A DuPage County political powerhouse has died. Former Illinois Senate President James “Pate” Philip passed away Tuesday at 93.
A fellow Republican, former House Minority Leader Jim Durkin, remembers him fondly – and as someone whose kind we will never see again.
“I think that that world is over,” Durkin said late Tuesday. “We should be in a place where we have leaders who are going to say, we are going to cut the you-know-what out. Let’s just get some things done. It was ‘Pate’ Philip and (longtime Senate Democratic leader) Phil Rock. That was the example of how things can get done. They were adversaries, but they also knew that they had to sit down and find compromise. And they did. On a lot of things.”
Now, Durkin says, the tone is too rancorous between legislative leaders – and also within factions of the Republican Party.
Philip served as Senate president from 1993 to 2003, capping a nearly four-decade career in Springfield.