Bipartisanship Brews in Rockford
Rep. Maurice West (D-Rockford) and Rep. Chris Bos (R-Lake Zurich) spent a day touring West’s district in Rockford last week. West, Bos, and Rep. Mike Marron (R-Fithian) have committed to working together in a more bipartisan fashion. (Photo credit: Rep. West)
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Rep. Maurice West (D-Rockford) is close with House Speaker Chris Welch, part of a supermajority in the House, and represents a solidly Democratic district. But he’s trying to build bridges with Republicans.
West tweeted a photo last week with freshman Republican Rep. Chris Bos (R-Lake Zurich) after they took a tour of Rockford and spent some time getting to know each other.
West said the invitation came about from a conversation between them on the House floor at the end of session where they tried to come up with a way to stay in touch outside of Springfield.
“In politics today, your policies reflect you personally, for some reason,” he said. “Oh, you’re a Republican, you must hate people, oh, you’re a Democrat, you must hate America,’ that’s not the case for either party.”
West said he hosted Rep. Mike Marron (R-Fithian) in Rockford earlier this month and plans to visit each of their districts soon.
West says he’s trying to get more people to pay attention to Rockford.
“I’m trying to get Rockford to be considered “upstate Illinois” instead of “downstate Illinois,” he said with a chuckle. “I want my colleagues to know what we’re dealing with in an urban setting that is not Chicago, the suburbs, not a rural community, so that when we vote on policy, they can empathize with what we need.”
RELATED: West’s name has been thrown around as a potential candidate to replace Cheri Bustos in Congress, depending on how maps are drawn. West said “it’s not off the table,” but didn’t sound like an eager candidate at this point.
