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The House That Madigan Built: The Record Run of Illinois' Velvet Hammer
Michael Madigan rose from the Chicago machine to hold unprecedented power as Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives. In his thirty-six years wielding the gavel, Madigan outlasted governors, passed or blocked legislation at will, and outmaneuvered virtually every attempt to limit his reach.
Veteran reporter Ray Long draws on four decades of observing state government to provide the definitive political analysis of Michael Madigan. Secretive, intimidating, shrewd, power-hungry--Madigan mesmerized his admirers and often left his opponents too beaten down to oppose him. Long vividly recreates the battles that defined the Madigan era, from stunning James Thompson with a lightning-strike tax increase, to pressing for a pension overhaul that ultimately failed in the courts, to steering the House toward the Rod Blagojevich impeachment. Long also shines a light on the machinery that kept the Speaker in power. Head of a patronage army, Madigan ruthlessly used his influence and fundraising prowess to reward loyalists and aid his daughter’s electoral fortunes. At the same time, he reshaped bills to guarantee he and his Democratic troops shared in the partisan spoils of his legislative victories. Yet Madigan’s position as the state’s seemingly invulnerable power broker could not survive scandals among his close associates and the widespread belief that his time as Speaker had finally reached its end.
Unsparing and authoritative, The House That Madigan Built is the page-turning account of one the most powerful politicians in Illinois history.
Veteran reporter Ray Long draws on four decades of observing state government to provide the definitive political analysis of Michael Madigan. Secretive, intimidating, shrewd, power-hungry--Madigan mesmerized his admirers and often left his opponents too beaten down to oppose him. Long vividly recreates the battles that defined the Madigan era, from stunning James Thompson with a lightning-strike tax increase, to pressing for a pension overhaul that ultimately failed in the courts, to steering the House toward the Rod Blagojevich impeachment. Long also shines a light on the machinery that kept the Speaker in power. Head of a patronage army, Madigan ruthlessly used his influence and fundraising prowess to reward loyalists and aid his daughter’s electoral fortunes. At the same time, he reshaped bills to guarantee he and his Democratic troops shared in the partisan spoils of his legislative victories. Yet Madigan’s position as the state’s seemingly invulnerable power broker could not survive scandals among his close associates and the widespread belief that his time as Speaker had finally reached its end.
Unsparing and authoritative, The House That Madigan Built is the page-turning account of one the most powerful politicians in Illinois history.
409 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 3, 2022
About the author
Ray Long
55 books40 followersDr. Ray A. Long is an orthopedic surgeon and the founder of Bandha Yoga. He is widely known for integrating modern western science with ancient Hatha yoga. He authored the popular Scientific Keys and Yoga Mat Companion book series, which use 3D anatomical illustrations to show how muscles, tendons, and ligaments work in each pose.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
April 5, 2022
This book has few insights into Madigan's political operation or strategic thinking you couldn't get with a subscription to the Trib or Sun-Times. I was hoping for more than just a narrative anthology of press clippings.
April 12, 2026
If there's anything I know about Chicagoans, it's that they love people who don't live there and ideally have never lived there opining about their beloved hometown. But unfortunately for them, I find their hometown fascinating, particularly for the persistence of old-school big city machine politics.
This is very much Ray Long's collected notes from four-odd decades of reporting on Mike Madigan, speaker of the Illinois House from 1983-1995 and 1997-2021 and current resident of a federal prison. I can understand people who read the Sun-Times or Tribune through that period not getting much out of it. But for an out-of-towner like me, it's a joy!
Charles Wheeler's intro is particularly helpful at setting out Madigan's key motivations at the beginning. He's not an ideologue. He is not motivated by a passion for social justice or a belief in free markets or the fight for racial equality — none of that. He cares about, in Wheeler's words, "protecting the city of Chicago and its institutions from suburban barbarians at its gates, and safeguarding the Illinois General Assembly's constitutional role as a coequal branch of government."
The latter might seem like a bizarre motivation from the outside, but the man worked in the Illinois House for the vast majority of his life. You come to care about institutions close to you. In any case, the consistency with which he stood up for Chicago against the rest of the state is illuminating. One might've expected him to join with Ed Burke and Ed Vrdolyak, two fellow white ethnic machine Democrats who went to war with mayor Harold Washington in the mid-80s, but he didn't; they wanted him to weaken the mayoralty of Chicago, and he was categorically unwilling to do that. Nor would he let Gov. Jim Edgar pass Prop 13-style property tax caps in the 1990s that would've left Chicago without a fiscal base.
