Your recent editorial, "Cullerton looks more and more like Emil Jones" (OurViews, Nov. 2), was not only disappointing, it was misleading.

Since I was elected president of the Illinois Senate in January, I have taken deliberate and decisive steps to change the institutional practices that promoted distrust in Springfield.

In the past, legislation was tightly controlled by Democrat and Republican Senate presidents. Among my first acts, I changed the rules to provide members with greater ability to advance and control their own bills.

True, I also sponsored the so-called fumigation bill. As the sponsor, it was my prerogative to decide whether to hold or advance the legislation. And, to be clear, under my presidency, every bill sponsor has that same power; it is not a power reserved for the Senate president to act as "king," as you opined.

Your editorial also failed to acknowledge that I did in fact call the fumigation bill for a vote in May. At that time the bill faced significant opposition from Republicans and Democrats and possible failure.

Since May, I have been pleased with Gov. Quinn's pace of change to this point. For that reason, I decided not to call the bill for a vote.

You may disagree with my decision to not advance the bill. Perhaps you are dissatisfied with Gov. Quinn's progress. You are entitled to editorialize, but you should not misrepresent my record or dismiss important facts and truths.

Senate President John Cullerton, Chicago