Ill. pol explodes on state House floor

A state representative blew his top Tuesday on the floor of the Illinois State House of Representatives, flinging a copy of a new pension reform proposal into the air and telling his stoic colleagues that they “should be ashamed” of themselves.

“I’m sick of it!” state Rep. Mike Bost yelled, saying the bill was too long for lawmakers to read before voting on it. “These damn bills that come out here all the damn time, come out here at the last second. I’ve got to try to figure out how to vote for my people. … You should be ashamed of yourselves!”


The proposal, Senate Bill 1673, had been approved by a state pension committee just hours before heading to the House floor for debate.

“I feel like somebody trying to be released from Egypt! Let my people go!” Bost said, as his fellow lawmakers shifted uncomfortably around him. “My God, they sent me here to vote for them!”

He ended his tirade by pushing the microphone away and falling into his seat.

Said “CBS This Morning” host Erica Hill on Wednesday, “Those are the kinds of things we see from Parliament overseas somewhere, not necessarily in the Illinois state Legislature.”

This article tagged under: Illinois