Alex Knapp points out that he gets a bad rap, at least in his Senate career. I think that a lot of people tend to focus on all his “present” votes in the IL legislature.

But I don’t necessarily judge a legislator by the quantity of laws generated. The quality matters much more to me. In fact, I’d prefer an effective legislator who did nothing other than preventing bad legislation, even if (s)he never originated any. I don’t think that the country suffers from a shortage of laws, particularly federal ones. And I’d really go for someone who would work to overturn much of the bad law currently on the books.