SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) - Michael Madigan was re-elected Wednesday to a 17th term leading the Illinois House, putting him on track to soon become the nation's longest-serving statehouse speaker in more than a century, but he faces an ongoing budget crisis and a shrinking Democratic majority.
A member of the Illinois House since 1971, Madigan has held the top job for a total of 32 years. According to the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform, Democrat Solomon Blatt of South Carolina served 33 years - from 1937 to 1946 and again from 1951 to 1973. Madigan, who was elected speaker in 1983 but lost his majority from 1995 to 1997 before retaking it, would eclipse Blatt's tenure early next year.
The Illinois Senate took its own historic step Wednesday borne of the budget stalemate. The Democratic-controlled body voted for the first time to impose 10-year term limits on its leaders as both chambers got down to business in the General Assembly's 100th session.
The move came after the Senate reintroduced a package of legislation negotiated between Democratic Senate President John Cullerton and Republican Leader Christine Radogno designed to push long-stalled budget talks forward. Cullerton and Radogno, who were unsuccessful in implementing the changes during the previous session, pledged to get Senate approval by the end of January.
The inauguration of the new House and Senate lacked some of the jocularity of two years ago, when wary Democrats took near-historic majorities in both houses up against the untested Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, who had just taken office. Two years later, Democrats and Rauner continue to feud and an entire legislative session expired without an annual budget deal.
"The state needs a budget. Period," Cullerton, 68, told a packed chamber that included Rauner as well as senators and their families and friends. "This has become nearly as ridiculous as it is frustrating."
Rauner has insisted that the state must impose business-friendly changes, including term limits on legislative leaders, before he'll agree to a budget plan likely to include an income tax hike to pay down billions of dollars in debt. Madigan and Cullerton had resisted, saying his business-friendly and union-power curbing ideas would hurt middle class families.
Madigan would become the nation's longest-serving speaker in
Republicans urged Democrats to choose someone else as speaker, but only one Democrat - Rep. Scott Drury of Highwood - refused to back him. He voted "present," and Madigan was elected 66-51.