State Rep. Kathleen Willis said it best when she became one of the 19 current Democrats in the Illinois House to oppose giving Rep. Madigan another term as speaker. She said he had become a distraction.
The situation in Springfield is financially dire. Lots of new bills will be proposed in the spring session. Any good ideas that Rep. Madigan supports will have a corrupt taint deserved or not. Look what happened to the Fair Tax.
A good idea to change one word in the constitution from “flat” to “graduated” was soundly defeated as people thought it was tied to Madigan or was a tax hike. It was neither. Ironically Madigan was part of the 1970 Constitutional Convention that put the flat tax in place. But in politics, perceptions are more important than realities.
During the 2nd Continental Congress of 1776, John Adams wanted to propose independence for the 13 colonies. His good friend Ben Franklin told him not to do so, because most of the delegates thought John was arrogant and overbearing. Any idea he proposed would be defeated. Franklin suggested giving this idea to another delegate to propose. This is what happened and the rest is history.
It is time for new leadership in order to propose new ideas that will bring Illinois forward. Illinois representatives who still support Madigan say that they do so in order to get his support and money for re-election campaigns. But with so many gerrymandered districts, most reps have no opponents. Why do they need him? Illinois does not.
Jan Goldberg
Riverside
