Roskam takes Springfield lessons to Congress

As a freshman state representative, Peter Roskam positioned himself as an opponent of government interference in the marketplace, an advocate for lower taxes and a social conservative.

He opposed abortion except if the mother's life was at stake and supported the reinstatement of the state's death penalty.

It was a relatively hard-line agenda for an Illinois Republican Party that at the time — 1993 — was gaining more ground with more moderate approaches on some issues.

So early on, Roskam took his lumps.

Early in 1995, shortly after Republicans won the majority in the statehouse, for the first time in years, Roskam had what former Republican state Senate colleague Steve Rauschenberger describes as a “baptism by fire.”

“After the Republicans won the house in 1995, (they) had kind of a legislative agenda” that included tort reform, or making it tougher to win huge legal settlements, said Rauschenberger, of Elgin.

At the time, Roskam, along with House colleague and law partner Al Salvi, were considered to be “no” votes because they were practicing personal injury attorneys.

“In the end, the pressure came pretty hard, Peter was persuaded and he did vote for it,” Rauschenberger said.

When an opening in the Senate came up to replace retiring Sen. Beverly Fawell, Rauschenberger was one of the party members who successfully lobbied for Roskam to be considered to fill the vacancy.

“Peter served almost the entire time he was down (there) on the judiciary committee in the Senate. There's no committee on earth that's worse. Everyone's brilliant, everyone's been to law school,” he said. “Peter was our kind of point person on that committee when we had complex bills. Being able to pull consensus out of lawyers demonstrated his talent.”

Though he served as a Republican whip in the Senate, “Roskam really wasn't a big leader down in Springfield,” Rauschenberger said. “Which speaks to the cultural differences between Congress and Springfield. ... In Congress, people wait weeks to have appointments with one another. The ability to navigate the cloakroom and the halls is a highly valued skill set, which matched up with Peter's personality.”