THERE'S ROOM ON THE RIGHT:

Emil to Mike: Join GOP (SCOTT FORNEK, July 29, 2004, Chicago Sun-Times)

The infighting and back-biting among Illinois Democrats boiled over Wednesday as state Senate President Emil Jones angrily suggested that House Speaker Michael J. Madigan -- the state party chairman -- was at the wrong national convention.

"Is the speaker planning on going to New York for the Republican convention?" Jones asked reporters.

It was Madigan's first full day at the Democratic National Convention, and just about everybody else's third, a late arrival that had already raised eyebrows and grumbles among some in the delegation.

But Jones was hurling questions about party loyalty -- not punctuality. The Far South Side legislative leader repeatedly suggested his Southwest Side counterpart was abandoning core Democratic values by siding with Republicans against Jones and Gov. Blagojevich in the budget battle that wrapped up last week in Springfield.

"I am for a Democratic governor," Jones said. "I'm for a Democratic president. That's where I stand -- the values and principles and things that we stand for."

Jones refused to say whether he believed Madigan should step down as state party chairman, but said to hold the post while building coalitions with Republicans over Democrats "just doesn't sound right.

Democrats might want to be careful about this kind of stuff--remember the waves of party-switching that '32, '80 and '94 touched off.

Posted by Orrin Judd at July 29, 2004 10:32 AM