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America’s Last Machine Boss Goes Down
National Review ^ | February 28, 2021 | Austin Berg

Posted on 02/28/2021 12:57:55 PM PST by re_tail20

For decades, Illinois House speaker Michael Madigan dominated the state’s political system, corrupting it to his own ends. What should we make of his ouster?

The Chicago machine turned out some of the most notorious names in American public corruption, including Anton Cermak, Richard J. Daley, and Ed Kelly. The machine also turned out Mike Madigan, who ruled over Illinois politics for 50 years, 36 of which he spent calling the shots as House speaker.

Most people thought Madigan would only leave office in handcuffs or a casket. Most people were wrong. For the first time since 1970, “the Velvet Hammer” is not representing Chicago’s southwest side in the state capitol: Madigan announced his resignation on Feb. 18, just weeks after losing his spot as House speaker when his Democratic caucus abandoned him.

Madigan is the most skilled politician you’ve never heard of and the most powerful state-level official in American history. During his tenure, the mission of Illinois government could be summed up in a question:

“What’s in it for me?”

Madigan’s dominance of state and local politics will never be matched, and it came at the expense of a once-proud state, which now must claw its way out of the mess he made. But to make sense of that mess and the man’s monumental career — to understand how Illinois got here and how it can move forward — you have to start at the beginning.

Madigan’s first job for the machine was hauling its trash.

His father, Mike Sr., a foot soldier of then-mayor Richard J. Daley, got his son a job on the back of a city dump truck. Daley controlled more than 40,000 such patronage jobs at the time. And Madigan would have seen many of the others lucky enough to receive one on his...

(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...


TOPICS: Politics/Elections; US: Illinois
KEYWORDS: ag; ags; chicago; corruption; daley; democraticparty; democrats; dickdaley; donks; illinois; lgbtq; lisamadigan; llinois; machine; machinepolitics; madigan; madiganillinois; michaelmadigan; mob; patronage; resignation; richarddaley; theevilparty; trashman
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1 posted on 02/28/2021 12:57:55 PM PST by re_tail20
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To: re_tail20

“America’s Last (political) Machine...Goes Down”

Actually, one more to go...and hopefully Trump takes care of that.


2 posted on 02/28/2021 1:02:53 PM PST by BobL
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To: re_tail20

3 posted on 02/28/2021 1:06:21 PM PST by Bonemaker (invictus maneo)
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To: re_tail20
Meet the new boss.
Same as the old boss.
4 posted on 02/28/2021 1:06:32 PM PST by facedown (Armed in the Heartland)
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To: re_tail20

DEMOCRAT machine boss.


5 posted on 02/28/2021 1:07:58 PM PST by 2banana (Common ground with islamic terrorists-they want to die for allah and we want to arrange the meeting)
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To: Bonemaker

We are seeing a purge of old, white, straight men from the Democrat party.


6 posted on 02/28/2021 1:14:21 PM PST by PapaBear3625 ("Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities." -- Voltaire)
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To: 2banana

His daughter was illannoy AG for 16 of his years. Guess how much investigation of corruption was done!


7 posted on 02/28/2021 1:17:48 PM PST by Bonemaker (invictus maneo)
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To: re_tail20

Those dump truck jobs were pretty good back in the day. It was a union gig that paid OK and left plenty of time for other things if it were a connected no show job.


8 posted on 02/28/2021 1:19:14 PM PST by glorgau
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To: re_tail20

The decline of Illinois is so steep that even the morons who vote Democrat can’t ignore it, and Madigan had become the personification of the corruption and incompetence that led to the demise of the state - so much so that anybody running against an incumbent in the state legislature would automatically charge their opponent of voting with Madigan (and that would assure them of at least some electoral support).

So Madigan was turning into an Election Day albatross, and hence he had to go (with a super-cushy pension, of course). Not that it will make one bit of difference - the donkey party in Illinois is still corrupt to the core, and the state will continue to spiral down the toilet, both economically and in terms of its social structure.


9 posted on 02/28/2021 1:26:19 PM PST by Stosh
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To: re_tail20
Time for a huge mea culpa on my part, and it's taken me nearly 50 years to talk about it.

During two summers during college, I worked as a firefighter for the California Division of Forestry. I got the job through nepotism, as my stepfather worked for many years with a gentleman that eventually landed a high position with CalFire.

