Peter Breen, Peter Breen, why, oh why, are you so mean?

My state rep Peter Breen sure is mean. How mean? He started out mean in his first run for District 48 state rep in 2014, getting up before extremist Illinois Tea Partiers, and proclaiming well liked sixth term GOP incumbent Sandy Pihos a RINO, not inferring she was big and ugly, but something much worse...a moderate Republican who actually listened to and dialogued with constituents of all persuasions, leaving out the religious extremism Breen revels in. Meanness, tons of money and apathy by moderate voters propelled Breen to Primary victory. Along came Democratic challenger Marian Tomlinson and Breen turned on the mean, using his lawyerly skills to knock her off the Democratic ballot in an ugly swipe against giving voters a choice. Tomlinson, nice but tough, countered with a spirited write-in campaign, garnering several thousand votes in symbolic protest to the King of Mean on his way to the legislature.

On a meanness roll, Breen embraced the cruel politics of newbie governor Bruce Rauner, hijacking the budget process to extort a bizarre pro growth agenda which caused millions of students, state vendors and the needy endless pain. Not a word of sympathy in Breen´s many constituent emails for the needless suffering this failed and unprecidented assault on the public caused.

But woe to the revered governor when he finally stood on principle to help poor women seeking the same reproductive rights Breen and his class enjoy without a care or concern. When Rauner signed HB 40, extending those rights concerning abortion, Breen directed his meanness to his meanness mentor, vowing to derail a second gubernatorial term. Are visions of Governor Mean dancing in Breen's head?

Every week or two, as another screed from my state rep crawls across my screen, I ponder anew, 'Peter Breen, Peter Breen, why, oh why, are you so mean?