Busting the Springfield power monopoly: Madigan, Dunkin and why Illinois needs term limits
The defiance of certain Democrats in the General Assembly shows House Speaker Mike Madigan’s stranglehold on power is weakening.
Decades of Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan’s failed policies are catching up to him. The tactics employed by Madigan to score political points against Gov. Bruce Rauner have resulted in rock-bottom approval ratings for the speaker and a weakening of his power over Democrats in the Illinois House of Representatives.
Madigan will mark 45 years as a member of Illinois’ House of Representatives in January. He has held a firm grip on Springfield as speaker of the House, having served in that position for all but two years since assuming the role in 1983. But now Madigan’s grip on power is starting to loosen, due in part to the Republican caucus’ standing with Rauner on crucial votes, but also due to the speaker’s having lost some of his own caucus at critical times.
Madigan’s loss of three Democratic votes in September on his failed attempt to override Rauner’s veto of Senate Bill 1229, the government-worker union arbitration bill, revealed weak spots in Madigan’s previously unquestioned ability to call the shots for his fellow Democrats in the General Assembly.
And on Nov. 10, state Rep. Ken Dunkin, D-Chicago, refused to cast his would-be deciding vote on Senate Bill 570, a Madigan-supported, child care funding bill. SB 570 would have undermined the compromise reached between Rauner and lawmakers regarding funding for the state’s child care assistance program.
Dunkin’s stance in opposition to Madigan and his Democratic caucus reveals the kind of independent leadership the state needs. Dunkin has been criticized by his Democratic colleagues and their government-worker union allies for his independence and may have jeopardized his job as a lawmaker by refusing to play Madigan’s tired political games.
Public opinion strongly favors term limits for elected officials, and Madigan’s 45-year tenure in the House and his decades long stranglehold on power point to the need for term limits in Illinois.
As the time for filing 2016 election petitions has arrived, Illinoisans need public servants who understand that sometimes the right vote isn’t the most politically popular vote. If leaders are willing to risk losing elections to do what’s right – and if Illinois would limit the reigns of career politicians such as Madigan – the state might actually be able to turn itself around.