THE ILLINOIZE: A Valentine's love letter to Illinois...Meet Rep. Dennis Tipsword
February 14, 2023
Good morning, Illinois. Happy Valentine’s Day. I choo-choo choose you.
Yesterday was a state holiday and Chicago media is breathless about the Chicago Mayor’s race, so we’re staying out of it for the most part. We also don’t have any details about the Governor’s budget proposal officially yet, so today’s newsletter is a bit truncated. We’re kicking around some things for subscriber-only newsletters this week. You can click below to subscribe.
The House and Senate are in today at noon. Governor Pritzker gives his combined State of the State and Budget address in the House chamber tomorrow at noon. The Governor has nothing on his public schedule.
Let’s get to it.
A LOVE LETTER TO ILLINOIS
“It isn’t worth it, man.”
A friend who fled across the state line to Indiana told me that a few weeks ago when I was complaining to him about this newsletter causing long nights, stress, and the more than a few people in Illinois politics who don’t seem to like me very much.
Even though our politics and our cultural divides and crime and inequity and size and complexity can make you want to bang your head against a wall, it’s a good time to remember why we love this place so much.
Obviously, the best thing about the state is the Chicago Cubs, but that’s probably another fight for another day.
It’s hard to imagine how we fit so much into a space of 400 miles by 200 miles. We’re the sixth largest state by population with the third largest city, largest soybean producing state, second-largest corn producing state, the fourth largest manufacturing jobs, and undeniably better pizza than St. Louis.
Sure, much has changed since René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle and Henri de Tonti established a fort in present-day Peoria in 1680 or since Jean Baptiste Point du Sable settled in present-day Chicago a century later. But the natural beauty remains, from the lakefront to Starved Rock, to the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers to the craggy terrain in southern Illinois. It’s a varied beauty that most states don’t have.
Illinois has a noticeable rural-urban divide. It is likely more extreme than it ever has been and the gap is wider than it ever has been. It may feel like people from Chicago and the suburbs and from downstate couldn’t be more different.
What we all want are better schools, safer neighborhoods, good paying jobs, improved infrastructure, and access to health care are all issues that matter whether someone rests their head in Lakeview, Morgan Park, Downers Grove, Moline, Decatur, or Metropolis.
There are so many problems and it will take a long time to fix them all. But there are always problems everywhere. It’s the search for that “more perfect union,” because you’re never actually going to find perfection. Utopia doesn’t exist.
Who is going to fix it? Well, it’s time for the grown ups to step up.
In terms of politics, it will require Democrats to realize there is civilization south of Interstate 80. Downstate Republicans will have to understand that anything north of I-80 isn’t the modern day Sodom and Gomorrah.
Business leaders need to step up and invest, civic leaders need to build coalitions, and we all, every single one of us, needs to get involved.
Improving our discourse, fighting for a better state, and trying to tell the truth and bring the conversation back to the center may be naïve, but it’s battle worth suiting up for, because this is the place we love.
MEET REP. DENNIS TIPSWORD (R-METAMORA)
We probably won’t be able to get to everyone, but with so many new members this spring, we thought we should take some time to introduce you to some of the new faces in Springfield.
Dennis Tipsword has spent nearly all of his life in Metamora in Woodford County, just 20 minutes northeast of Peoria. The police officer and conservative freshman lawmaker wants to get things done, but knows there are plenty of hurdles for a guy like him in Springfield.
Tipsword, 51, has spent the last 16 years with the Woodford County Sheriff’s Office, rising to the rank of Chief Deputy, the second in command in the department. He remains an active duty office while serving in the Statehouse.
He admits passage of the SAFE-T Act, which was seen by many conservatives and those law enforcement as “anti-police,” helped propel him into a run for the House.
“That was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back,” he said. “It impacted our operation horribly. It was disgusting. This bill cost the taxpayers so much money that most of them don’t even know. It’s been a horrible couple of years.”
Tipsword says his office lost 14 of nearly 50 sworn officers in the months following passage of the criminal justice reform legislation that is currently held up in litigation.
But, Tipsword says, he supports reform to our criminal justice and policing systems.
“None of us in the profession are against change. We’re not against reform. We want to be more professional,” he said. “But, today [because of this bill], we are less professional. You can look across the state. Qualifications have been lowered. The idea that we’ve professionalized law enforcement with this Act is ludicrous.”
That leaves the toughest job for any Republican in Springfield who wants to accomplish anything: How do you get anything done when Democrats have a 38-seat majority in the House.
“I’m a very conservative guy,” Tipsword said. “You have to have your convictions, but you can’t die on that sword everyday. You have to be able to get along with others. I have no problem debating someone and disagreeing completely, and parting as mutual friends. But pounding your fist on the desk and saying it’s my way or the highway, that’s just not good governance.”
Tipsword and his wife have been married 28 years and have three adult children and five grandchildren with a sixth on the way.
JOIN US
Amen, Patrick! Thank you. We need positive thought and the follow up introduction to a new young Representative with a thoughtful, collaborative spirit was perfect.