You must have put a lot of heat on these guys. I’m getting angry calls at 10:30 at night from state senators.

The intense pressure teachers and other Illinois state employees put on members of the General Assembly was made apparent to me Friday night at 10:30.

Anne and I had just gone to bed when the phone rang.

“This is Dan Kotowski.”

“Who?”

“Dan Kotowski. Is this a bad time?”

I’m not exactly used to getting calls from state senators at any time, let alone at 10:30 on a Friday night.

“No. It’s okay, I guess.”

Then he launched into this tirade about how all these people have called him claiming he had voted for Senate Bill 512. And that my blog was the reason.

“I didn’t write that.”

He went on telling me how we knew each other for a long time and we had always talked about stuff and how could I write something like that.

“It wasn’t me,” I said.

And for the record, I’ve met the senator about four times and we’ve talked at Lobby Day and at meetings with other teachers in his office.

Now I was getting pissed. It was late. I had taught all day. I was tired. I wanted to go to sleep.

“Look Senator. Here’s what I wrote. You passed a shell bill. That’s true. It went to the House as Senate Bill 512. That’s true. Senate Bill 512 became the pension robbing bill. That’s true. And someone wrote a comment on my blog explaining that it would need to go back to the Senate for another vote. That’s true. I also said that nobody should assume a no vote by anyone until the votes are cast. That was my advice and I would give it again.”

Then he muttered something about journalists.

“I’m not a journalist, Dan. I’m a K-5 art teacher who writes a blog. I hold no union position. I’m not elected to anything. People read my blog and trust what I say. If that causes politicians some grief, good!”

And then he hung up.

Good work, you guys!