Cecil A. Partee Memoir - University of Illinois Springfield

A: Well, not specifically as to these particular bills, but normally when
any legislator has a bill that he wants to introduce, he would be inclined
to talk to other legislators who he would feel would bc of the same bent,
and would be of the same mind on that particular subject, and ask them to
co-sponsor it. As a matter of fact, a bill's success in many instances
depends on the number of co-sponsors that it has. There have been bills
where people have sought co-sponsors equal in number to the number of votes
required to pass a bill. One of the things that happens, of course, is
that when a person co-sponsors a bill, he is likely to believe in the subject
matter of that bill and will be supportive of that bill right down the
line. And that insures the passage of the bill on that basis. So normally
when you would introduce a bill you would get as many co-sponsors as you
could because that sort of locks them in to supporting the bill.
Q: I see. Yes, sir. Now, Paul Simon was a very downstater. I wonder how
his interests were developed along this line?
A: Well, sometimes legislators do not introduce bills that relate particularly
to their districts. There are those who have a feeling for what is
best for the state. On that basis he might have introduced it irrespective
of whatever happened. He might have come from a district where there was
no discrimination. He may have come from a district where there were very
few minorities but he would nonetheless feel that this was a proper approach
to what was obviously a very serious question.
Q: I noticed Representative Armstrong took six years to get a bill passed
on redistricting of the school system. He started in 1957, it was tabled,
didn't get to a vote evidently. In 1959, it was voted on and failed and
then tabled again in 1961 and then approved finally by the governor in 1963,
passed through. Do you recall the situation regarding redistricting?
A: I dan't remember the situation as regarding the redistricting. My
clearest recollection is about another bill that he had, unless this is
the same bill that's referred to as redistricting, which was called the
Armstrong Law. I really can't tell you what the components of that bill
were but it did in a measure address the subject of discrimination In
schools. It was, for that period of time certainly, the best kind of bill
that had been proffered to that point. I would have to check it to find out
its exact terms but it was a significant step forward in the eliminati* of
discrimimat ion in schools.
Q: Do you recall what time--was this the time period?
A: I'm not: sure, but it would seem to me i.t would, probably would, it
probably would be 1963, yes.
4: Do you recall that that Armstrong Law took several years for passage?
A: To pass, yes, that's correct.