Nobody Calls Just to Say Hello: Reflections on Twenty-Two Years in the Illinois Senate

Contents

vii Contents Preface ix Ed Wojcicki Acknowledgments xv Chronology of Senator Philip J. Rock’s Career xvii Introduction: Try to Be Fair and Evenhanded 1 1. They Told Me It Wasn’t My Turn 11 2. Getting My Opportunity in Springfield 19 3. Battling Walker and Fighting for Children 32 4. My Finest Accomplishment 43 5. A Scandal I Didn’t Deserve 50 6. The Crazy Eight Emerge 60 7. A Move to Oak Park 72 8. Finally, the Senate Presidency 79 9. Choosing Leaders and Saving Chrysler 87 10. A Redistricting Fight 98 11. Going National and Beefing Up Our Party 104 12. Speaker Madigan 114 13. Getting Behind the Tax Increase of 1983 119 14. Boosting Regional Transportation 135 15. A U.S. Senate Race against Paul Simon 146 16. Year of Major Education Reform 154 17. The Debacle of the 1986 Elections 164 contents viii 18. Illinois Women in Government 173 19. The Cubs and the Sox 178 20. Another Tax Increase and Another Mayor 185 21. Riverboats and Governor Edgar 194 22. The Final Year 205 Epilogue: After the Senate 212 Appendix: Illinois Governors, Senate Leaders, and House Speakers, 1965–2011 220 Notes 223 References 233 Index 235 Photo gallery following page 118 ...