Jim Young, the Libertarian candidate for a state House seat in McHenry County, recently issued a press release attacking his Republican opponent, state Rep. Rosemary Kurtz, for “one of the most callous and shocking votes of the legislative session.”
What had Kurtz done that Young found so horrific? She had voted present on HB1019, a bill that would make it a felony to have sexual contact with an animal.
“This vote is bizarre,” Young said. “How can we not treat innocent animals with basic respect and decency? What was Rosemary thinking?”
Kurtz told Q she was thinking of her vote as a protest.
“There was a bestiality discussion on both sides of the aisle–for instance, somebody started talking about foreplay with a cat, etc.–and this was around Easter time, and we had in the balcony 8-year-olds and 10-year-olds sitting there. . . . It was real locker room stuff,” she said.
Kurtz said that she would have voted yes on the bill but that it was clearly going to pass by the time her turn came to vote. (It passed the House 113-0 with two voting present, then was buried in a Senate committee where bills are sent to die.)
“My grandchildren were going to come down that particular week,” she added. “I’m glad that they didn’t.”
By the way, we’re not too worried that there’s an epidemic of people having sex with animals in Illinois. Kurtz said the bill was on behalf of an animal-activist constituent.