Madigan is defied in Arroyo replacement. What’s next?
In a rare defiance of powerful Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, a group of Democratic Party leaders on the Northwest Side last month used the votes of former state Rep. Luis Arroyo to choose his replacement, setting up a potential battle the General Assembly hasn’t seen in decades.
Arroyo gave up his House seat after he was charged Oct. 28 with bribing a state senator to support sweepstakes gambling legislation that would have benefited one of his City Hall lobbying clients. But the longtime legislator held on to the position of Democratic committeeman for the 36th Ward, despite calls from Cook County party leaders for him to resign. Madigan warned there would be a challenge to any appointment made with the input of the 36th Ward.
The 3rd District committeemen moved forward nonetheless, and Ald. Ariel Reboyras, 30th, used Arroyo’s 37% of the weighted vote, along with his own 19% share, to take control of the process, naming Peoples Gas chief of staff Eva-Dina Delgado to the empty seat. Arroyo didn’t attend the meeting and allowed Reboyras to vote as his proxy, but Reboyras said the two didn’t consult on the choice.
Delgado was added to the House roster when her paperwork was filed with the clerk’s office, setting up a potential face-off with the full House.
State law required local party leaders in the district to meet and pick Arroyo’s replacement within 30 days of the office being vacated. Committeemen in the district got a weighted vote based on the number of ballots cast for Arroyo in their city wards and in one suburban township in the November 2018 election.
Here’s what could happen next.
What’s the first step?
Delgado is officially a member of the House. Any voter in the district or member of the House can now file a petition challenging the legality of the appointment. The deadline is either 90 days from her Nov. 15 appoint or 90 days from when the petitioner first learns of the reason for the challenge, whichever is later. As of Friday, no such petition had been filed.
Who decides if the appointment is legal? Once a petition is filed, the House will form a special committee to review the appointment. Democrats would have the majority on the committee, but the exact number of members would be determined by Madigan. Subcommittees also can be formed.
The committee would investigate the allegations raised in the challenge petition and make a recommendation to the full House. Ultimately, it would require a three-fifths majority vote to remove Delgado.
What powers does the committee have? Much like the congressional committee conducting the impeachment investigation of President Donald Trump, the Illinois House committee would have the power to summon and depose witnesses and to subpoena documents. All of the committee’s proceedings would be transcribed, much like a court case. A majority vote of the committee would be needed to send a recommendation to the House floor.
What would Delgado’s rights be? If she faces a challenge, Delgado would have the right to be represented by an attorney. She also would be able to present a defense and confront any witnesses or evidence presented against her.
What happens if the House votes to remove Delgado? If 71 or more members of the House voted to remove Delgado, it would create a new vacancy. The same group of Democratic leaders would be required to meet again to choose a new representative.
However, Reboyras has vowed to take legal action if the House votes to remove Delgado. He and others who participated in the selection process said naming a replacement without input from Arroyo’s ward would disenfranchise thousands of voters in the majority Hispanic district. Some committeemen, including Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, 35th, and state Sen. Robert Martwick, boycotted the meeting.
If she survives a potential challenge, how long will Delgado have the seat? Delgado was appointed to serve out the remainder of Arroyo’s term, which runs through January 2021.
At the same time, she will be running for the seat in next year’s election. As of Friday, Delgado and David Feller, who worked in legislative affairs for the Cook County sheriff’s office, had filed with the State Board of Elections to appear on the March 17 Democratic primary ballot. Candidate filing ends Monday.
The winner of the Democratic
primary is unlikely to face opposition in November.
Is there any precedent for this situation? Democrat Peg Breslin of Ottawa won a House seat in 1976, but the chamber voted to throw her out in June 1977 after it was determined she didn’t live in the district for the required two years before being elected. The next day, party leaders in the district appointed her back to the open seat.
A judge threw her out once more, but the Illinois Supreme Court allowed her to remain while it heard and ruled on her case. By the time the high court issued its decision, Breslin had won the seat once again in the 1978 election, making the case moot.
She remained in the House until 1991, surviving the downsizing of the House after the 1980 “cutback amendment” that reduced the chamber to 118 seats from 177.
Two years after losing to future Gov. Pat Quinn in the 1990 Democratic primary for state treasurer, she became the first women from outside Cook County elected to the Illinois Appellate Court. She retired in 2002.