Wheeler concludes: "Bottom line, in my opinion, Madigan has been a positive force for the state of Illinois." Not sure if I'd go that far. Even for an Illinois politician, the whole "have your cronies control the property tax assessor's office and also operate a law firm that specializes in property tax appeals" scheme he ran was quite brazen and the kind of thing that properly gets you thrown in prison. But you can see the steelmanned case for Madigan here, which is one of both the intro and the entire book's key virtues.
A few other things I learned here:
- Before a 1980 ballot measure (spearheaded by Pat Quinn, who'd become governor a whole 29 years later), Illinois House districts each elected three members, of whom at most two could be from the same party. This seems to have led to some amazing chicanery, as when Long mentions "a Republican, Susan Catania of Chicago, a white liberal House lawmaker with an overwhelmingly Black constituency." I think I missed my calling as a liberal fake-Republican.
- After the "cutback" amendment passed, the 1981 battle over how exactly to redistrict in response led to physical violence in both houses of the Illinois General Assembly. Rep. Dwight Friedrich (R-Centralia) tried to throw a TV cameraman off a balcony railing to keep him from reporting on the debate. And, "Pint-sized Democratic Senator Sam Vadalabene, a sixty-seven-year-old former bar owner from Edwardsville, leaped from his seat as Rhoads shouted and landed a haymaker on the thirty-five-year-old Republican's jaw."
- Then-Minority Leader Madigan was more level-headed, merely describing Speaker and future Governor/felon George Ryan's behavior as "reminiscent of tactics used by the Nazis in Germany and by dictatorial regimes all over the world."
- Under the current Illinois Constitution, redistricting works like this: first, you try to pass something through both houses and get it signed by the governor. If you can't, it goes to a special panel of legislators from each house with equal numbers from each party. If they can't get it together, then the Illinois Supreme Court submits two names, one Democrat and one Republican, and randomly picks one to add to the panel as a tiebreaker.
- The standard way to choose the tiebreaker is, and I swear to God I'm not making this up, to put their names in Abraham Lincoln's stovepipe hat and pull it out. There does seem to be some controversy over whether it's authentically Lincoln's hat but at the very least we're doing Lincoln LARPing.
- When Long described all the above, I thought, "ridiculous, I wonder if that ever actually happened," and then Long started talking casually about the 1981, 1991, and 2001 pulls, because this happens all the goddamn time. In fairness, though, in 1991 they used a crystal bowl because the Lincoln hat had been sold. They managed to get a new one by 2001.
- This tiebreaker was adopted in the new Illinois Constitution of 1970 to replace the tiebreaker that the 1870 constitution included, which was to hold elections for 177 different Illinois-wide, at-large State House seats simultaneously. Voters had to select 177 different candidates to vote for. This actually happened in 1964 and was known as the "bedsheet ballot."
- In 1988, Madigan and Gov. Jim Thompson had to desperately whip votes to pass funding for a new Chicago White Sox stadium; if they failed, the team would move to Tampa Bay. For procedural reasons, they had to pass the funding by midnight June 30; if they missed the deadline, they'd go from needing a simple majority to pass budget bills to needing a three-fifths majority. They actually took until 12:03 but Madigan and his leadership team simply insisted it was 11:59 for four straight minutes, leading to this interaction:
Madigan's initial comment when asked if he was surprised by Gov. Rod Blagojevich's arrest: "Well, I've had an opportunity to get to know Mr. Blagojevich over six years, and so I was not surprised."
- By the 2006 midterms, enough Democrats were disgusted by Blagojevich that the Green Party nominee got over 10 percent of the vote.
- Rep. Bob Molaro, an ally of Madigan, offered this testimonial at one point: "He's like Superman. Not even kryptonite can affect him." I love that his one example is something that is famously not true about Superman.
- The Illinois general assembly pension plan used to base payouts on the highest-ever salary received by an ex-House member. So Molaro wrote a nineteen-page white paper for Ed Burke, got paid $12,000 for a month's work, and raised what would've been a $64,000 pension to more than double that, based on his new $144,000 annual salary.
- Incredible aside when discussing the new head of Metra, the Chicago commuter rail system: "His predecessor, Phil Pagano, jumped in front of a train after he was caught taking $475,000 in unauthorized vacation pay to cover costs of extramarital affairs, among other things."
- "In one stretch from 2003 through early 2011, Madigan recommended thirty-seven lawyers to become associate judges, and twenty-five were selected outright."
