New lawmakers endure friendly hazing

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Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM

SPRINGFIELD — Rep. Lou Lang wanted answers. Standing on the floor of the Illinois House, he grilled a freshman colleague about her legislation and exactly what burdens it would place on the state’s residents.

“Am I required to perform mouth-to-mouth on that dead skunk?” Lang demanded.

Lang’s question wasn’t serious (and the answer, of course, was no). The bill was the freshman’s first piece of legislation to come up for a vote, and Lang was gleefully engaging in a tradition of hazing rookies.

For 15 and 30 minutes at a time, rookies presenting their first bills have to stand before an entire legislative chamber and calmly respond to ridiculous questions and dark insinuations about their honesty and motives.

Rep. Norine Hammond, R-Macomb, for instance, popped up with legislation letting people collect roadkill — for food or for fur — under some circumstances. Her new colleagues hit Hammond with every conceivable question about how the law would work, including Lang’s about what to do if a critter isn’t quite dead.

Hammond said the hazing was all in good fun. But she admitted to a little concern about defending her roadkill measure against the onslaught.

“When I realized that that was actually going to be my first bill, I had to brace myself for that,” she said.

Her legislation passed easily, as virtually every lawmaker’s first bill does. Rookies rarely start out with contentious legislation that might be rejected.

With 29 freshmen joining the state legislature since 2010, senior lawmakers have had plenty of targets for the camaraderie-building, skin-thickening experience.

Hammond said a constituent who observed her roadkill ribbing contacted her, concerned about what gets accomplished in the Statehouse. Hammond plans to write back and assure the constituent that the tradition does not detract from important work in Springfield.

The hazing — which occurs in the Senate but is far more common in the House — is designed to create headaches for freshmen lawmakers.

Lang, D-Skokie, said it provides a valuable lesson on how to stand one’s ground, make a point and clearly defend a position and bill.

Lang said the hazing tradition also is a way to foster good will in an institution that often divides along party lines, he said. “After a freshman passes their first bill, after having gone through (hazing), most people on both sides of the aisle go up to that person, shake their hand, congratulate them.”

Of course, there’s also abuse just for the sake of abuse. Veteran legislators have started forcing the rookies to wear a red jacket during the debates — a jacket so red that even the Revolutionary-era British Army might have considered it too loud.

“When I was first made aware of the tradition, I was resistant,” said Rep. Daniel Biss, D-Evanston. “But by the time we had gotten to my actual first bill, I had resigned myself entirely.”

Rep. Roger Eddy, R-Hutsonville, said the red jacket routine started last year with Rep. Anthony DeLuca, D-Chicago Heights. Eddy said a colleague was wearing a red coat with leopard print on the inside and a long tail in back. He borrowed her jacket and claimed that wearing it was a time-honored tradition.

He succeeded in tricking DeLuca into becoming a human stop sign. Eddy thinks the jacket may become a permanent part of the hazing.