For about the first six weeks, one of my fire captains was decidedly cool towards me. He then told me what his instructions were: they didn't care how badly I bombed the interview (it was a group interview), I would get one of the jobs.

I was the only non-forestry major interviewing, at the time I was majoring in management. Yeah, that really went over well with them...lol.

Eventually, I won him over with my performance on the job, and he told me that. I worked the following summer, after my sophomore year, where I was handed more responsibility on the job. It was a great summer job for a college kid. Had I not received a ROTC scholarship, it's quite possible I would have made it a career.

In today's world, I'm not sure I would have gotten that firefighter gig. I did my best, I could never let my stepfather down. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out.

Seriously though, I have never harbored any "guilt" over my "privilege" in this instance. Although I had help getting in the door, I earned my right to be there by my job performance.

10 posted on 02/28/2021 1:27:34 PM PST by Night Hides Not (Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad! Remember Gonzales! Come and Take It!)
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To: re_tail20

The utterly corrupt Mike Madigan, whose clout paved the way for his nincompoop daughter Lisa Madigan to get elected the state’s attorney general, despite having no experience whatsoever in a courtroom, and whose qualification for the office was solely familial. The Madigans are a stain even on the stain that is Illinois politics.


11 posted on 02/28/2021 1:29:20 PM PST by ought-six (Multiculturalism is national suicide, and political correctness is the cyanide capsule. )
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To: Stosh

> the donkey party in Illinois is still corrupt to the core, and the state will continue to spiral down the toilet <

Hang on, Illinois. I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if down the road Biden bails all of you guys out. The states can’t print money. But the Feds sure can.


12 posted on 02/28/2021 1:31:03 PM PST by Leaning Right (I have already previewed or do not wish to preview this composition )
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To: re_tail20

Mike Royko of the Chicago Sun Times wrote a book called: “The Machine”. It was part of our social studies/history class in 9/10th grade HS.

Mayor Daley and his political “Machine”. It was a damning book of Daley. Doubt it would be required reading material these days. Well, unless it was used as an instruction manual like “1984” was/is today.


13 posted on 02/28/2021 1:32:46 PM PST by AFreeBird
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To: re_tail20; All

Comes from that finger of Chicago where Cicero Avenue extends to Harlem Avenue is bordered by two suburbs and includes Midway airport Lived in his ward 13, where we had a community organization known as the Clearing Civic where he was never involved with and it was a standing joke with many members who would comment; “Does he rally exist?”???
Where there had been reports of a political feud going on between him and the 23rd ward William O Lipinski 5th dist Il congressman which resulted with a2012 ward remap giving the 13th a large chunk of the 23rd and destroying its political organization headed by Lipinski
HERE IS THE BACKGROUND
IN THE RACE FOR HOUSE SEATS EVERYONE RUNNING UNDER THE DEMON-O-CRAT LABEL VOTED FOR THESE TWO ISSUES
ABORTION FUNDING SUPPORT AND THIS. IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN AN ISSUE USED IN THE CONGRESSIONAL RACES BUT WAS NOT

FORCE Schools To Let Male Athletes Compete In Girls’ Sports...Any Dem congressman who didn’t support this got kicked out by holding their primary in remapped districts.This effort by those in control of the demo party shpould have been used to demonstrate where that party is coming from. Why weren’t those votes an issue in this 2020 campaign by the Republicans ? Not just where this occurred but nationally?

.. Democratic candidate for America’s Vice President California and likely presidential replacement Sen. Kamala Harris sponsored a Senate bill that would that would force funding public schools to allow biologically male athletes who identify as transgender on girls’ sports teams.

In March 2019, Harris cosponsored the Equality Act, which would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 . Among other things, the bill would force public schools to expand female athletic teams to include biological males who identify as transgender girls
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3873820/posts
.Also did this http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3877896/posts and this http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3880192/posts

.. HERE’S HOW THEY TREATED CONSERVATIVE CONGRESSIONAL DEMOCRATS WHO DONT SUPPORT FUNDING STUFF LIKE THIS

.. And why there is no such thing as a Conservative Dem in Congress An example is Illinois 3rd district
..
Todays Democrats weren’t happy with this father William O Lipinski then sucessor son Daniel also votes against abortion and then be the only congressional democrat to vote NO on allowing men to to call themselves a women and compete with women in college sports. To stop this the demoncrats decided to remap his district of areas which supported him for the 2020 primary.