- Fundraisers were not allowed in Sangamon County, home to Springfield, on days when the state legislature is in session. So Madigan simply picked a random Monday in May, said there'd be no session that day, and threw a fundraising boat party.
- "A young Democratic state senator named Paul Simon [wrote] for Harper's magazine in 1965 of the 'sometimes sinister' lobbyist-legislator alliance, saying, 'Cold cash passes directly from one hand to another.' His colleagues responded by giving him a 'Benedict Arnold Award.'"
- Ed Burke's corruption is so ridiculously penny-ante: "Burke allegedly tried to pressure executives of a fast-food restaurant—a Burger King in his ward—to send his law firm their property tax business. He allegedly played hardball on city permits the restaurant needed in order to renovate. Prosecutors said Burke put in a stop-work order and sent a city inspector to issue tickets for failing to get a city permit for work on the Burger King driveway—even though that permit had been issued already."
- Ray Long is a great reporter who also reminds me very much of the Post veterans who hated Wonkblog and could not conceive of a world where online news was the main thing and the print edition is an afterthought: "As an old-school print guy, it irked me that we popped the story online shortly after noon on the day before it came out in the print version of the paper. The world of newspaper journalism is focused more and more on breaking news online rather than rolling out a major print story in the paper at the same time it hits the internet. The theory is that more people end up reading it, which is great, but it also gives the competition a chance to catch up faster by grabbing a piece of a story that took us weeks to put together."
- In 2019, David Krupa, a 19-year-old freshman at DePaul, challenged Marty Quinn, a Madigan loyalist and Chicago alderman. He needed 473 signatures to get on the ballot and filed 1,729 to be safe. Quinn's team, though, had already gone through the ward collecting affidavits by residents saying they wanted to rescind their signatures on Krupa's petition. They got 2,796 affidavits; only 187 of the names on them matched Krupa's petition. So, effectively, the Madigan-Quinn team got over 2,600 to sign their names to an outright lie in a madcap effort to avoid a challenge from a teenager.
This is very much Ray Long's collected notes from four-odd decades of reporting on Mike Madigan, speaker of the Illinois House from 1983-1995 and 1997-2021 and current resident of a federal prison. I can understand people who read the Sun-Times or Tribune through that period not getting much out of it. But for an out-of-towner like me, it's a joy!
Charles Wheeler's intro is particularly helpful at setting out Madigan's key motivations at the beginning. He's not an ideologue. He is not motivated by a passion for social justice or a belief in free markets or the fight for racial equality — none of that. He cares about, in Wheeler's words, "protecting the city of Chicago and its institutions from suburban barbarians at its gates, and safeguarding the Illinois General Assembly's constitutional role as a coequal branch of government."
The latter might seem like a bizarre motivation from the outside, but the man worked in the Illinois House for the vast majority of his life. You come to care about institutions close to you. In any case, the consistency with which he stood up for Chicago against the rest of the state is illuminating. One might've expected him to join with Ed Burke and Ed Vrdolyak, two fellow white ethnic machine Democrats who went to war with mayor Harold Washington in the mid-80s, but he didn't; they wanted him to weaken the mayoralty of Chicago, and he was categorically unwilling to do that. Nor would he let Gov. Jim Edgar pass Prop 13-style property tax caps in the 1990s that would've left Chicago without a fiscal base.
Wheeler concludes: "Bottom line, in my opinion, Madigan has been a positive force for the state of Illinois." Not sure if I'd go that far. Even for an Illinois politician, the whole "have your cronies control the property tax assessor's office and also operate a law firm that specializes in property tax appeals" scheme he ran was quite brazen and the kind of thing that properly gets you thrown in prison. But you can see the steelmanned case for Madigan here, which is one of both the intro and the entire book's key virtues.
A few other things I learned here:
- Before a 1980 ballot measure (spearheaded by Pat Quinn, who'd become governor a whole 29 years later), Illinois House districts each elected three members, of whom at most two could be from the same party. This seems to have led to some amazing chicanery, as when Long mentions "a Republican, Susan Catania of Chicago, a white liberal House lawmaker with an overwhelmingly Black constituency." I think I missed my calling as a liberal fake-Republican.
- After the "cutback" amendment passed, the 1981 battle over how exactly to redistrict in response led to physical violence in both houses of the Illinois General Assembly. Rep. Dwight Friedrich (R-Centralia) tried to throw a TV cameraman off a balcony railing to keep him from reporting on the debate. And, "Pint-sized Democratic Senator Sam Vadalabene, a sixty-seven-year-old former bar owner from Edwardsville, leaped from his seat as Rhoads shouted and landed a haymaker on the thirty-five-year-old Republican's jaw."
