Kendall County Times

Kendall County Republican Party Chairman James Marter sighs that Mike Madigan’s Springfield swan song is a long overdue development.

“It’s always a good day when the worse thing to happen to people of Illinois politically is finally forced out of office,” Marter told the Kendall County Times. “I’m just hoping there may now be some federal jail time in his immediate future to go with his departure.”

After nearly a 40-year run of power, Madigan will be relinquishing his 22nd District House seat at the end of the month. His resignation comes just weeks after he was dumped as House speaker when a growing number of members of his own party refused to support his reelection campaign. The state’s longest-serving lawmaker departs amid a still-unfolding federal corruption probe involving ComEd. Madigan has been implicated in a scheme in which perks were steered to him in exchange for favorable legislation.

As encouraged as he is about Madigan leaving, Marter warns the world of state politics probably still hasn’t seen the last of him.

“He’s still in charge of a lot of purse strings,” he said of the veteran lawmaker who remains in charge of the Illinois Democratic Party. “My concern is will he be retiring from politics completely, or will he still be behind the scene working as a puppet-master to pull all the strings?”

In the end, Marter – who plans to run for Congress in 2022 against incumbent Republican Adam Kinzinger – said the question of what direction Springfield may take now will probably come down to whether new House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch proves to be a man of his word.

“What we need now is for legislators to come in and undo much of what Madigan has done over the last four decades,” he said. “Speaker (Emmanuel "Chris") Welch talks about this being a new day and how he wants bipartisanship in putting the state back on course. We’ll have to see if he means what he says.”