Mike Madigan, Democratic speaker of the Illinois House, embroiled in a nuclear bribery scandal, faces a likely revolt by the incoming class of Democrats when the legislature convenes Jan. 13, according to The Hill. The newspaper reports that 19 of 73 Democrats who will be sworn in next month have publicly said they will not vote for Madigan as speaker.
That would be enough to deny him the 60 votes needed to become speaker. He has been the speaker, the lawmaker who sets the agenda and controls the votes on legislation, for 35 of the last 37 years.
But Madigan has been targeted by federal law enforcement agencies, which have filed charges that local Exelon utility subsidiary Commonwealth Edison bribed him with no-show jobs and contracts for his cronies in return for $150 million in benefits to the utility.
The Hill quoted Democrat Bob Morgan, one of the 19 who have said they won’t vote for Madigan, “The first question was, is there a clear and unwavering group that will keep Madigan from getting 60 votes. think that question has been answered — the answer is yes.”
On Tuesday, Kathleen Willis, who chairs the state House Democratic Caucus, said she will not vote for Madigan. She wrote, “I feel strongly that our caucus has a lot of hard work to accomplish in the upcoming legislative session and we need to put the distraction that has been created by Representative Madigan behind us and move forward in mending the State of Illinois.”
The first order of business for the new legislature will be electing a new House speaker. Despite the strength of Madigan’s Democratic opponents, no rival from the divided Democratic caucus has emerged.
If nobody gets 60 votes, Madigan keeps the title, but without any real power. Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White, a Democrat, would run the House until someone is able to cobble together 60 votes. Pressure would then be on Madigan to concede and back a compromise candidate. Rep. Morgan said, “A lot of us want to pass comprehensive social equity reforms or combat climate change or support small business that’s suffering. We have a massive budget problem at the moment. And we can’t deal with that when there’s an individual who believes that his power is the most significant question in the state.”
–Kennedy Maize