- Then-Minority Leader Madigan was more level-headed, merely describing Speaker and future Governor/felon George Ryan's behavior as "reminiscent of tactics used by the Nazis in Germany and by dictatorial regimes all over the world."
- Under the current Illinois Constitution, redistricting works like this: first, you try to pass something through both houses and get it signed by the governor. If you can't, it goes to a special panel of legislators from each house with equal numbers from each party. If they can't get it together, then the Illinois Supreme Court submits two names, one Democrat and one Republican, and randomly picks one to add to the panel as a tiebreaker.
- The standard way to choose the tiebreaker is, and I swear to God I'm not making this up, to put their names in Abraham Lincoln's stovepipe hat and pull it out. There does seem to be some controversy over whether it's authentically Lincoln's hat but at the very least we're doing Lincoln LARPing.
- When Long described all the above, I thought, "ridiculous, I wonder if that ever actually happened," and then Long started talking casually about the 1981, 1991, and 2001 pulls, because this happens all the goddamn time. In fairness, though, in 1991 they used a crystal bowl because the Lincoln hat had been sold. They managed to get a new one by 2001.
- This tiebreaker was adopted in the new Illinois Constitution of 1970 to replace the tiebreaker that the 1870 constitution included, which was to hold elections for 177 different Illinois-wide, at-large State House seats simultaneously. Voters had to select 177 different candidates to vote for. This actually happened in 1964 and was known as the "bedsheet ballot."
- In 1988, Madigan and Gov. Jim Thompson had to desperately whip votes to pass funding for a new Chicago White Sox stadium; if they failed, the team would move to Tampa Bay. For procedural reasons, they had to pass the funding by midnight June 30; if they missed the deadline, they'd go from needing a simple majority to pass budget bills to needing a three-fifths majority. They actually took until 12:03 but Madigan and his leadership team simply insisted it was 11:59 for four straight minutes, leading to this interaction:
Broadcaster Carol Fowler, the statehouse reporter for CBS stations in Urbana and Peoria, challenged Thompson, saying the vote had been taken after midnight. "Was not," Thompson said. "Was too," Fowler countered. "Was not," Thompson said. "Was too," Fowler said. "Was not," Thompson said. "The speaker said it passed at 11:59."
Madigan's initial comment when asked if he was surprised by Gov. Rod Blagojevich's arrest: "Well, I've had an opportunity to get to know Mr. Blagojevich over six years, and so I was not surprised."
- By the 2006 midterms, enough Democrats were disgusted by Blagojevich that the Green Party nominee got over 10 percent of the vote.
- Rep. Bob Molaro, an ally of Madigan, offered this testimonial at one point: "He's like Superman. Not even kryptonite can affect him." I love that his one example is something that is famously not true about Superman.
- The Illinois general assembly pension plan used to base payouts on the highest-ever salary received by an ex-House member. So Molaro wrote a nineteen-page white paper for Ed Burke, got paid $12,000 for a month's work, and raised what would've been a $64,000 pension to more than double that, based on his new $144,000 annual salary.
- Incredible aside when discussing the new head of Metra, the Chicago commuter rail system: "His predecessor, Phil Pagano, jumped in front of a train after he was caught taking $475,000 in unauthorized vacation pay to cover costs of extramarital affairs, among other things."
- "In one stretch from 2003 through early 2011, Madigan recommended thirty-seven lawyers to become associate judges, and twenty-five were selected outright."
- Fundraisers were not allowed in Sangamon County, home to Springfield, on days when the state legislature is in session. So Madigan simply picked a random Monday in May, said there'd be no session that day, and threw a fundraising boat party.
- "A young Democratic state senator named Paul Simon [wrote] for Harper's magazine in 1965 of the 'sometimes sinister' lobbyist-legislator alliance, saying, 'Cold cash passes directly from one hand to another.' His colleagues responded by giving him a 'Benedict Arnold Award.'"
- Ed Burke's corruption is so ridiculously penny-ante: "Burke allegedly tried to pressure executives of a fast-food restaurant—a Burger King in his ward—to send his law firm their property tax business. He allegedly played hardball on city permits the restaurant needed in order to renovate. Prosecutors said Burke put in a stop-work order and sent a city inspector to issue tickets for failing to get a city permit for work on the Burger King driveway—even though that permit had been issued already."
