Serious, intense clout usually only comes into
play at the Illinois Statehouse on behalf of giant corporations,
powerful political organizations, influential labor unions,
entrenched bureaucracies, and other unstoppable special interests.
Rarely, if ever, is the full force of a
legislative leader’s office deployed to push a bill that is
opposed by the powers that be and has no significant Statehouse
constituency. But that happened last month, and it took place
almost entirely under the media’s radar screen.
Predatory lenders have all but destroyed a
neighborhood in House Speaker Michael Madigan’s district.
Madigan has tried without success for years to change the state law
that regulates mortgage lenders.
Several key members of Madigan’s own
House Democratic caucus have turned against him time and time again
whenever he’s tried to run a bill to crack down on the
lenders who lend money to unqualified buyers and then often
repossess the homes, which are then rented to unsavory types.
Madigan apparently decided several weeks ago
that he would pass his predatory-lender reforms this year no matter
what. He drafted a bill that was completely unacceptable to the
mortgage and banking industries, modified it a tiny bit, then
jammed it through the House. The industry initially tied up the
bill in the Senate, and Madigan was forced to agree to several
minor changes.
After those changes, Madigan decided that he
had had enough and, along with Gov. Rod Blagojevich, pushed Senate
President Emil Jones to call the bill.
The industry cranked up its opposition,
however, and stalled the bill until the very last day of the spring session, even attempting at one
point to allegedly buy off a community group with a $300,000
“contribution.”
“I’m bleeding from every
orifice,” moaned one industry lobbyist after meeting with
Madigan’s top staff a few days before the end of session. The
speaker was not pleased with the opposition and was making his
opinion known to the industry in the clearest way possible: Back
off, or be forever tainted.
The industry rolled the dice and chose the
potential for permanent taint. Madigan, in response, began
whistling in individual senators for private chats and prevailed
upon the governor to make several phone calls supporting the bill,
which was sponsored in the Senate by Chicago Democrat Marty
Sandoval. Even with all the pressure exerted by Madigan and the
governor, the bill fell three votes shy of passage the day before
session ended.
But Madigan didn’t give up. Senate
Republican Leader Frank Watson had convinced his caucus to stick
together against the bill, even though three of his members
supported it. Madigan’s emissaries reminded Watson that the
speaker had saved Watson’s state prison from closure last
year and passed one of Watson’s pet bills this year to loosen
the regulations on fireworks sales, but Watson wouldn’t
budge.
So Madigan began pounding on individual Senate
Democrats. At one point, the pressure was so intense that appointed
freshman Sen. Mike Jacobs, D-East Moline, who voted against the
bill the first time around, complained to the media about
Madigan’s attempt to dictate terms to the Senate and vowed to
continue his opposition. But the speaker never eased the pressure,
and Jacobs and two other Democrats eventually voted for the
legislation, giving it enough votes to pass the Senate.
The House quickly voted to accept the Senate
changes, with Republicans refusing industry entreaties to stand
together against the bill and verify the roll call, a parliamentary
move to make sure that everyone who votes for a bill is actually
present. But the Republicans decided that standing in the way of a
speaker who was so completely bound and determined to pass a bill
probably wouldn’t be a good idea. The bill passed.
Opponents made a lot of good points about how
Madigan’s legislation was overreaching, unfair, and illegal
and might seriously harm the mortgage industry. But, in the end,
the fight came down to a question of who had the most clout.
Madigan won.
This article appears in Jun 30 – Jul 6, 2005.
