* This letter was sent to several Illinois state (not federal) legislators. I’ve redacted names..

* The Question: What’s the weirdest thing you’ve heard anyone say about state government (aside from the above)?

       

49 Comments - Socially DIstant watcher - Thursday, Jul 9, 20 @ 11:47 am: Constituents say the craziest things - Lester Holt’s Mustache - Thursday, Jul 9, 20 @ 11:49 am: From the reopening protests a few months ago, that JB is “literally a nazi” because he “forces” people to wear face masks 🤦🏻‍♂️ - Hot Taeks - Thursday, Jul 9, 20 @ 11:50 am: Oh God. - Bruce (no not him) - Thursday, Jul 9, 20 @ 11:50 am: I’m pretty sure that right there is the weirdest. (So far) - efudd - Thursday, Jul 9, 20 @ 11:51 am: That everything south of Cook county should secede from Illinois. - Al - Thursday, Jul 9, 20 @ 11:57 am: It works effectively, efficiently and professionally for the public good. Ha ha, of course I have never heard that. Just thought with the virus and humidity y’all could use a laugh. - JS Mill - Thursday, Jul 9, 20 @ 12:00 pm: Facepalm - Huh? - Thursday, Jul 9, 20 @ 12:03 pm: Don’t give tramp any odeas. - DuPage Saint - Thursday, Jul 9, 20 @ 12:04 pm: The God Bless you at the end was a sweet touch - Give Me A Break - Thursday, Jul 9, 20 @ 12:04 pm: Madigan secretly runs everything and hand picks who wins the Gov’s Mansion. - @misterjayem - Thursday, Jul 9, 20 @ 12:07 pm: Hard to top that one, but some of the John Kass conspiracy theories are right up there. – MrJM - Leslie K - Thursday, Jul 9, 20 @ 12:11 pm: ===I’m pretty sure that right there is the weirdest. (So far)=== I’m going to have to agree. - Boone's is Back - Thursday, Jul 9, 20 @ 12:11 pm: That it’s functional. - Buford - Thursday, Jul 9, 20 @ 12:14 pm: Believe the individual who sent these does not even reside in Illinois…or the Midwest. - Lt Guv - Thursday, Jul 9, 20 @ 12:17 pm: That parents “own” their children. Yes, they are responsible for their children, but ownership is specifically prohibited by the XIIIth amendment. Never mind that inconvenience. . . - Floyddog - Thursday, Jul 9, 20 @ 12:18 pm: That all of Chicago’s money comes from Downstate, and that Southern Illinois will flourish if not in the same state as Chicago. - Leigh John-Ella - Thursday, Jul 9, 20 @ 12:19 pm: Right now, somewhere there’s an Exelon exec saying, wait a minute, that would mean Illinois would have to expand its nuclear capacity. Maybe this isn’t such a crazy idea. Dispatch the lobbyists. - Nick Name - Thursday, Jul 9, 20 @ 12:20 pm: “Our government works should be treated fairly and appropriately; they should have a decent retirement, but not a gold-plated system where they can retire multimillionaires in their 50s.” - Bruce Rauner - walker - Thursday, Jul 9, 20 @ 12:22 pm: That 5G is an international conspiracy for mind control. - OutHereInTheMiddle - Thursday, Jul 9, 20 @ 12:29 pm: Wait? The State of Illinois has nuclear weapons? Who knew? - Drake mallard - Thursday, Jul 9, 20 @ 12:34 pm: I love the people who say they don’t have to wear a mask because they know they’re not sick. As if all of a sudden they’re bacteiologists - New Commenter - Thursday, Jul 9, 20 @ 12:50 pm: That it should be run like a business. - Nagidam - Thursday, Jul 9, 20 @ 12:56 pm: Not the weirdest but I love the yearly role out by Democratic candidates attacking Republican candidates for wanting to cut social security. - Linus - Thursday, Jul 9, 20 @ 12:59 pm: Echoing MrJM, above: Kass’ repeated, wild-eyed assertions that Jim DeLeo was secretly running the entire state. Pardon, running “the combine.” - dbk - Thursday, Jul 9, 20 @ 1:03 pm: Yeah, this is pretty weird. I really hope the author didn’t graduate from an Illinois school because then I’d feel obliged to say something about the quality of the education they received, oh dear. - Rich Miller - Thursday, Jul 9, 20 @ 1:03 pm: ===Jim DeLeo was secretly running the entire state=== I talked to John about that years ago. I told him: If DeLeo was running the state, there’d be no war between Blagojevich and Madigan. He agreed. Then kept writing it. - Election worker - Thursday, Jul 9, 20 @ 1:07 pm: I had a lady call me and tell me that the governor “should be drowned” for allowing vote by mail. Yes. You really read that and I really heard it. It was so specific, I worry about how much time she’s spent thinking about his demise. - 47th Ward - Thursday, Jul 9, 20 @ 1:08 pm: There was a state senator in Nebraska who filed suit against God seeking relief from the capriciousness and devastation of natural disasters and other cruel acts of nature. Sure, it was symbolic, but until this suggestion, it qualified for me as the weirdest thing I’d ever seen in state government. - Pundent - Thursday, Jul 9, 20 @ 1:10 pm: Privately a lot of the Democratic legislators agree with me. Bruce Rauner - 47th Ward - Thursday, Jul 9, 20 @ 1:10 pm: Also, I spent the early part of my career