Updated
Let’s see. The last time I wrote on here was when the Bears just won the NFC Championship. Since then, a month and a half has transpired and it’s time to update this thing. The Bears lost because Grossman is a brain dead loser and Ron Turner could not coach his way out of a wet paper bag with a giant hole in it.
MIG was held on March 1-4. Kennealy was Speaker (again), Shana was Clerk (again), I was House Chief of Staff (again) and the House was the best chamber (again). It wasn’t much of a contest. Walcher was elected Minority Leader and Calcagno was elected Majority Leader, positions at which they both excelled. The mock impeachment portion of the simulation (which we stressed out about entirely too much) ran like clockwork. Everyone enjoyed it and the Judiciary Committee turned Kennealy’s dream into a reality.
The non-House side of MIG was a disaster. Advisors were sticking their noses into business that they had no right doing so. It reminded me way too much of Dan Maxwell’s “advising” of SGA. Do what Dan said or else was his philosophy. People who should have remained neutral were making very poor attempts at playing both sides. I lost a lot of respect for these “advisors” this past weekend.
Kennealy, Walcher and I went to the Capitol yesterday to hand out the plaques and resolutions from the simulation. We met with the Clerk’s office and Tim Mapes, Speaker Madigan’s Chief of Staff. Mr. Mapes told us a lot about the remodeling and how they took many of the ideas from the Iowa Statehouse (the twin of the Illinois Statehouse). Bet you didn’t know that either!
We had a nice conversation with House Minority Leader Tom Cross in what can only be described as the nicest office I’ve ever seen. It was enormous. Leader Cross is one the most down-to-earth people you’ll ever meet. It was funny when he picked up his phone, dialed a number and asked for a photographer. The photographer was there in less than a minute. I should run for office and become Minority Leader. The office alone would be worth the headaches.
