The Illinois House was debating a bill aimed at helping families of those who died or became sickened by a Legionnaires' outbreak at a state-run veterans home.  Democratic state rep. Stephanie Kifowit rose to speak to the measure and proceeded to threaten the family of a Republican colleague.

Republicans in the House today exploded in anger over the comments of @RepKifowit in which she spoke of Rep Peter Breen's family drinking a stew of Legionella bacteria. Kifowit said she was making a hypothetical comment, not actually wishing harm to Breen's family @ilgop SB-2481 pic.twitter.com/eF6bDOKYIs

— IllinoisChannel (@IllinoisChannel) November 27, 2018

The bill to raise the cap on damages the state could pay out to $2 million had been vetoed by Governor Bruce Rauner.  Breen's reasonable questions about the details and costs of the plan brought the unprovoked threat from Kifowit.

She was hardly apologetic.

Fox News:

Later, Kifowit, a Marine Corps veteran, took to Twitter and the floor to say her comments were misinterpreted, and that she "quite clearly" wanted him to imagine "if it was your family, hypothetically speaking."

In response to remarks against giving restitution by Rep Breen I stated “imagine if it was your family” as a hypothetical because it did happen to families. I never stated anything to wish his family death.

— Stephanie Kifowit (@RepKifowit) November 27, 2018

My words were twisted and misrepresented but keep in mind - he was angry at the thought. For the families of the Veterans who died and the individuals that were sickened - this is reality.

— Stephanie Kifowit (@RepKifowit) November 27, 2018

Former GOP gubernatorial candidate Jeanne Ives let Kifowit have it with both barrels:

How dare you.  How dare you concoct up some sort of story about brewing up some batch of Legionella and having him feed it to his family[.] ... How dare you take the discussion and the debate about a very serious bill that has a huge cost consequence on both sides, both for the victim and the state taxpayers.  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.

The state GOP called on Kifowit to resign.  She won't, of course.  Why should she?  She's a Democrat in Illinois.  Saying something that, if a Republican had said it, would have resulted in every major media outlet in the state calling on him to resign just doesn't matter. 

No one is going to cook up a "broth" full of germs and feed it to Breen's family.  But asking some mild questions about the cost of a particular bill should not have elicited this blood-curdling attack on any member.  Breen was doing his job.  Kifowit acted like a flaming partisan.

If there wasn't a double standard, Democrats would have no standards at all.