I always wonder how situations would be different if she were still around. She was a wonderful woman.
- WonderfulWorld - Thursday, May 28, 15 @ 1:31 pm:
Sigh. So do I.
- Give Me A Break - Thursday, May 28, 15 @ 1:32 pm:
No matter how crazy it got around the Statehouse, Judy was always able to cut right to the chase and give us a candid view of what was really going on. There simply will never be another one and God knows we need one right now.
She would be suffering from apoplexy with this governor. She came from a completely different Illinois governing era within the GOP. She survived as her party shifted from believing in some things being a public good into everything having a price and selling to the highest bidder.
JBT would not be considered a friend by this administration, in my opinion. She valued people and considered them priceless, while Rauner has indicated over the past six months that he considers everyone and everything disposable.
I concur. One of the biggest mistakes ever made was when the citizens voted Blago over Judy. Just think how different our state would be right now if that didn’t happen. An actual truth teller.
I could strangle certain friends who voted third party when she ran against Blago because “I just couldn’t vote for a Republican.” Bless their hearts.
- Pot calling kettle - Thursday, May 28, 15 @ 1:40 pm:
To take this farther, I miss Gov. JBT. I’m a solid Dem, but after seeing Rod & his people at work, I voted for her in 2006.
JBT is a model for the kind of person we need in both parties: middle-of-the-road, honest, forthright, and, most importantly, understanding of the need for compromise.
This really hit home with me that this was on the blog today because last night as I was looking through some stacks of paper I found a picture when I interned for JBT when I was in college, it now sits proudly on my desk. Heck of a lady!!!
I made the below comment in response to another post, but it bears repeating.
Generally I read comments posted here, content to follow the debate without really wading in. But this session has me thinking.
When session started, both chambers opened with really great, heartfelt tributes to Judy Baar Topinka, and I am discouraged to see how dramatically that bipartisan rhetoric has changed. I can’t help but wonder how session would be going if Judy was here. Could she have worked behind the scenes to help cooler heads - on both sides - prevail? I don’t know, but maybe it’s time our leaders try a little harder to embody the woman they all pledged to never forget.
When Judy called the Democrats to task, it meant something, because she was willing to call out her own. My vote for RB over JBT, is the only one in a long voting history I want back.
Rich you brought to my eyes. If Judy was around she would be calling people out and working with both sides to get things done. She truly loved the people of Illinois and we miss her.
Judy would have been honest, open, and willing as Comptroller. We would all have valued her clear vision. But she couldn’t have slowed this train wreck.
Rich: You sought something positive in Springfield last week. It took a week to find it, but your thought about JBT brought smiles to a lot of us today. And that was positive!
She would have brought the four Tops and the Gov together and kept them in the room until they started working together on a budget that was balanced. She would have ordered the pizza and served the coffee and made sure everybody played nice.
- Eddy - Thursday, May 28, 15 @ 1:19 pm:
Ditto, very much
- WeeblesWobble - Thursday, May 28, 15 @ 1:19 pm:
bright light in a room full of dim wits
- Wow - Thursday, May 28, 15 @ 1:21 pm:
She was our only hope of this place not going nuclear
- JustMe - Thursday, May 28, 15 @ 1:22 pm:
Honesty and ethics, a true political rarity.
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, May 28, 15 @ 1:22 pm:
I miss her something awful.
It’s a time like this the phrase “a void no one can fill” exactly means what it says.
- sideline watcher - Thursday, May 28, 15 @ 1:23 pm:
Yes. This session would have been quite different if she were here.
- A guy - Thursday, May 28, 15 @ 1:24 pm:
You could say this on any afternoon.
- Ducky LaMoore - Thursday, May 28, 15 @ 1:26 pm:
I always wonder how situations would be different if she were still around. She was a wonderful woman.
- WonderfulWorld - Thursday, May 28, 15 @ 1:31 pm:
Sigh. So do I.
- Give Me A Break - Thursday, May 28, 15 @ 1:32 pm:
No matter how crazy it got around the Statehouse, Judy was always able to cut right to the chase and give us a candid view of what was really going on. There simply will never be another one and God knows we need one right now.
- Rhino Slider - Thursday, May 28, 15 @ 1:32 pm:
I know what Judy would go around saying today, “We need a capital bill.”
- VanillaMan - Thursday, May 28, 15 @ 1:34 pm:
She would be suffering from apoplexy with this governor. She came from a completely different Illinois governing era within the GOP. She survived as her party shifted from believing in some things being a public good into everything having a price and selling to the highest bidder.
JBT would not be considered a friend by this administration, in my opinion. She valued people and considered them priceless, while Rauner has indicated over the past six months that he considers everyone and everything disposable.
- The Muse - Thursday, May 28, 15 @ 1:35 pm:
W.W.J.D.?
- Big Joe - Thursday, May 28, 15 @ 1:36 pm:
I concur. One of the biggest mistakes ever made was when the citizens voted Blago over Judy. Just think how different our state would be right now if that didn’t happen. An actual truth teller.
