Cecil A. Partee Memoir - University of Illinois Springfield
Cecil A. Partee Memoir - University of Illinois Springfield Cecil A. Partee Memoir - University of Illinois Springfield
the volume of the business to come before that committee. And sometimes pu would have to have night meetings in order to handle all the bills. Q: In each individual meeting, was there a general time? A: You would get a notification that the meeting is going to be at a certain place at a certain time and the bills to be considered would be listed and they would give them by number so that, when you got into the meeting, you knew exactly what bills were to be considered. 4: How soon beforehand would that notification occur? A: Generally a week before. Q: So you had time to . . . A: Sure, unless it was some call meeting or something. You would go in a meeting say on Tuesday and they would say, "Well, we're going to meet again Wednesday night and these are the bills that are going to be considered." You would generally know what was going to be considered. Q: If a number of bills were coming up, huw did you go about finding a draft of those bills? A: Oh, you had a book on your desk with every bill in it, every bill. As bills were introduced and printed they were put in your bill book. You had copies of all the bills. 9: This was done by what agency? Do you recall? A: (pause) It was an outside printing company. Some outside group did the printing. Q: I see, yes. Did you have much occasion to use the Legislative Reference Bureau for anything other than the drafting of the bills? A: No. No, nothing much more than that. Q: No research type thing? A: No, we didn't have that in those days. You did your own research. We didn't even have a telephone to call home or call your office or anything of that sort. You would just put some money in the phone booth. We didn't even have credit cards in that day, You just put some quarters or dimes, whatever it took, in there, to do it. No, we didn't have any help at all. We had no interns, we had no staff, you did it yourself. Q: So really your office was more or less your hotel room? A: Your head.
Q: Well! (laughter) A: Yes, didn't have any offices. The leaders had offices in those days, the speaker would have an offfce. Maybe the assistant majority leader and the assistant minority leader, and then the minority leader and the majority leader would each have probably an office, I think they had offices. I don't really remember that they had offices, to tell you the truth; but I do know the speaker had one and the president of the Senate. Q: So if you had any typing to be done, you had to . . . A: We had a pool. Q: In the statehouse building itself, huh? A: Yes. Q: Did the party headquarters provide any help of any nature of that type? A: No, not of that type, no. Q: When these bills were coming up, how often did you--1 believe you call it 11 caucus," where decisions are made within the party? How often did those occur ? A: We had caucuses maybe . . . not necessarily any regular basis. We would have them as need arose, where there was some bill that there might have been some controversy on and we wanted to make sure everybody understood what it was and what the party position was on it. They were called more as need arose rather than at any specific prearranged dates or times. Q: Where did these usually occur? A: In whatever meeting room was available. You would go to some committee hearing room that would accommodate all the guys, big enough to accommodate everybody. Q: Were any of them held in the hotel as opposed to the . . . A: No, no, they were all in the building. Q: Did you have--I suppose you did--have a number of informal meetings, then, In the hotel? A: No, not really, Anything related to the business of the legislature would normally be in a meeting held in the capitol building. Q: When you were down there, you spent a coasiderable part of your time in the capitol building, A: Yes.
- Page 57 and 58: yourself and so forth. Whereas, in
- Page 59 and 60: A: Yes, I remember a fellow by the
- Page 61 and 62: six inches, into my leg. And just m
- Page 63 and 64: Q: And you're still in touch with t
- Page 65 and 66: A: But they said, "You can go somew
- Page 67 and 68: Q: How did you get back and forth?
- Page 69 and 70: just on the weekend which was a lot
- Page 71 and 72: A: Well, I was there for about a ye
- Page 73 and 74: old fellow told me that he's from t
- Page 75 and 76: We tried to get a decision between
- Page 77 and 78: 63 Abraham Lincoln Hotel and we wer
- Page 79 and 80: Q: That had already finished? A: No
- Page 81 and 82: legislation, I think one day what I
- Page 83 and 84: A: No, that was about two years bef
- Page 85 and 86: A: Yes. q: Did she continue active
- Page 87 and 88: Q: Was this in replacement of Mr. C
- Page 89 and 90: Filipino or some man may be married
- Page 91 and 92: deal of controversy about them. Q:
- Page 93 and 94: well paying jobs but they had to do
- Page 95 and 96: joined other organizations for the
- Page 97 and 98: A: Generally just before an electio
- Page 99 and 100: A: No, I don't think we had opposit
- Page 101 and 102: where they paid you far two years t
- Page 103 and 104: BLACK DEMOCRATS IN THE 77TH ILLINOI
- Page 105 and 106: CECIL PARTEE AT WORK IN THE SENATE
- Page 107: A: No, it was the Legislative Refer
- Page 111 and 112: esearch if you needed it? A: Bill I
- Page 113 and 114: started from nothing. Q: Did that o
- Page 115 and 116: A: Well, not specifically as to the
- Page 117 and 118: for that. About 1968, Chicago start
- Page 119 and 120: he was there. We joined him in 1967
- Page 121 and 122: years and for many many years it fa
- Page 123 and 124: of that nature. But other than that
- Page 125 and 126: A: No, I do not. Q: Why were yau co
- Page 127 and 128: the word I seek now is . . . quota
- Page 129 and 130: the 1965 Civil Rights Act at the fe
- Page 131 and 132: matter of fact--with the head of th
- Page 133 and 134: served or rehabilitated as well as
Q: Well! (laughter)<br />
A: Yes, didn't have any <strong>of</strong>fices. The leaders had <strong>of</strong>fices in those days, the<br />
speaker would have an <strong>of</strong>ffce. Maybe the assistant majority leader and the<br />
assistant minority leader, and then the minority leader and the majority leader<br />
would each have probably an <strong>of</strong>fice, I think they had <strong>of</strong>fices. I don't really<br />
remember that they had <strong>of</strong>fices, to tell you the truth; but I do know the<br />
speaker had one and the president <strong>of</strong> the Senate.<br />
Q: So if you had any typing to be done, you had to . . .<br />
A: We had a pool.<br />
Q: In the statehouse building itself, huh?<br />
A: Yes.<br />
Q: Did the party headquarters provide any help <strong>of</strong> any nature <strong>of</strong> that type?<br />
A: No, not <strong>of</strong> that type, no.<br />
Q: When these bills were coming up, how <strong>of</strong>ten did you--1 believe you call it<br />
11<br />
caucus," where decisions are made within the party? How <strong>of</strong>ten did those<br />
occur ?<br />
A: We had caucuses maybe . . . not necessarily any regular basis. We would<br />
have them as need arose, where there was some bill that there might have been<br />
some controversy on and we wanted to make sure everybody understood what it<br />
was and what the party position was on it. They were called more as need<br />
arose rather than at any specific prearranged dates or times.<br />
Q: Where did these usually occur?<br />
A: In whatever meeting room was available. You would go to some committee<br />
hearing room that would accommodate all the guys, big enough to accommodate<br />
everybody.<br />
Q: Were any <strong>of</strong> them held in the hotel as opposed to the . . .<br />
A: No, no, they were all in the building.<br />
Q: Did you have--I suppose you did--have a number <strong>of</strong> informal meetings, then,<br />
In the hotel?<br />
A: No, not really, Anything related to the business <strong>of</strong> the legislature would<br />
normally be in a meeting held in the capitol building.<br />
Q: When you were down there, you spent a coasiderable part <strong>of</strong> your time in the<br />
capitol building,<br />
A: Yes.
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