North Cook News

House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) believes Illinoisans have already decided on term limits: They voted for him.

“I strongly believe in the wisdom of the people of Illinois and how they vote,” Madigan said. “We had a term limit discussion in the southwest side of Chicago about a year and half ago. There was a million dollars spent against me, and the people voted for me.”

Madigan’s comments followed a closed-door meeting with House Minority Leader Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs), Senate Majority Leader John Cullerton (D-Chicago) and Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno (R-Lemont) on Sunday in which they discussed solutions to the budget crisis and some of the most prominent issues afflicting the state.

Term limits has been a priority issue for Gov. Bruce Rauner, Republican lawmakers and residents of the state, and according to a poll by the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute, nearly four out of five Illinoisans support term limits. Only 25 percent of Illinoisans are confident about state government -- the lowest confidence rate in the nation, according to a Gallup poll.

Despite vocal support for term limits and a lack of confidence in government, no legislation has been passed to address term limits. Imposing term limits would directly impact Madigan, who has served in the Illinois House since 1971 and has been speaker since 1983.

Two weeks ago, Republican lawmakers proposed a legislative spending and reform package that addressed term limits, but progress has yet to be made on any of their proposals. Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are deadlocked on budget talks after being called back to a special session. If they succeed, the state will have a budget for the first time in two years, but they are down to their last five days. 

Madigan’s closed-door meeting with party leaders was an effort to move the budget discussion forward, he said. Despite no movement on term limits and legislative district reforms, Madigan said he is hoping for a compromise.

“This is a governmental negotiation,” Madigan said. “This is a situation where nobody gets a 100 percent. I asked the Republican leaders to please go down to the governor and explain that in a governmental negotiation, nobody gets 100 percent.”

Madigan has accused Rauner of holding the state hostage to push an "extreme right-wing agenda," although he added off-budget demands to budget talks during the private meeting. 

Rauner has yet to respond.