Will County Gazette

Republican lawmakers are expressing outrage over remarks made on the House floor by Rep. Stephanie Kifowit (D-Aurora) as tensions boiled over during debate over a bill aimed at aiding families impacted by the recent Legionnaires outbreak at a downstate nursing home.

“To the representative from Lombard I would like to make him a broth of legionella and pump it into the water system of his loved ones so that they can be infected, they can be mistreated, they can sit and suffer by getting aspirin instead of being properly treated and ultimately die. And we are talking about our nation's heroes. We are talking about World War II veterans that survived combat, survived war, survived unthinkable situations that they were put in to sit back put their faith and trust in the state of Illinois and have that completely, unabashedly disregarded,” Kifowit said after Rep. Peter Breen (R-Lombard) raised some concerns about a plan that would raise the amount of eligible damages for such cases to up to $2 million.

The Chicago Tribune reports Kifowit, a retired Marine veteran, later claimed her remarks were “misinterpreted and mischaracterized.”

Rep. Peter Breen (R-Lombard)

Fourteen people died following the outbreak at the newly renamed Lester Hammond Hall, a state-run veterans home in Quincy, and nearly 70 others became ill.