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A Democrat in the Illinois state legislature sparked outrage and calls for resignation after saying during a policy debate that she wanted to mix up a \u201cbroth of Legionella\u201d bacteria to infect her Republican colleague\u2019s family.<\/p>\n
The rather unusual insult came during a debate over a bill that aimed to help families that had been made ill or died after a Legionnaires\u2019 disease outbreak at a state-run veterans home.<\/p>\n
Stephanie Kifowit directed the remark at Peter Breen, after he raised concerns surrounding the costs and details of the plan. The bill would have raised the cap on damages which the state could pay out in civil cases from $100,000 to $2 million \u2014 something which Breen had argued would allow personal injury lawyers to \u201cmake out like bandits\u201d<\/em> on the cases.<\/p>\n Legionella pneumophila has the ability to invade bronchoalveolar macrophages (facultative intracellular pathogen), survive and multiply.<\/p>\n Optimal temp for growth: 37 degrees (body temp) \u2014 Kryzia Dela Merced (@kryzcdm) November 19, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n Kifowit was having none of it and launched a personal attack on Breen.<\/p>\n \u201cTo the representative from Lombard, I would like to make him a broth of Legionella and pump it into the water system of his loved one 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.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The outburst stunned other lawmakers and Breen immediately accused Kifowit of wishing death upon his family. Another Republican lawmaker, Jeanne Ives, also took to her feet in outrage.<\/p>\n Republicans in the House today exploded in anger over the comments of @RepKifowit<\/a> in which she spoke of Rep Peter Breen’s family drinking a stew of Legionella bacteria. Kifowit said she was making a hypothetical comment, not actually wishing harm to Breen’s family @ilgop<\/a> SB-2481 pic.twitter.com\/eF6bDOKYIs<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 IllinoisChannel (@IllinoisChannel) November 27, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n \u201cHow dare you. How dare you concoct up some sort of story about brewing up some batch of Legionella and having him feed it to his family,\u201d<\/em> Ives said. \u201cHow dare you take an honest debate about an issue and then wish death on my colleague Peter Breen, his wife and his two adopted kids.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n In a series of since-deleted tweets, Kifowit\u00a0claimed\u00a0that her words had been \u201ctwisted and misrepresented\u201d<\/em> and that she had actually asked Breen to \u201cimagine if it was your family\u201d<\/em> as a hypothetical. That is, however, not the wording the legislator initially used in the debate, as video<\/a> of her remarks clearly shows.<\/p>\n Unwilling to consider that Kifowit might have been exaggerating or speaking in overly dramatic terms, the Illinois Republican Party tweeted that \u201cwishing death upon political opponents and their families undermines our democracy.\u201d<\/em> In a separate tweet, the party called on Kifowit to resign over the \u201creprehensible\u201d<\/em> comments.<\/p>\n Kifowit has not resigned, but did take to Twitter again on Wednesday to offer a \u201csincere apology\u201d<\/em> to Breen and his family for what she admitted was a \u201cpoor choice of words during a serious discussion.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cI would never wish any harm or mortality on anyone\u2019s family, including the Breen family,\u201d<\/em> she wrote, adding in another tweet that as a Marine Corps veteran herself, she feels “very passionate”<\/em> about what happened at the veterans home.<\/p>\n The truth is this did happen to our heroes, and my attempt to illustrate empathy for the families that were affected by the loss of their loved ones was not conveyed properly.<\/p>\n \u2014 Stephanie Kifowit (@RepKifowit) November 28, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n If you like this story, share it with a friend!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
Survival only: 43-65 degrees (no growth) pic.twitter.com\/Ah6kkRsf3O<\/a><\/p>\n\n
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