PEORIA MAGAZINE June 2022

and power to decide what issues would succeed or suffocate. As chairman of the Democratic Party of Illinois, he raised campaign contributions at a phenomenal pace, andhedecidedwhich legislators’ campaigns would benefit from the largesse. He ran vaunted state and local political operations, including as the committeeman of the 13th Ward organization that was filled with immensely loyal precinct workers who often held government jobs that Madigan helped them get. Many of his top staffers rolled off of the state payroll and moved swiftly into lucrative lobbyist jobs, putting them in position to help the speaker politically and enjoy access to the most powerful politician in the state. PM : You write that “knee-jerk Madigan haters will think that this book goes easy on him; Madigan lovers will think it hits him too hard.” Meanwhile, longtime Statehouse reporter and educator Charlie Wheeler wrote in his foreword that “bottom line, in my opinion, Madigan has been a positive force for the state of Illinois.” How would you assess the condition of the state of Illinois and state government now relative to 1983 whenMadigan first became Speaker? How responsible is he for all of that? RL : State government is in much worse fiscal shape, in my estimation, because the pension crisis looms over everything and remains unresolved. There is plenty of blame to go around because governors and lawmakers have shorted the pensions for decades. Madigan was part of that and has acknowledged that, but he has a lot of company in the state’s financial woes. He was speaker for 36 years, of course; his attempts to address the pension problem fell short. Without saying it is good or bad, the state clearly has tilted to the left

since Madigan took office, including the abolition of the death penalty, the implementation of gay marriage, an expansion of abortion rights, recreational marijuana and a greater reliance on gambling to pay bills. The electorate is restless and divided. This has spilled over into state politics, making it harder to reach non-partisan consensus on legislation and budgets. PM : Ultimately, what do you hope readers take away from this book? RL : Madigan was one of the most powerful political leaders this state has ever seen. He dominated legislative issues and politics and used each to buttress his grip on state politics and government. He became a major fundraiser, a prolific purveyor of patronage, a rainmaker for his property tax appeals firm, a leader of a fanatic army of followers, and a guy whose legacy as the nation’s longest-serving House speaker is threatened by the controversies that led to him being dethroned. PM : Last question: Take us back to your days in Peoria at the Journal Star. How do you remember your time here? RL : The days at the Journal Star could not have been better for me. The paper was robust with a circulation of close to 100,000 and a coverage area of 19 counties. I covered the 205-day UAW Cat strike that paralyzed the city in 1982-83 and led to the downsizing of the company’s Peoria area workforce, the fatal botulism outbreak, the opening of the Civic Center, the band Genesis launching a nationwide tour in Peoria, the raucous fights between city and county officials, state and federal courts and politics. I also worked as a full-time reporter covering a state government that passed a series of headline-grabbing

bills that impacted Peoria, including legalization of riverboat gambling and off-track betting, the allocation of funds to help build the downtown baseball stadium and the day-to-day changes in laws that impact people’s lives. It was a time when Republicans and Democrats could fight all day but find room for compromise. It was also a day when the Peoria paper had a full time reporter in Springfield and the best legislative and political reporter in the state, Bill O’Connell. The paper actually gave us room to file as many as three full pages of legislative coverage virtually any day the General Assembly was in session, providing Peoria readers with the best and most comprehensive coverage of the statehouse of any paper in Illinois. I learned a lot, and I always look back fondly at my days of living in Peoria and working for the Peoria Journal Star.

THE LEGACY OF THE NATION’S LONGEST-SERVING HOUSE SPEAKER IS THREATENED BY THE CONTROVERSIES THAT LED TO HIM BEING DETHRONED

Ray Long is a Chicago Tribune reporter and two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist who also has worked for the Alton Telegraph, the Peoria Journal Star, the Chicago Sun-Times and the Associated Press. This interview was conducted by Mike Bailey , editor in chief of Peoria Magazine Clarification In the May 2022 Word Count review of the book The Spirit of Wetlands, its creators were misidentified in the photo captions. Clare Howard authored the book, and David Zalaznik took the photographs

72 JUNE 2022 PEORIA MAGAZINE