For a brief time Thursday, a Rockford hotel and water park took on a circus like atmosphere as a band of runaway Wisconsin legislators milled about the lobby and parking lot, a news chopper hovered overhead and a TV reporter chased a leprechaun.
It was enough to make Bernie Thiteca, who owns a local factory, order a second glass of white wine at the hotel bar, bemoaning the invading Wisconsinites who brought such chaos across the border into Illinois.
"I think they're traitors," Thiteca said of the protesting Democrats who fled their state to prevent a Republican-backed vote that would slash Wisconsin public worker pensions. "Whether you're GOP or Democrat, doesn't matter. Never leave the battlefield."
StoryAww yes I see. Your right. It was a hotel with a bar in it. And a leprechaun. Guess they were all feelin kinda 'Irish' when their votes were needed ... so they split for Illinois.