One in the Senate, one in the House; one a Democrat, one a Republican; one appointed, one elected. Both freshmen.
Rep. Tom Bennett, R-Gibson City, was sworn in Wednesday to serve the 106th House District, north of Champaign-Urbana. His nephew, Sen. Scott Bennett, D-Champaign, was sworn in on Monday to complete the two years remaining on the term of Mike Frerichs, the new state treasurer. Scott Bennett's 52nd District includes most of the population of Champaign and Vermilion counties.
"I'm very proud of him, I really am," said Tom Bennett, 58. "We've talked about politics for a long time at the dinners, the family get-togethers. And it's always been a good conversation."
"You would tell me that you supported certain people and I would tell you about people I liked," Scott Bennett, 37, said after the two met in the Capitol rotunda for the first time since they had been sworn in at separate events, "and you would never say that that was stupid or wrong. You might say, 'Well, have you considered this?' I always liked that we could disagree without being disagreeable. That was a nice way to discuss issues." Read more by Tom Kacich in The News-Gazette.