March 28, 2024
State | Northwest Herald


State

Bill aimed at paring Madigan’s power stalls in Illinois House

A bill intended to rein in House Speaker Michael Madigan’s outsized role in state politics was rejected by Democrats in a House subcommittee Thursday.

The measure, sponsored by state Rep. Margo McDermed, R-Mokena, would have prohibited anyone who is the leader of a legislative chamber from serving simultaneously as a state party chairman.

Madigan, the longest-serving speaker of any state House of Representatives in U.S. history, also has chaired the Illinois Democratic Party since 1998. He is believed to be the only state-level House speaker who simultaneously serves as the state party chairman.

McDermed acknowledged that the Chicago politician’s situation inspired her to offer the bill, but she denied it was aimed specifically at him.

“It’s not about one person,” she said. “It’s about the ethical conflict that every other state has ruled out.”

McDermed said every other state either has statutes, regulations or ethics codes that preclude anyone from holding both positions simultaneously.

Contacted separately, however, an official from the Council of State Governments was unable to say whether any states have legal prohibitions against serving in both roles, and he suggested that such a ban could raise constitutional problems.

In fact, the bill was referred to a constitutional law subcommittee because in the words of Chairman Andre Thapedi, D-Chicago, it had possible “constitutional ramifications” either as a possible violation of equal protection guarantees or as “special legislation” intended to target one identifiable individual.

McDermed, however, insisted that it was meant to address ethical matters about conflicts of interest, and that it would apply to any legislative leader – House speaker or Senate president – going forward.

“I’m doing this because it seems to me an inherent conflict of interest and puts someone in a position where governing the state, legislating for the state, is not necessarily consistent with what’s best for the political party, and that’s what I’m trying to get at,” she said.

When asked by state Rep. Thaddeus Jones, D-Calumet City, who is in a position to say it’s a conflict, McDermed said: “It’s a conflict by its very nature. Nobody needs to say it’s a conflict. Every person with common sense can see that it’s a conflict.”

“Well, I have common sense, and I can’t see that it’s a conflict,” Jones said.

On a party-line vote of 3-2, the subcommittee voted against advancing the bill to the full Judiciary Committee on civil law.

“Apparently the claim of conflict is not accurate or persuasive to the members of the subcommittee,” Madigan’s spokesman, Steve Brown, said in an email.

The legislation is House Bill 878.