Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s corruption conviction means capturing his likeness in a portrait would be tax dollars poorly spent, one lawmaker says.
One state lawmaker is pushing to ensure convicted former Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan and his corrupt reign are not immortalized in an official Statehouse portrait.
During veto session, state Rep. Martin McLaughlin, R-Lake Barrington, introduced House Bill 4162, the House Speaker Portrait Act, to prohibit the use of state funds to finance a portrait of any person who has served as Speaker of the House of Representatives of Illinois and who has been convicted of a felony relating to his or her service as an elected official. That would cover Madigan, who is serving a federal sentence in West Virginia.
While cost was not mentioned, an oil portrait can be expensive. One of former U.S. House Speaker Denny Hastert cost taxpayers $35,000 and was removed from the U.S. Capitol after he pleaded guilty in a sexual abuse hush money scheme.
Illinois already banned governor portraits when they have been removed from office by impeachment or a conviction. That law passed after Rod Blagojevich’s federal conviction.
And Madigan himself championed removing images of an infamous Illinois politician in 2020. He instigated elimination of U.S. Sen. Stephen A. Douglas’ statues and portraits from the Statehouse because Douglas owned slaves and precipitated the Civil War by allowing slavery to potentially expand to new states.
It is right to keep funds from producing portraits of Illinois’ faces of corruption. But Illinois state government needs to do more to break the grip of entrenched insiders and restore fairness and transparency to state government.
Madigan’s personal reign has ended, but the system he built lives on.
- 57 sitting state lawmakers owe Madigan for getting them campaign cash that helped get them elected.
- Illinois state lawmakers still create their own gerrymandered legislative and congressional districts using a system Madigan helped perfect.
- The House Rules that dictate how the Illinois House of Representatives conducts its business still gives the House speaker, currently Emanuel Chris Welch, singular power to decide which bills can advance to become law.
Madigan, 83, ruled the Illinois House for 36 years, longer than any legislative leader in U.S. history. Known as “The Velvet Hammer,” he quietly used his power to build a political machine that controlled Springfield and converted that power into personal and political gain.
A federal jury found Madigan guilty on 10 counts of bribery, conspiracy and wire fraud, concluding he used his office to reward allies with no-show jobs and contracts in exchange for favorable legislation. U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey called it “abuse of power at the highest level.”
The structures he created with gerrymandered districts, House rules concentrating power in the speaker and a network of campaign funding remain in place, enabling the next generation of political insiders.
To break free from the Madigan legacy, Illinois lawmakers must act to:
- End the revolving door from state lawmaker to lobbyist.
- Strengthen financial disclosures and require recusals in cases of conflicts of interest.
- Empower the legislative inspector general with authority that is independent from lawmakers.
- Enact fair maps through an independent redistricting commission.
- Reform Illinois House rules to restore legislative balance.
Now that the man largely responsible for one-party rule in Illinois is behind bars, Illinois voters need to hold the governor and state lawmakers accountable for cleaning up after him. That will take more than banning an oil portrait.
