Esprit de Pol                                            

As lawmakers scrambled to complete their work by the scheduled May 28 adjournment date, tempers were flaring and blood pressures were rising. But at least one group of busy people monitoring events managed to keep a sense of humor about the whole situation — albeit at others' expense.

The annual Gridiron dinner and satirical show put on by the Illinois Legislative Correspondents Association was held May 18 at the Hilton Hotel in Springfield. In the audience were such familiar faces — and favorite targets of the correspondents' wit — as Gov. Jim Edgar, Atty. Gen. (and recipient of the not-too-coveted "pickle award") Roland W. Burris, Treasurer Pat Quinn and Comptroller Dawn Clark Netsch.

Senate Minority Leader Emil Jones was the only one of the four legislative leaders brave enough to show his face at the show, though he didn't seem to have much choice since he gave the traditional rebuttal to the correspondents' jabs. He was more than a good sport about the matter, stinging the Senate Democrats as much as the cast of reporters. "Democrats are a team," he told the audience. "We live, eat, sleep, fight as a team. I just wish we could vote as a team," he lamented.

No group could charge the correspondents with discrimination in the skits; they spared no one — Democrat nor Republican, black nor white, man nor woman. Some samples: "I've waited a long time for this job ... to be the big enchilada," said Senate President James "Pate" Philip as portrayed by Chicago Tribune reporter and Gridiron co-author Rick Pearson. "And you didn't think I was bilingual."

"Why did Tim Mapes yell at me about my service tax?" asked an incredulous Rep. Laurel Lunt Prussing (D-103, Urbana), played by WSSU/WIPA Radio reporter Megan Lynch. "And why does Lee Daniels keep calling me 'bullseye'?"

Perhaps the biggest laughs of the evening were reaped by State Journal-Register reporter Doug Finke, another of the script's authors, in his imitation of Rep. E. J. "Zeke" Giorgi (D-67, Rockford), explaining how a bill gets passed: "Mumble mumble mumble ... VEHICLE BILL ... mumble mumble mumble ... $500 LIMIT ... mumble mumble mumble ... ONLY AFFECTS ROCKFORD ... mumble mumble GOOD BILL, GOOD BILL ... ROLL CALL! ROLL CALL!"

As the Gridiron wound to a close, that portrayal sounded just about accurate for the legislature as a whole, Emil Jones last words in rebuttal, imitating Philip: "Have all been insulted who wished?"

June 1993 /Illinois Issues/11