Cleaning out corruption goes beyond ousting Madigan
The most powerful state legislative leader in the country has been running Illinois for more than three decades - but his reign may be coming to an end.
House Speaker Mike Madigan has ruled with an iron fist, accumulating unprecedented power, and dictating what happens in Springfield. He's set up the system to benefit himself and his allies, and ordinary Illinoisans pay for it.
Now, Madigan is at the center of a federal corruption investigation, and his power has never seemed more imperiled. Eighteen Democratic lawmakers have now called for him to step down.
Madigan has to go, but even then, the power structure he's built will remain, ready for the successor who takes up his mantle.
That's why Illinois must dismantle the system itself.
Here's what that means.
On Jan. 13, 2021, lawmakers will head to Springfield to take two important votes. First, they will vote for House speaker. Then they'll vote for the House Rules, which govern the way the sausage is made in the Capitol and which have allowed Madigan to advance or kill bills based on what suits him.
Right now, lawmakers are pledging to vote against Speaker Madigan, but the House Rules have to change, too.
The rules give the speaker too much power in the General Assembly. Changes to the House Rules must include ending the practice of allowing the speaker to control when and whether bills are called for a vote. And the rules should no longer give the speaker the power to dole out committee chairmanships and accompanying stipends as rewards for loyalty or to withhold them as punishment for opposing him or her.
Next, Illinois needs to stop letting politicians control how legislative maps are drawn. Madigan has drawn three of the past four legislative maps, guaranteeing one-party domination of the state. Currently, the power to draw legislative maps rests with the same lawmakers who stand to benefit from it by redrawing their districts to be less competitive. Instead, Illinois should hand over mapmaking responsibility to an independent body not controlled by legislators whose districts are at stake. Iowa, for example, takes the power out of lawmakers' hands by using a nonpartisan legislative agency to draw maps.
The state also has to give teeth to ethics laws designed to root out conflicts of interest that influence how business is done in Springfield. It's not fair that lawmakers can vote on legislation that could benefit their personal or family members' financial interests. Take, for example, Madigan's ability to decide on property tax legislation while running one of the most profitable property-tax law firms in the state.
The General Assembly should also clean up its lobbying rules. In the Prairie State, you can be a lawmaker one day and a lobbyist the next, as Illinois is one of only 14 states that doesn't impose a cooling-off period between the time a lawmaker leaves office and when he or she can return to lobby former colleagues. Moreover, sitting lawmakers can even lobby local governments on behalf of private clients while in office, which allows them to put those clients' - and their own - interests above those of their constituents.
Finally, Springfield needs a fully empowered watchdog to ensure the legislature is operating ethically. The legislative inspector general should be able to open investigations, issue subpoenas and publish findings of wrongdoing without first getting approval from the Legislative Ethics Committee, which is composed of lawmakers.
If Illinois doesn't change the rules that have facilitated a culture of corruption, Madigan's eventual exit won't provide a clean break with the past.
• Amy Korte is vice president of policy at the Illinois Policy Institute.