Illinois Dems: It’s time to consider replacing Madigan
Add U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth and U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley to the list of top Illinois Democrats nudging Michael Madigan to exit his posts as state party leader and House Speaker.
While Duckworth said it’s time to consider putting someone else in those leadership roles, Quigley said Madigan has “stayed too long,” and accused him of getting in the way of government reforms and not doing enough to boost candidates running for office statewide.
Quigley and Duckworth, who was a contender to be former Vice President Joe Biden’s running mate, are the latest high-profile Illinois Democrats since Tuesday’s election to carefully signal it’s time the Southwest Side lawmaker gives up his party post, after some key losses at the ballot box.
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, of Springfield, in an interview Wednesday on WTTW-Ch. 11 suggested that Democratic candidates suffered this election because of Madigan. On Thursday, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said “yes” when asked whether he agreed with Durbin that the state party needs new leadership. As chairman, Madigan has been able to amass a huge campaign war chest that for years allowed him to determine which Democratic candidates and causes succeeded.
Madigan, however, said in a Thursday statement that he’s not going anywhere.
And state Rep. Marty Moylan, of Des Plaines, offered a counterpoint to the criticism in a statement late Friday afternoon: “As a Democrat who has faced difficult races and won by being upfront with people, I want to be very clear: To criticize Chairman Madigan while Democrats continue to compete and win in districts that Republicans have held for decades is absurd.”
Sign up for The Spin to get the top stories in politics delivered to your inbox weekday afternoons.
Still, Madigan has been under fire by some within his own party since federal prosecutors in July released a deferred prosecution agreement in which ComEd admitted awarding jobs, payments and contracts to Madigan associates in an attempt to win his support for favorable legislation. While the speaker has not been accused of wrongdoing, Republicans used it as a cudgel in the run-up to Tuesday’s election linking him to Democratic candidates and causes on the ballot.
When it was over, Pritzker lost his signature ballot initiative to enact a graduated income tax and Democratic Supreme Court Justice Thomas Kilbride lost a bid for another 10 years on the bench. For his part, Madigan was reelected Tuesday without opposition to his 26th term in the House.
Pointing to the scandal, Duckworth said Democrats should consider new leadership at the state party and Illinois House.
“The ongoing investigation surrounding Speaker Madigan is an unnecessary distraction and makes it harder to carry out the work of helping the people of Illinois,” Duckworth said in a statement. “As our nation hopefully embarks on a brighter path with a new president, the Illinois Democratic Party and the Illinois House of Representatives should consider new leadership to continue the progress we’ve made at the state level and build on it.”
Duckworth’s comments were first reported by the Springfield State Journal-Register.
“We need a new speaker, and we need a new head of the Democratic Party,” Quigley told reporter Bill Cameron on WLS-AM’s “Connected to Chicago” politics podcast.
The North Side Democrat said when he served as a Cook County commissioner over a decade ago he tried to pass some government reform packages that needed legislative backing that seemingly stalled in the House.
“I always felt that progress was impaired by the speaker, and I continue to believe that,” Quigley said, saying that the two have had differences and that he’s spoken up about it in the past.
Pressed on the issue, the congressman, who won reelection Tuesday night, says he doesn’t have a vote on the matter — that the Democratic House majority will have to decide whether Madigan keeps the speaker’s gavel, but reiterated that it’s time for someone new in the job.
“It’s my own personal beliefs because of policy differences I have had with the speaker on government and politics — I wished he would have done something else and left it to someone else decades ago.”
As for his role as chair of the Democratic Party, Madigan focuses on getting Democrats elected to the House at the expense of statewide races, Quigley opined. He stopped short of saying Madigan was using his political post to amass power in the chamber he runs, something critics have accused Madigan of in the past.
In January, Madigan’s House peers will vote on the chamber’s leader and he’s already facing competition for the job.
Meanwhile, Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi, who unseated Madigan ally Joe Berrios in 2018 and whose property tax reform measures hit a roadblock in the Madigan-controlled house last year, was more direct in his call for new party leadership.
In a statement, Kaegi said: “It’s time for Speaker Madigan to step down as chair of the Democratic Party of Illinois. Now more than ever, we need new, reform-oriented leadership that can drive an agenda for working families. The results of Tuesday’s election show Illinois voters are fed up with the drumbeat of corruption stories and the old way of doing business. They’re demanding real ethics and property tax reform, and they’re ready to turn the page to get us there.”
Chicago Tribune’s Dan Petrella and Rick Pearson contributed.
Lisa Donovan is the host of The Spin, the Tribune’s politics newsletter. Sign up here to have it delivered to your inbox weekday afternoons. ldonovan @chicagotribune.com