Democratic state Rep. Lindsey LaPointe this week has thrown in with the brave band of rebels in her party calling for Michael Madigan to step down from his role as Illinois House speaker and state Democratic Party chair.
“I’m not really interested in issuing a press release or making a big announcement, but yes, I think he should resign,” LaPointe told me in a phone interview. “That’s what I’m prepared to say on the record.”
LaPointe brings to nine the number of Democratic legislators calling for Madigan to leave at least one of his posts following the allegation in federal court last month that “Public Official A … the Speaker of the House” was the central beneficiary of a bribery and influence scheme orchestrated by Commonwealth Edison for nearly a decade.
The other rebels are Reps. Terra Costa Howard of Glen Ellyn, Stephanie Kifowit of Oswego, Anne Stava-Murray of Naperville, and Kelly Cassidy and Yoni Pizer of Chicago; along with Sens. Melinda Bush of Grayslake, and Heather Steans and Iris Martinez of Chicago.
LaPointe, Stava-Murray, Cassidy and Pizer (a lame duck who was defeated in the March primary) were originally part of what I’m calling “If Troop,” the brigade of equivocating pols who’ve been thundering that if the allegations against Madigan are true, then he must resign.
This may sound brave given the veteran speaker’s power over nearly everything in Springfield. But there are no formal allegations against him — no indictment or charges — only insinuations that he was complicit in ComEd’s effort to get favorable legislation passed by doling out contracts and do-nothing jobs to those in his orbit. Madigan has categorically denied wrongdoing, and proving otherwise will take years if he ever is charged.
Remaining members of If Troop — including Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Mayor Lori Lightfoot and many members of the Democratic Illinois House Progressive Caucus — are therefore talking tough but saying nothing.
Cassidy, who has been representing her North Side district since 2011, shrugged off Madigan’s denials. “When he says he didn’t know what was going on, it may be an excellent legal strategy, but it says that he’s bad at his job,” she told me. “He’s supposed to be in charge. He’s the one who manages every little thing in the General Assembly. And all this was going on right under his nose and he was just oblivious to it?”
Her incredulity was palpable. “It’s all common knowledge how the system works in Springfield, and he’s just sitting there in his office not hearing his staff telling lobbyists who to hire?”
Costa Howard, a freshman, was similarly blunt. “If I take him at his word that he didn’t know anything about this, then what kind of a leader is he?” she said in an interview Monday. “I can’t be a part of that. I won’t be a part of that.”
It’s a risk. Madigan controls committee assignments, staffing, the fate of House legislation and mountains of campaign cash. So despite his suffocating unpopularity with the general public — his job approval rating was just 20% in a 2019 statewide poll and both Cassidy and Costa Howard said their Democratic constituents complain about him to them all the time — members of his caucus have been almost pathologically averse to crossing him.
Even now, when voter confidence in the integrity of the legislature will be key to whether Pritzker can muster in November the super majority of voters necessary to amend the state constitution to allow for the imposition of graduated income tax rates, If Troop remains comfortably large enough to protect Madigan. He has a 29-seat advantage over the Republicans in the 118-seat House. And, not to mention any names, but If Troop still includes quite a few lawmakers who fancy themselves beacons of integrity and champions of good government.
Pritzker shows signs of wavering. “The speaker has an enormous amount to answer for,” Pritzker said at a news conference last week. “There are questions that the public needs to hear the answer to … I want to understand what it was the speaker was doing. He needs to answer these questions.”
The billionaire governor has the money and the clout to demand timely and satisfactory responses. Should such answers not be forthcoming, the rebels will gladly welcome another member to their ranks and If Troop will be in full retreat.
Twitter @EricZorn
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