The ward (the 23rd) and the congressional district formerly the 5th which they changed into being the 3rd Illinois congressional by taking ward areas which had areas dominated by hispanic fore names and placed them into the Louis Gutierez district.

In the reshaped 3rd Congressional district primary Daniel Lipinski lost because of this redistricting. Of a district which had previously included adjacent Chicago city wards to his 23rd. which was “re-mapped in 2012 after former alderman and ward committeeman now congressman William O Lipinski annouced his retirement and wanted his son for his congressional replacement .

The remap was replacing ward boundaries of the 14th known as the stockyards which had experienced extensive demographic changes. They chopped up and placed sections of streets and blocks that were not only in the 23rd but the of adjacent 12th and 15th wards and made them the 14th ward

Now because Chicago alderman oversee routing of such things as garbage collections and getting city services . Some have complained of seeing rodents since as well as complained of poor road maintenance on their block. Because with this remap if your residence was in one ward your neighbor across the street or a block down is might be in another ward

.. The 5th was a district in the 1950’s which was a part of the third largest school district in the country run by the Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago. Those city wards were primarily composed of dozens of traditional value family oriented Catholic/Christian communities centered around their churches and their schools. Hence opposed to funding such things as abortion and LGBT activities rather for issues that dealt exclusively with city issues such as a subway L service and the Stevenson Expressway.

These Wards once were reliable supporters of Dan’s father, William O Lipinski. But after the 2012 redistricting the number of precincts in the 23rd were cut back to 39 and even their ward headquarters location was stuck in another ward.

And where many wards had areas with Hispanic last names those areas were redistricted and assigned to the Louis Gutieriez’s district. In areas where buildings were abandoned affected by the no money down home mortgages or had changed because of this. The ward such as the 14th known as Back of The Yards because of the former stock yards which has since relocated was remapped to include portions of other wards mainly the 23rd which Those results actually tear up the concept of a neighborhood and pit people against each other by using division.

In some of those wards areas of city blocks which were zoned exclusively for single family dwellings residents suddenly found their neighborhood having houses torn down and being replaced with multiple apartments with the units not required to furnish parking facilities and many renters were illegals. Much of which fit the plans for the suburbs
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3881650/posts
http://www.theusmat.com/mdwbea.htm


14 posted on 02/28/2021 1:33:08 PM PST by mosesdapoet (mosesdapoet aka L.J.Keslin posting here for the record hoping somebody might read and pass around)
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To: Leaning Right

You’re exactly right - one of the worst aspects of the 2020 “election” was that it paved the way for bailouts of corrupt states like Illinois, which was on a clear track for a reckoning after decades of criminal Democrat leadership. Whether that reckoning would have been a bankruptcy by the state or insane increases in taxes or fees or a complete collapse of the pension system, we’ll never know, because it’s likely to be dealt with by play money from the feds.


15 posted on 02/28/2021 1:46:02 PM PST by Stosh
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To: re_tail20

We have one behind the current pResiXernt and the street walker.

This is not even CLOSE to the last machine boss. The machine has gotten so huge it cannot even be seen any more.


16 posted on 02/28/2021 1:47:30 PM PST by freedumb2003 (No matter what, resist and stop the agenda of blow bidet and hairass the whore)
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To: re_tail20

I think the deal was: Madigan has to go, he’s toxic. But in return, Biden will fire the US attorney and shut down the investigation into other of his cronies.


17 posted on 02/28/2021 1:49:03 PM PST by bigbob (Trust Trump. Trust the Plan. )
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Arthur Wildfire! March; Berosus; Bockscar; cardinal4; ColdOne; ...
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

18 posted on 02/28/2021 1:54:54 PM PST by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: re_tail20; fieldmarshaldj; Impy; BillyBoy; chicagolady; ChicagoConservative27
BYEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

PING!

19 posted on 02/28/2021 2:01:37 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks (GOP-free since 10/9/20)
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To: re_tail20

“...including Anton Cermak, Richard J. Daley, and Ed Kelly.”

He left Obama off the list. I’m sure it was just a typo. /s


20 posted on 02/28/2021 2:04:50 PM PST by Hillarys Gate Cult (typo)
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