UPDATE on Illinois Review HERE.
Talk about pride, arrogance and bigotry -- my State Rep. Will Davis (D-30) shows evidence of all three. He refused to call back his own constituent on Friday when I called to ask him why his name is not included as a co-sponsor on HR 1671, the Blagojevich impeachment resolution. Davis' Springfield secretary assured me she gave him my cell phone number. He has not attempted to call me.
Why do I call Rep. Davis "prideful"? He's one of the few Democrats who voted to support impeachment, but didn't feel strongly enough about it to add his name to the co-sponsorship list. Neither did Orland Park's Kevin McCarthy or Chicago's Elga Jeffries (who voted "Present") or Chicago's often-absent-from-House-proceedings Milt Patterson (who was the only 'No" vote.)
Why do I call Davis "arrogant"? He's never been challenged in an election by a Republican, and therefore, doesn't fear losing his job or feel the need to be receptive to constituents west of I-57. I have no idea how receptive he is to those east of I-57, but I can tell you he's never returned a phone call from me. The only reason we've met is that I caught him a couple of times in the halls of the Capitol.
Why do I call Davis "bigoted"? East of I-57 his district is heavily black. West of I-57, it is not. Need I say more? Those of us in Davis' district west of I-57 are ignored. He doesn't care what we think, because he gets all the support he needs east of I-57. We are Davis' dis-enfranchised voters, and he demonstrated Friday he could care less.
The story of how this district came to be is partially my fault, or so an Illinois lawmaker/friend told me.
In 2002, when the Democrats were re-drawing senate and state rep districts, my then-State Rep, now-Senator Maggie Crotty (D-Oak Forest) told a Republican lawmaker that she drew an "X" on my house and told the map drawers, "I don't want that woman in my district..."
And lo, and behold, though I live in a subdivision with those from another district, my neighbors aren't too happy, as all of us --because of Senator Crotty's map demands -- were drawn into a House and Senate district centered far east of us, in the heavily black communities of southern Chicago, Harvey and Markham, making our Republican-leaning precinct irrelevant to district voting.
Now, not only is Will Davis our state rep, Senator James Meeks is our state Senator. (And Bobby Rush is our Congressman.)
Why did Ms. Crotty pursue such a vicious plan? A few years ago, in 1998, Ms. Crotty voted to support partial birth abortion. I thought it would be good that the people in my highly-Catholic district know, so we placed a huge sign in our front yard with the information. As moms were taking their kids to school, they saw the signs, and called Ms. Crotty's office to inquire.
Ms. Crotty never forgot. Once when I saw her at the Capitol, she blasted me for "saying I am a Christian, and having a sign like that in my yard!" and refused to discuss her votes in a reasonable manner, although I tried to in her Springfield office.
Maggie continues to serve in the Illinois Senate, is now the chairman of the all-important J-CAR committee, and stays as non-controversial as possible. (Have you ever heard her name before? Point made.)
Ms. Crotty will stay on as a state senator until she doesn't want it anymore, or is vested enough for a full retirement pension. She's comfortable and content and not threatened in the least -- enabled to vote as she wishes, without any fear of being tossed out -- just as State Rep. Will Davis, Kevin McCarthy, Milt Patterson and Elga Jeffries are. The only thing they must do to stay in office is please the Democrat powers-that-be, and they're in as long as they want.
Which brings me back to prideful, arrogant and bigoted Will Davis.
Doesn't anyone else wonder why he simply couldn't bring himself to be a HR 1671 co=sponsor? It's something I'll probably never know, because he doesn't have to tell me -- his very own dis-enfranchised voter from the far west side of his district.
Thus it is, life as a Republican, held captive in polluted and un-democratic Cook County.
