According to the Washington Post, An Illinois state Democratic lawmaker is facing pressure to resign after she said she would like to pump “Legionella” into a GOP colleague’s water system so his loved ones “can be infected” and “ultimately die.”
Democrat Rep. Stephanie Kifowit said "I would like to make him a broth of Legionella and pump it into the water system of his loved ones so that they can be infected, they can be mistreated, they can sit and suffer by getting aspirin instead of being properly treated and ultimately die," Kifowit said in a fit of rage.
In context she was arguing in favor of a bill that would significantly raise damages given to families of veterans who died during a Legionnaires' disease outbreak in Illinois. To paraphrase her impassioned comments and still keep them in context: Rep. Peter Breen doesn’t support this bill, has no sympathy for veteran’s families that have suffered Legionella and I hope he and his family suffer from Legionella until they die.
Kifowit’s comments were met with swift backlash from Illinois Republicans. A few minutes after Kifowit's statement, Republican Jeanne Ives came to Breen’s defense. "How dare you concoct up some sort of story about brewing up some batch of Legionella and having him feed it to his family," Ives fired back. "How dare you take an honest debate about an issue and then wish death on my colleague Peter Breen, his wife and his two adopted kids." “We can’t discuss an issue here without you guys wishing death on republicans?!! It’s just unbelievable! Unbelievable!”
Kifowit, a co-sponsor of the bill and a Marine veteran, said shortly afterward that her words were “twisted and misrepresented.” However, she apologized to Rep. Breen for her poor choice of words. After reflection, Kifowit told the The Washington Post she should not have singled out Breen and should have instead called for everyone to imagine themselves in the family members' shoes. Breen reportedly accepted Kifowit’s apology, but her words still burned in the Illinois House leading them in a vote 110-0 to expunge Kifowits statement form the record.
Kifowit’s comments draw up images of a favorite song of mine:
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