Republicans are calling for the resignation of Illinois Democratic state Rep. Stephanie Kifowit after she said she wanted to mix a “broth of Legionella” bacteria to infect the "loved one" of Republican Rep. Peter Breen, Fox News reported on Wednesday.
The remark came amid a heated debate over a bill seeking to help families of those who died or fell ill during a Legionnaires’ outbreak at a state-run veterans home.
Breen said he was concerned about the details and cost of the plan, which calls for increasing the cap on damages the state could pay in civil cases from $100,000 to $2 million, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Kifowit, a Marine Corps veteran, responded by saying, “To 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.”
Republicans angrily rebuked Kifowit and called on her to resign.
GOP Rep. Jeanne Ives lashed out at her, saying, “How 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.”
Later, Kifowit said her comments were misinterpreted, and that she “quite clearly” wanted him to imagine “if it was your family, hypothetically speaking.”
She added that for her comments being misinterpreted, “I will apologize. But I will not apologize for what happened to those families.”
The Illinois House of Representatives later voted 71-36 to override Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner’s veto on the bill.
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