Madigan faces ouster as speaker as Illinois House convenes to pick leader

Posted By TheNewsCommenter: From Washingtonexaminer.com: “Madigan faces ouster as speaker as Illinois House convenes to pick leader”. Below is an excerpt from the article.

The new term of the Illinois Legislature begins Wednesday afternoon and all eyes are on who will be the next speaker of the House.

Longtime Illinois politics observer and University of Illinois Springfield professor Kent Redfield said whoever becomes speaker, they have to pledge to be independent of Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, who’s held the seat for all but two years since 1983.

“Whether [Madigan] finishes out his term or not, I don’t expect him to be the controller behind the curtain, I don’t think that’s going to happen,” Redfield said.

House Minority Leader Jim Durkin, R-Western Springs, said late Tuesday state Rep. Chris Welch, D-Hillside, had lobbyists reach out for Republican support for Welch’s speaker bid. Durkin said Welch, a Madigan ally, should be disqualified for blocking Madigan from testifying in a House investigation of the ComEd bribery scheme.

“To me, I consider Chris Welch an extension of Mike Madigan and we’ve got to break from the past,” Durkin said. “And trust me, Mike Madigan is going to do everything he can to pass the baton on to someone who’s going to continue the model of Madigan Inc.”

Read more...