The House That Madigan Built

House Speaker Michael J. Madigan was a record setter, a political powerhouse and one of the most prominent architects of Illinois' destiny. The longest-serving legislative leader in U.S. history, Madigan saw his long reign come to an end, ironically 50 years to the day he first took the oath as a state representative in 1971, and 38 years since he first assumed the Illinois House speakership he'd held for all but two years since. In The Illinois House that Madigan Built, veteran Chicago Tribune investigative reporter and one-time Springfield bureau chief Ray Long unpacks the unprecedented political career of Mike Madigan with fascinating vignettes to mark its highs and lows. Madigan determined when taxes went up, what pension plan would pass, when it istime to approve gay marriage or ban the death penalty. He moved up the Illinois primary to help Barack Obama's race for president. He oversaw the first impeachment of an Illinois governor. Madigan ran his 13th Ward in Chicago with old-school discipline. His opponents noted that Madigan didn't just want to beat them; he wanted to crush their souls. Long traces Madigan's political genealogy to the legendary Chicago mayor, Richard J. Daley. and shows how his old-style patronage ways brought the speaker periodic scrutiny, including as part of the ComEd scandal that eventually cost him the speakership. This book is a balanced, authoritative, deep dive into a figure who not only built the House he led but, in a larger sense, built the house Illinoisans live in--