Rush to Judgment

The people of Illinois have been treated in recent weeks to the spectacle of their state lawmakers engaging in their annual rite of spring: making "goddamn fools" of themselves, in the apt words of one representative, as they rush to complete the legislative agenda before the adjournment scheduled for June 30. Since some 4,500 measures had been introduced, legislators were forced to meet nights and weekends. As tempers flared, medics outside the chambers tested blood pressure, and sent two people to the hospital. One representative introduced a motion to permit members time each day for conjugal visits, either with their spouses or "other close associates of the opposite gender."

In the pell-mell push, the house passed five bills by votes of more than 130 to 0, although only about 30 of the 176 members were present. As the roll was called, legislators scampered about the floor to vote for absent colleagues. When even such stratagems failed to reduce the pile of legislation sufficiently, the Democratic leadership combined 168 bills into two packages and forced a vote on each without debate. Most of the legislators had no idea what they were considering, but they whipped the two through, 93 to 3 and 95 to 1.

In a moment of reflection, the house decided to recall 60 of the bills for separate consideration. But seemingly lost in the stampede were bills dealing with such issues as a crosstown expressway for Chicago, a new election code and no-fault divorce. When one freshman senator objected to the legislature's methods, he was advised by Charles Chew, a black senator from Chicago who happens to be bald: "Boy, you take this thing too seriously. When I first came down here, I was white and had hair."

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