| Michael Madigan | |
|---|---|
| 67th & 69th Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office January 8, 1997 |
|
| Governor | Jim Edgar George Ryan Rod Blagojevich Pat Quinn |
| Preceded by | Lee A. Daniels |
| In office January 12, 1983 – January 11, 1995 |
|
| Governor | James R. Thompson Jim Edgar |
| Preceded by | Arthur L. Telcser |
| Succeeded by | Lee A. Daniels |
| Member of the Illinois House of Representatives from the 22nd district |
|
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office January 13, 1971 |
|
| Personal details | |
| Born | April 19, 1942 Chicago, Illinois |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Shirley Madigan |
| Profession | Attorney |
Michael J. Madigan (born April 19, 1942) is the Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives and Chairman of the Democratic Party of Illinois.[1] A Democrat, he has held the position of Speaker of the House for all but two years since 1983—those two years being a brief interregnum of Republican majority.[2] He has been a member of the Illinois House since 1971, and currently represents the 22nd district.
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Madigan was born in Chicago and has lived there most of his life. He attended St. Ignatius College Prep on the west side of Chicago. He attended college at the University of Notre Dame and graduated from the Loyola University Chicago School of Law. Madigan represents the 22nd Representative District on Chicago's southwest side. He has also served for many years as Democratic Committeeman of the 13th ward. His is generally considered one of the more effective ward organizations at a time when the vote-getting power of such groups has declined notably.
Madigan was founder and continues as senior partner of the law firm Madigan & Getzendanner.[1] Which has been accused of profiting millions off of Madigan's position and power.[3] http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-madigan-rules-justice-20100925,0,7476955.story
He has been Speaker of the Illinois House since 1982, with the exception of 1995–1996 when Republicans took control of the chamber. Madigan engineered a Democratic comeback and regained his majority at the elections of November 1996, which he continues to defend today. He has feuded with other Democratic leaders since 2002 – when Democrats took control of all branches of the state government – most notably Governor Rod Blagojevich and Senate President Emil Jones.
One of Madigan's chief Democratic deputies in the House is Gary Hannig, who often handles budget issues.[4]
Madigan and Blagojevich have clashed over Blagojevich's proposals for increased state spending.[5] Blagojevich blamed the 2007 budget crisis on Madigan, releasing a statement that said, "The way to be able to finally get budgets that achieve the objective of health care and education for families is to get Mr. Madigan to be a Democrat again and stop being a George Bush Republican."[5] Madigan refused to meet with Blagojevich for more than two months after Blagojevich introduced the budget; rather than the proposed $5 billion in increased spending, he recommended $1 billion, funded by the ending of a tax break.[6] When talks stalled, Madigan invited the entire House to accompany him to budget negotiations.[6]
Illinois senior Senator Dick Durbin said in 2008 that he receives many constituent complaints about the dispute between Blagojevich and Madigan, with letter writers wanting him to step in to negotiate.[7] Durbin said the subject is also often talked about in the United States Congress in Washington, D.C. among the Illinois congressional delegation.[7] However, Durbin joked that he'd rather go to Baghdad to mediate than Springfield.[7]
The Chicago Sun-Times statehouse bureau reporter of 13 years, Dave McKinney, said of Madigan's style as Speaker:[7]
"It's sort of the classic case that you get a guy (Madigan) who is steeped in discipline versus a guy who's very undisciplined, like Blagojevich. You can see it in their work habits, in their mannerisms. Madigan is very measured in what he says. You never see him flying off on things. He is so precise. This guy has been speaker for almost 30 years. He runs that chamber almost like he runs his house. They come in on time. He knows the rules. He's written the rules. Madigan likes news clippings given to him every day; he likes to keep up on things. And he likes them clipped and organized in a certain way. With Rod, you get the sense that he's more of a big ideas person, but then doesn't really have the wherewithal to carry through on things to make sure they get done, to deliver."
The relationship between Blagojevich and Madigan hit its low in October 2007, when Blagojevich fired Bronwyn Rains, wife of Madigan's chief of staff Timothy Mapes, from her position of psychologist with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.[2] Blagojevich claims to have based this on Rains' educational background, but she had worked for the department for 24 years with no record of a problem; one observer called the fallout "nuclear war."[2]
Blagojevich several times slashed funding for the Illinois Arts Council (IAC), which provides grants to arts and arts education organizations throughout the state. The IAC claims that it is under-funded relative to peer institutions especially with regard to arts education. Since Madigan's wife, Shirley, is the chair of the IAC, some political observers assumed that the IAC budget cuts are part of the ongoing war between Madigan and Blagojevich.