- Excesseively Rabid - Thursday, May 28, 15 @ 1:37 pm:
I could strangle certain friends who voted third party when she ran against Blago because “I just couldn’t vote for a Republican.” Bless their hearts.
- Pot calling kettle - Thursday, May 28, 15 @ 1:40 pm:
To take this farther, I miss Gov. JBT. I’m a solid Dem, but after seeing Rod & his people at work, I voted for her in 2006.
JBT is a model for the kind of person we need in both parties: middle-of-the-road, honest, forthright, and, most importantly, understanding of the need for compromise.
- Elo Kiddies - Thursday, May 28, 15 @ 1:42 pm:
Your blog needs a like button.
- Streator Curmudgeon - Thursday, May 28, 15 @ 1:45 pm:
All this thought is missing is a photo of her, smiling and shaking hands.
- Mama - Thursday, May 28, 15 @ 1:47 pm:
I know Judy’s staff misses her too.
- Muni PW - Thursday, May 28, 15 @ 1:47 pm:
This really hit home with me that this was on the blog today because last night as I was looking through some stacks of paper I found a picture when I interned for JBT when I was in college, it now sits proudly on my desk. Heck of a lady!!!
- Norseman - Thursday, May 28, 15 @ 1:48 pm:
Ditto!
http://www.trbimg.com/img-5488e140/turbine/ct-gop-3c-8-met-1221-all-sr-jpg-20141210/550/550×309
- Anon - Thursday, May 28, 15 @ 1:57 pm:
I made the below comment in response to another post, but it bears repeating.
Generally I read comments posted here, content to follow the debate without really wading in. But this session has me thinking.
When session started, both chambers opened with really great, heartfelt tributes to Judy Baar Topinka, and I am discouraged to see how dramatically that bipartisan rhetoric has changed. I can’t help but wonder how session would be going if Judy was here. Could she have worked behind the scenes to help cooler heads - on both sides - prevail? I don’t know, but maybe it’s time our leaders try a little harder to embody the woman they all pledged to never forget.
- ILPundit - Thursday, May 28, 15 @ 2:06 pm:
I remember feeling the same way about Vince DeMuzio when he passed shortly after Blagojevich took office.
- Wensicia - Thursday, May 28, 15 @ 2:10 pm:
I don’t think JBT would’ve had any effect on the Rauner madness.
- LaughingJane - Thursday, May 28, 15 @ 2:13 pm:
JTB in a word: class
- Anonymous - Thursday, May 28, 15 @ 2:19 pm:
When Judy called the Democrats to task, it meant something, because she was willing to call out her own. My vote for RB over JBT, is the only one in a long voting history I want back.
- nona - Thursday, May 28, 15 @ 2:23 pm:
There never would’ve been an overtime under Gov. Topinka. Though a Republican, she was not an extreme partisan and knew how to compromise.
- DizzyCow - Thursday, May 28, 15 @ 2:27 pm:
Couldn’t agree more
- Max's Mom - Thursday, May 28, 15 @ 2:41 pm:
Rich you brought to my eyes. If Judy was around she would be calling people out and working with both sides to get things done. She truly loved the people of Illinois and we miss her.
- Juvenal - Thursday, May 28, 15 @ 2:42 pm:
Sadly, I agree with Wensicia.
Worse, I think she might have gotten the same treatment as Schock and now McCann.
- Belle - Thursday, May 28, 15 @ 2:42 pm:
JBT helped me realize you should vote for the person and not for the party.
- BW - Thursday, May 28, 15 @ 2:53 pm:
Amen Rich
- walker - Thursday, May 28, 15 @ 3:08 pm:
Judy would have been honest, open, and willing as Comptroller. We would all have valued her clear vision. But she couldn’t have slowed this train wreck.
- Judge Cooked - Thursday, May 28, 15 @ 3:16 pm:
Rich: You sought something positive in Springfield last week. It took a week to find it, but your thought about JBT brought smiles to a lot of us today. And that was positive!
- DPGumby - Thursday, May 28, 15 @ 3:20 pm:
but would Brucie even bother to pay her any mind?
- northshore cynic - Thursday, May 28, 15 @ 3:44 pm:
Judy is what is required now more than ever.
She would have brought the four Tops and the Gov together and kept them in the room until they started working together on a budget that was balanced. She would have ordered the pizza and served the coffee and made sure everybody played nice.
- Anonymous - Thursday, May 28, 15 @ 3:54 pm:
She would have had them all in a room right now.
- Under Further Review - Thursday, May 28, 15 @ 4:17 pm:
I miss her for comedy value. Not much of a fan during political games.
- dupage dan - Thursday, May 28, 15 @ 4:47 pm:
When JBT passed, there were no adults left in the room.
- JTB former Staff - Thursday, May 28, 15 @ 4:53 pm:
We definitively miss her!. I’m crying now… Thanks Rich
- Jon Lester - Thursday, May 28, 15 @ 6:06 pm:
The one that really misses her but dosent know it is Rauner. If she was alive he would have been taken to the wood shed many a times already.