Rep. John Fritchey’s session was going
extraordinarily well — until he smacked into the last 10
days.
The Chicago Democrat was the prime mover
behind the unprecedented compromise between anti-abortion and
pro-choice groups earlier this session. The two sides had never
worked together before Fritchey forced them to the table. It all
started when House Speaker Michael Madigan guaranteed the
anti-abortion groups that they would have a floor vote on the
“Born Alive Infant Protection Act,” a version of which
had passed Congress with support from U.S. Sens. Ted Kennedy,
D-Mass., and Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y.
Nearly half of the Illinois House signed on
as co-sponsors, and a floor vote was imminent. Unlike the federal
legislation, however, the state bill would have triggered several
Illinois criminal laws, and Fritchey tried desperately for days to
stop the bill, then finally brokered the historic compromise in his
committee.
Fritchey also played a strong
behind-the-scenes role in the passage of Rep. David Miller’s
groundbreaking payday-loan-reform legislation. Although Miller,
D-Calumet City, deserves much of the credit, the bill might not
have passed without Fritchey’s assistance.
In mid-May, Fritchey and Rep. Lou Lang,
D-Skokie, teamed up in Fritchey’s Judiciary Committee to kill
off an attempt by the religious right to water down the new state
protections for gays and lesbians. The conservative’s
proposal was also supported by Madigan, who replaced opponents on
the committee.
Fritchey and Lang both argued that the
proposed amendment, sponsored by Republican David Reis, was too
broadly written. They hammered away with their argument so
persuasively that two conservative Democrats, Reps. Kevin
McCarthy, D-Orland Park, and Jim Brosnahan, D-Evergreen Park, sided
with Fritchey and against the Catholic Church’s lobbying arm. The
bill never resurfaced.
As I said, Fritchey was having a pretty good
session: a major compromise, a huge victory, and the sweet defeat
of a hostile bill all in the matter of a few months.
But then the troubles began. Like many
liberals, Fritchey was crestfallen to learn that Madigan had
decided to push for medical-malpractice reform. Fritchey was
furious that Madigan would turn his back on trial lawyers, who are
among the Democrats’ best friends. Even greater, however, was
his dismay that the Democrats would abandon the victims of medical
malpractice.
“This bill is a misguided effort to
respond to changing political winds, and it’s the future
victims in Illinois that will be left twisting in those
winds,” Fritchey said during debate.
But the final straw came when Fritchey
learned that Madigan, the governor, and Senate President Emil Jones
had cut a deal to essentially skip $2.3 billion in state pension
payments. Fritchey was truly horrified by the proposal’s
fiscal implications and believed that it was absolutely the wrong
thing for Democrats to stand for.
Fritchey vowed to make a stand and, when
Madigan came calling, said no way. Madigan asked what Fritchey
wanted, but Fritchey said that he wouldn’t trade for
anything.
That’s when the real trouble began.
Sen. James DeLeo, D-Chicago, learned about Fritchey’s
position on the pension bill and commenced applying pressure. The
two longtime allies argued all day. Vicious threats were made,
nasty counterthreats offered, but, when all was said and done,
Fritchey voted for the bill.
Fritchey was as depressed after that vote as
anyone remembers seeing him. The brutal reality of Chicago politics
finally hit home as it never had before. Friends say he seriously
talked of resigning. Others, less sympathetic, shrugged and said
that he should learn to pick his fights more carefully.
A few days later, Fritchey did something that
I’ve never seen a politician do — he publicly
apologized. “I wish I hadn’t voted for it,”
Fritchey told Alan Krashesky, host of NewsViews, which airs on Chicago’s WLS (Channel 7).
Fritchey did admit that the Democrats
didn’t have many other alternatives, but at least he started
closing the bitter wounds that opened up late in the session. This
could very well be a life-changing event. We’ll see what
happens next spring.
This article appears in Jun 16-22, 2005.
