Chicago Tribune investigative reporter RayLong began covering the statehouse at the start of Michael Madigan’s historic reign as speaker of the House. He joined paschutz to talk about his new book on the recently indicted Madigan.
was charged with 22 federal countsIt’s a dramatic capstone to a more than 50-year career described as both “legendary” and “corrupt,” depending on who you talk to.Chicago Tribune investigative reporter Ray Long began covering the statehouse at the beginning of Madigan’s historic reign as speaker of the House, and has unique insight into how he operated.
All wanted to know the positions of the secretive man who did more to shape Illinois politics, government and laws than anyone in the last half century: House Speaker Michael Joseph Madigan, chairman of the Democratic Party of Illinois, committeeman of Chicago’s 13th Ward, lifelong resident of the city’s Southwest Side. Wielding the gavel for all but two years from 1983 to early 2021, making him the nation’s longest-serving speaker, Madigan built the House where he ruled.
Instead of the hammerlike slams that his Republican predecessor, George Ryan, often used to quiet the chamber, Madigan held the mallet end of the gavel and tapped the handle lightly. To the astonishment of lawmakers, the House went silent. Madigan grinned. “This is a new era,” he said. Extremely deliberative, Madigan usually knew how to make a course correction when he misread political winds. Madigan lost the Illinois speakership in the 1994 nationwide Republican tide that empowered U.S. Rep. Newt Gingrich to take over the U.S. House. But Madigan built a political team that — despite running in districts gerrymandered to favor Republicans — took back the Illinois House two years later.