Illinois Times: The devil and Mr. Jones

[Tweed]

http://www.illinoistimes.com/gbase/Gyrosite/Content?oid=oid%3A4030

"Emil Jones was not treated too well during his 10 years as the minority leader of the state Senate.

The majority Republicans locked him out of the room and killed most of his members’ bills. His fellow Democrat, House Speaker Michael Madigan, treated Jones like a junior associate, occasionally helping him out but not doing all that much to backstop him in the process.

Jones’ single greatest legislative accomplishment of his long term in the minority was during Gov. George Ryan’s tenure, when he was able to force the Senate Republicans into supporting a law making education an entitlement program. The media mostly ignored Jones’ accomplishment, but members of the leader’s staff asked for a pristine copy of my story so that they could present it to their boss.

Jones’ Democrats finally regained the majority in the 2002 elections, and the first bill introduced in that chamber, Senate Bill 1, sponsored by Senate President Jones himself, was designed to make sure that the entitlement, which expired in 2003, would remain part of state law."

[kevsand]

1. One more example of Blago's incompetence.

What planet does he live on, where he considers it acceptable behavior to publicly blindside the Speaker of the Senate?

This is an interesting article, as much for the insights into Madigan and Blago as for the focus on Jones.