IL-11: Halvorson loses chairmanship? What’s going on here?

Caught this story on The Fix.  Democratic candidate Debbie Halvorson has been removed from her chairmanship of the Illinois State Senate Rules Committee.

The Crete Democrat has been at the head of the committee for at least two years, but was removed completely after she came under fire by Republican Marty Ozinga III’s campaign for her apparent inability to pass a popular recall amendment, a measure Halvorson supported but Senate President Emil Jones and Gov. Rod Blagojevich vehemently opposed.

“Jones said we have some more issues that we need to work on for this session, and that my opponent is making a big deal and taking everything out of context, and that it’s distracting to what we need to get accomplished,” Halvorson said. “I’m very surprised. I did not ask for it.”

….

In a 2000 story by the Associated Press, Halvorson, then on the minority side, said the Rules Committee drives the legislative agenda of the in-power party. “That’s what happens when you rule the place. While you have the gavel, you have the power,” Halvorson was quoted as saying.

Ozinga’s campaign says Halvorson only started “bucking Jones” during her congressional campaign, but Halvorson offered two examples from before her campaign days: She opposed the proposed gross receipts tax and wanted a capital bill approved before a CTA bailout, both issues on which she and Jones disagreed, she said.

Are you kidding me?  Her Republican opponent complains about her standing up for what she believes in, so the Senate president removes her from her position?  Let’s hope this backfires on Ozinga from saying that Halvorson is simply a “rubber-stamp” for Jones.

Meanwhile, it looks like Ozinga hired Jack Abramoff consultant Jonathan Poe to be his media consultant.  We’ll see if this story has legs, though I doubt it, as Poe didn’t do anything illegal.