"There were a lot of people in my party, particularly in the legislative branch, who said, 'You know it's nice to be in the majority, that means we've got a bigger office and more staff and nice titles but I don't know that we really want to do all that much more.'

"They said, 'It's kind of safe here, if we have to push some of the big, bold reforms you're talking about, there might be some push-back. And some of us in safe seats might actually have some challenges.' You know what? We said, 'Never mind. We got elected for a reason. We didn't get elected for a title .... We got elected to do something.'"

But Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) said Republicans in that house never balked over the controversial proposal to all but end collective bargaining for most of the state's public workers, known as Act 10.

"That was not my recollection," Vos said. "I wasn't in every meeting but on the Assembly side, I never met anybody (in leadership) who wasn't on board from day one."