Illinois could use Phil Rock now

The death of former State Senator Phil Rock last month brings back memories of something long missing from our state government, and that's the ability to compromise.

Rock, who was the president of the Illinois State Senate for many years, was a Democrat. However, he was not the kind of Democrat that we now have running the state in House Speaker Mike Madigan. Rock was able to work with Republican lawmakers and a Republican governor to accomplish what needed to be done to keep our state running. He would compromise, often giving in to an opposing view just because it was the right thing to do for the good of the state.

Madigan is unable to do that, holding fast instead to the positions championed by the special interests who control him. Why can't he support some of the things the governor has argued for this past year? Saying those proposals would hurt the middle class, he is really saying the labor unions and trial lawyers are against the legislation. The inevitable tax increase Madigan supports to solve the pension mess would be far more painful for the middle class, but necessary.

Senator Rock was a man of courage and principle. He was a statesman. Those are attributes we seldom see these days. We would not have gone more than seven months without a state budget if Phil Rock was still running the senate. Madigan and the other Democrats in the Illinois legislature should be ashamed of themselves. Where is the leadership in Springfield with the courage to confront Madigan and his supporters in the name of good government?

As they mourn the loss of one of their former leaders, isn't it time that someone down there gathers up the courage to become the leader and finds the compromise that gets Illinois moving again?

Tom Petersen

Elgin