America’s Last Machine Boss Goes Down

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:

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.

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...

As recently as 2012, a plurality of Illinoisans had no opinion on Madigan or didn’t know who he was.

That's an interesting statement. At least south of I-70, Republican candidates in IL have been running against Dems for at least 20 years, often successfully, by tying them to Madigan. Granted that "south of I-70" is a smallish population compared to the Chicago area.

The result of all those unsustainable promises is the most severe public-pension crisis in U.S. history.

I'm not so sure about that, at least not on a per taxpayer basis. I believe that even Kentucky's pension shortfall is greater per capita, and IL's population is wealthier. This brings up 3 points:

1) It would be very interesting to rank all 50 states' pension shortfalls on a per capita taxpayer income basis. Maybe some FReeper has the resources to do so?

2) These pension shortfalls are not limited to state governments. There are a myriad of smaller governmental units, districts, etc., which taken as a whole, are also in huge trouble in many states. If you research your own or a neighboring state, IF the data is available, you will likely gag...

3) The work of outside experts such as J.P. Morgan’s Michael Cembalest has clearly shown that there’s no feasible way to adequately fund the system through tax hikes. Short of a constitutional amendment allowing for changes to benefits, the only option is insolvency.

Given the magnitude of the problem in total, I'm not sure even FedGov $$ can bail out "everybody", and certainly it cannot unless the country goes into a period of high and sustained economic growth.

But the larger problem is a system in which politicians use taxpayer resources solely as a means to reinforce their own power, and it’s no coincidence that Madigan fell only after Illinoisans started to catch on to his game.

I would strike out the word "soley". This problem is merely a subset of the bigger problem in which the government uses taxpayer resources to feed mostly itself, it's own growth, and dominance over our lives. Particularly on the Federal level, even most seemingly worthwhile projects end up costing 10x, 20x, or more, than they should, because most of the money ends up being directed back to the government, and only a small portion goes toward the actual work done.

I live in IL. Nothing is going to change, ever. The people who vote D are receiving a fvckton of handouts, and they will never give them up. It’s why they keep voting D. It’s why property taxes are lower in Chicago than the rest of the state, to make sure that the city keeps voting D.

They basically decide what happens to the state, along with Springfield. That’s why the rest of IL, almost the rest of it, is red and yet we go nowhere good.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.