Summary: Since I launched this podcast, I’ve gotten questions that cover a pretty broad range of topics in Illinois government. But there’s one topic—one particularly notorious individual—that folks are really curious about. I heard from 6 people who all asked more or less the same question about House Speaker Mike Madigan: How did he get so much power? And how does he keep it? To answer this question we’ll take a history lesson in machine politics, we’ll learn a little something about partisan gerrymandering, and we’ll follow the money in Illinois politics. Finally, we’ll consider what Madigan’s legacy might be, whenever he leaves office.
