| Barbara Flynn Currie | |
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| Currie in 2010. | |
| Member of the Illinois House of Representatives from the 25th district |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 1979 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born | May 3, 1940 La Crosse, Wisconsin |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | David Currie |
| Profession | educator |
Barbara Flynn Currie is a Democratic member of the Illinois House of Representatives, representing the 25th District since 1979.
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Currie was first elected to the Illinois House of Representatives in 1978, and assumed office in January 1979. She represents the 25th District in Chicago which includes the communities of Woodlawn, South Shore, Hyde Park, and Kenwood. Rep. Currie serves as majority leader of the Illinois House of Representatives, a role she has had since 1997. She is the widow of the legal scholar David P. Currie.
In December 2008, following the arrest of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, Currie was named by Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan as the chairperson of the Illinois House committee to investigate Governor Blagojevich for possible impeachment as a result of federal corruption charges against him.[1][2] Blagojevich was subsequently impeached by the House and removed from office by the Illinois Senate.
In February 2009, Currie was caught in a follow-on controversy over the impeachment testimony of now-U.S. Senator Roland Burris. Burris had been named by Blagojevich to fill President Barack Obama's Senate seat, after the emergence of the corruption charges against Blagojevich but before Blagojevich's removal from office. Burris had neglected to mention fund-raising contacts by Blagojevich's brother Rob in his testimony, but then filed an affidavit with Currie, listing three such contacts, shortly after Feb. 5. Word of the new information did not reach the public, or the Republicans in the House, until its release in the Chicago Sun-Times on February 13, leading to questions of Currie and the Democrats by Republicans including ranking impeachment committee member Jim Durkin and House party leader Tom Cross.[3]
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