answering the phones in a US Senator’s office. It was a crash course in the various areas for which the federal government is responsible. But wow, some of the callers were off the hook nuts. Who calls their US Senator to get a street light fixed? - Just a thought - Thursday, Jul 9, 20 @ 1:11 pm: Illinois Vs. China, I don’t think that war is going to go how this constituent thinks it will go. Although, seeing Pritzker riding in a tank Dukakis style would be pretty sweet. - Madame Defarge - Thursday, Jul 9, 20 @ 1:23 pm: I was a congressional intern in 1974 in DC. As an intern I had to take the goofy calls. We had a guy calling in regularly claiming the CIA had forced him to take LSD and it ruined his life–wait a minute, that one was appearnly true. - Ostomie Wedgie - Thursday, Jul 9, 20 @ 1:27 pm: Just one? - Anyone Remember - Thursday, Jul 9, 20 @ 1:32 pm: [paraphrase, gist is correct] “CMS Revolving Funds aren’t tax dollars.” Michael Tristano, then-CMS Director, to Senate Appropriations Chairman Howard W. Carroll. - Dotnonymous - Thursday, Jul 9, 20 @ 1:35 pm: If DeLeo was running the state, there’d be no war between Blagojevich and Madigan. He agreed. Then kept writing it. - Rich Miller If Kass ever cared about the truth…I couldn’t tell. Madigan vs. Blagojevich was no match…at all. - West Side the Best Side - Thursday, Jul 9, 20 @ 1:36 pm: That state governments are on their own when it comes to international pandemics. - Amalia - Thursday, Jul 9, 20 @ 1:48 pm: brain currently out of order as I just cannot get past that someone thinks the state can declare war….. - Ron Burgundy - Thursday, Jul 9, 20 @ 1:54 pm: Well if you want to kill millions at least be polite about it. We should probably have Jesse White as our Secretary of State initiate diplomatic talks first. - Chatham Resident - Thursday, Jul 9, 20 @ 1:58 pm: “I have neat ideas.” Blago and/or Filan - Commisar Gritty - Thursday, Jul 9, 20 @ 2:28 pm: TIL state Reps and state Senators have the ability to unilaterally declare war on foreign nations. I really got to get around to reading that pesky constitution one of these days. - JudgeDavidDavis - Thursday, Jul 9, 20 @ 2:33 pm: Heard this a few times, and just shake my head at it…”There’s something about Springfield that makes Chicago politicians become corrupt.” - China Hawk - Thursday, Jul 9, 20 @ 2:33 pm: While this note is obviously nutty, what do people think about more rational and legitimate concerns being raised in Washington (see FBI Director’s recent remarks) about how the Chinese are infiltrating our research universities for espionage and technology transfer. Should we be looking at our vulnerabilities in the University of Illinois system? - Still Waiting - Thursday, Jul 9, 20 @ 2:37 pm: The face covering mandate is actually a test run to see if the government can completely control all aspects of our lives. - Wonk - Thursday, Jul 9, 20 @ 2:45 pm: While in state government I was the lucky recipient of correspondence from folks claiming to be sovereign citizens. The weirdest part was not the substance of the letter, usually asserting the right to travel through the state unmolested or stating that they are not subject to the jurisdiction of the courts or laws, but the bloody thumbprint seal at the end. - Jay Kay - Thursday, Jul 9, 20 @ 2:45 pm: The Indiana Pi Bill. Wikipedia: The Indiana Pi Bill is the popular name for bill #246 of the 1897 sitting of the Indiana General Assembly, one of the most notorious attempts to establish mathematical truth by legislative fiat. Despite its name, the main result claimed by the bill is a method to square the circle, rather than to establish a certain value for the mathematical constant π, the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. The bill, written by the crank Edward J. Goodwin, does imply various incorrect values of π, such as 3.2. The bill never became law, due to the intervention of Professor C. A. Waldo of Purdue University, who happened to be present in the legislature on the day it went up for a vote. - don the legend - Thursday, Jul 9, 20 @ 2:57 pm: Some of Trump’s 19,000 plus lies (over 23 per day on average)are at least equal to this in that they are so easily proven false. - Hamlet's Ghost - Thursday, Jul 9, 20 @ 2:59 pm: What I don’t understand about the “blame China for COVID” is this: Let’s assume COVID is a weapon developed by the Chinese military (of course, it isn’t), but if it was, wouldn’t that mean President Trump utterly failed to protect us against a foreign military? - Chicagonk - Thursday, Jul 9, 20 @ 3:12 pm: Not the state, but there are some conspiracies on Twitter about how Chicago Police disappear people in the Homan Square facility and sell their body parts on the black market. - Linus - Thursday, Jul 9, 20 @ 4:01 pm: ==He agreed. Then kept writing it.== This sums up the Kass approach to everything, so well. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.