A Friend of McHenry County Blog sent the following paragraph from Forbes:

“The fourth most dangerous city as ranked by our list is Springfield, Ill., a metro area of 200,000 four hours south of Chicago where the FBI reports 855 violent crimes and 70 rapes each year per 100,000 citizens.

“Despite its dangerous ranking, the state of Illinois has made great strides to respond to violent crimes against women; Illinois currently has more than 33 24-hour rape crisis centers and in 1992 was one of the first states to include rights for victims of violent crime in its state constitution.”

I doubt the danger to woman has anything to do with the politically charged atmosphere of the State Capital, but there is not doubt that there is a sexual aspect to this and undoubtedly other political arenas.

A view of the Illinois Capitol rail on the third floor where the legislative chambers are located.

In the musical “Boss,” based on Mike Royko’s book of the same name, there’s a song about “the girls who keep their jobs with their tails.”

I was told that Illinois Bell used to hire good looking young woman from rural parts of Illinois to fulfill that role.

Such assignations, of course, would not end up in an FBI data base, if the practice continued.

Neither would the “Springfield wives” of state legislators.

There was widespread talk that one of the ERA supporters changed an attorney-legislator’s vote the night before one of the votes.

And at a post-session party thrown by Governor Jim Thompson at the Executive Mansion, I was approached by a good looking young woman. When I demurred, she asked my if I let my wife (Robin Geist then) run my life. I told her that in matters like this, I did.

I stayed in the cheapest hotel–the Hotel Governor–along with other legislators who were not rolling in dough. It and its former parking lot is now the location of the Illinois Wine Tasting event at the Old Capitol Art Fair each May.

The walls were not that thick and some political types used it for affairs.

Then, there was the lobbyist who tried to pick up one of my constituents who was in the Capitol city for the week lobbying on a matter dear to her heart.

When he handed her his hotel key, she dropped it over the rail. They were on the third floor.

This is as good a place as any to put the initiation rite in the Illinois House of Representatives.

Veterans wait until there is a good looking woman sitting in the gallery.

They write a note to the legislator saying the woman would like to get acquainted and inviting him to join her in the gallery.

When the man (maybe it’s used on women, too, now) approaches the woman, someone gains the floor for purposes of an introduction and introduces the State Rep., who gets razzed when he returns red-faced to the chamber.