair and the objection to the Bill and let the Bill be debated. And after that debate, then you can vote on the Bill and go back home to your constituents and tell them why you voted for it or why you voted against it, but many of you are going to hide behind this parliamentary maneuver. And there'll come a time… newspapers aren’t what they were when I came down here. The press boxes were always full. Both sides of the aisle. They had lots of newspapers with dedicated staffers who were assigned to the… Springfield. We had radio stations and television stations and the media business has changed, but the message still gets out. Albeit, perhaps in a different form. It gets harder and harder to hide from electronic means, and blogs, and all of the stuff that goes on today. So, why not just do what I think many of you want to do anyway. Vote to overturn the Chair to allow House Bill 5008 to come to the floor, be debated fully, the weaknesses, the strengths examined and then we'll vote on the Bill next week. The week after, 09600097.doc 48  STATE OF ILLINOIS 96th GENERAL ASSEMBLY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TRANSCRIPTION DEBATE 97th Legislative Day 2/11/2010 whenever… whenever we're allowed to have a vote. That's the way this process is supposed to work. That's the way we can strengthen the democracy that we're suppose to and swear to uphold when we're inaugurated. We can't do that when we hide behind parliamentary maneuvers that say, well, I would have voted for it but it didn’t get to the floor. I urge you to vote 'yes' to overturn the Chair. I mean, I urge you to vote against the Motion to sustain the Chair. Vote 'no'."

"Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker and Ladies and Gentlemen of the House. I want to be very careful. I don’t know how many… I'm not sure we can make political statements on the House Floor after our ethics reform, but I just want… as we leave for a Lincoln's birthday and the Douglas, King, Lincoln Banquet that many of us are going to be attending over the weekend… I just want the record to reflect, Mr. Speaker, I still like Art Turner a whole bunch."