Senate Republican Leader Frank Watson and House Republican Leader Tom Cross have often met with Madigan, his Senate counterpart Emil Jones, and Blagojevich in an attempt to referee disputes.[2][8] In August 2008, Blagojevich claimed that House Democrats who held City of Chicago jobs were fearful of voting in favor of his 2008 capital bill because they thought Madigan might be able to get them fired.[9] Blagojevich told reporters: "They fear their leader, Mr. Madigan, and if Mike Madigan tells them to vote a certain way, they will tell you privately, and I've had these discussions with a couple of state reps, one of whom said, 'I'm afraid if I vote for the jobs bill I'll be fired from my job at Streets and Sanitations [sic]. I'm afraid I'll lose my job.'"[9] The one state legislator who works at the Streets and Sanitation Department in Chicago is Rich Bradley, who told the Chicago Sun-Times that he hadn't talked to Blagojevich in about two years.[9] Rep. Gary Hannig told the newspaper that Blagojevich had told House Democrats he was referring to D'Amico.[9] When contacted, D'Amico said that Blagojevich had asked him if he feared losing his job with the city of Chicago's water department, at which point D'Amico said that he had been in a union for 26 years and could not be fired easily, and instead he opposed the capital bill because Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley opposed it.[9]
On December 15, 2008, Madigan announced that he was taking steps to initiate impeachment proceedings against Blagojevich. He has named members of the Illinois House of Representatives to a special committee charged with investigating whether Governor Blagojevich engaged in conduct, including the Rod Blagojevich corruption charges, that should be subject to possible impeachment charges the House can bring.[10] He named Illinois House of Representatives Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie to Chair the 21-member House committee on impeachment.[11][12] After the committee reported, Madigan presided over the House deliberations which unanimously voted out the first impeachment of an Illinois Governor. Subsequently, the Illinois Senate tried and removed Governor Blagojevich from office, also by a unanimous vote.
Madigan opposed Blagojevich's proposed gross receipts tax in 2007, which would have been the largest tax increase in Illinois history.[13] He said the tax was "regressive" and would therefore hurt the poor, who are “the least able in our society to take on additional costs.”[13]
Madigan has not been amenable to expansion of gambling in the state, although when the subject came up again in 2007 he said he would hold public hearings to gauge support for expansion of three casinos in Illinois.[14]
Madigan refused to testify in the inquiry over his advocacy for more 40 applicants to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.[15] Governor Pat Quinn appointed a commission, to be led by retired Judge Abner Mikva, to investigate attempts by lawmakers and others to influence admissions of unqualified candidates (whose relatives had given money to Michael Madigan, other lawmakers, and the state Democratic Party which is chaired by Madigan) at the state's largest university. Judge Mikva, in his May 2010 final report findings, stated that the university's admissions officials were the ones most culpable, because they should have refused the lawmakers' requests, although he also said a separate commission should be established by Governor Quinn and/or the legislature to look into possible misconduct by Madigan and others.
Madigan and his wife, Shirley, have four children: Lisa, Tiffany, Nicole, and Andrew. Two members of this immediate family hold senior positions in the government. Shirley is the head of the Illinois Arts Council.[2] His oldest daughter, Lisa Madigan, is the Illinois Attorney General.
In 2002, Madigan helped his daughter Lisa garner more campaign contributions in her run for Illinois Attorney General than even the candidates for governor that year.[16] At one point, Lisa Madigan's $1.2 million raised was more than all the attorney general candidates in 1998 had raised, combined.[16]
During the campaign, allegations of misconduct in campaign contributions arose—Madigan was accused of using taxpayer dollars for political purposes.[1] Republican gubernatorial candidate, Jim Ryan, suggested that Madigan should resign.[1] Madigan's daughter Lisa was running for state Attorney General during that year's election and called the allegations baseless.[1] Lisa Madigan's opponent in the race called on her to pay back taxpayer-paid bonuses her father had paid staffers before they departed to work on his daughter's campaign.[17] A federal investigation into one of Lisa Madigan's political endorsements ensued after Madigan allegedly contacted a union boss in Chicago shortly before the union endorsed Madigan's daughter for the post, but nothing came out of it.[18]
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