- Ray Long is a great reporter who also reminds me very much of the Post veterans who hated Wonkblog and could not conceive of a world where online news was the main thing and the print edition is an afterthought: "As an old-school print guy, it irked me that we popped the story online shortly after noon on the day before it came out in the print version of the paper. The world of newspaper journalism is focused more and more on breaking news online rather than rolling out a major print story in the paper at the same time it hits the internet. The theory is that more people end up reading it, which is great, but it also gives the competition a chance to catch up faster by grabbing a piece of a story that took us weeks to put together."
- In 2019, David Krupa, a 19-year-old freshman at DePaul, challenged Marty Quinn, a Madigan loyalist and Chicago alderman. He needed 473 signatures to get on the ballot and filed 1,729 to be safe. Quinn's team, though, had already gone through the ward collecting affidavits by residents saying they wanted to rescind their signatures on Krupa's petition. They got 2,796 affidavits; only 187 of the names on them matched Krupa's petition. So, effectively, the Madigan-Quinn team got over 2,600 to sign their names to an outright lie in a madcap effort to avoid a challenge from a teenager.
January 21, 2023
Long, a reporter for the Chicago Tribune, reminds us of what old-fashioned journalism is all about. As an investigative reporter, he has been covering Mike Madigan for decades. This book gives us a fair but tough look at the man who was Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives for 36 out of 38 years (the longest serving leader of a legislative body in the history of the United States.) He was speaker from 1983-1995 and 1997-2021.
Madigan is currently facing federal charges for racketeering. Long’s book is a helpful primer as we watch the news to see how his case unfolds in the next couple years.
The book covers Madigan’s entrance into politics, he rise to the Speaker position, his effectiveness as a Chicago-style politician, and his fund-raising success. Chapters include relationships he had with various Illinois governors, two of whom went to prison. They also include insight into his daughter’s time as Illinois Attorney General. The last part of the book covers the unraveling of Madigan’s power as the #MeToo movement exposed ways he covered for a number of his aids and the pay-to-play deals he made under the table for decades, including a major bribery scheme with CommEd (the giant utility company serving Chicago.)
Long is fair and specific in this book, and even though Madigan has been a secretive and tight-lipped operator for years, we get interesting glimpses into both his corruption and his political skill. This is a great read for those who have been somewhat paying attention to Illinois politics, and especially to those of us who have lived through the stories recounted here.
Madigan is currently facing federal charges for racketeering. Long’s book is a helpful primer as we watch the news to see how his case unfolds in the next couple years.
The book covers Madigan’s entrance into politics, he rise to the Speaker position, his effectiveness as a Chicago-style politician, and his fund-raising success. Chapters include relationships he had with various Illinois governors, two of whom went to prison. They also include insight into his daughter’s time as Illinois Attorney General. The last part of the book covers the unraveling of Madigan’s power as the #MeToo movement exposed ways he covered for a number of his aids and the pay-to-play deals he made under the table for decades, including a major bribery scheme with CommEd (the giant utility company serving Chicago.)
Long is fair and specific in this book, and even though Madigan has been a secretive and tight-lipped operator for years, we get interesting glimpses into both his corruption and his political skill. This is a great read for those who have been somewhat paying attention to Illinois politics, and especially to those of us who have lived through the stories recounted here.
December 28, 2023
I read this with interest, knowing the author to be an excellent career reporter. What rises to the top for me is that this book was written less for the curious and more for the policy wonks who made the sausage over the last forty years as well as those who tried to keep tabs on how it was made. I found it to be even-handed with a begrudging respect for the longest-serving speaker in the country.
January 20, 2025
Wanted to know more about his relationship with Daley and get some pre-House biographical details that might have showcased his political instincts prior to his speakership and some insight into the ward-style politics it compares his politics to later in the book. Also wanted to know more about the constitutional convention. Also the structure was kind of wonky where the author tried to leave each chapter as a distinct period in time, but there were some details left out seemingly to have a more dramatic reveal later (I'm talking specifically about the settlement with the victim of sexual harassment not being discussed until a chapter or two later).
Most glaring was how surface-level everything felt. I didn't get the impression this author had any more access than any other reporter on the political beat, and while the research was decent the information felt secondhand. Skimming the sources I see a lot of newspaper articles, many of them penned by the author, and transcripts from the floor, but I don't see much additional research. No effort to interview the relevant players to get some extra insight? Not even a mention that you tried and nobody was available for comment?
So I vacillate between being grateful that these stories are consolidated in one place that'll serve as a quick reference in Illinois legislative history over the past 30 years and being suspicious of this being the author cashing in on his career by pasting together some stories from him and his buddies. Overall I land on this being pretty good and worth the read but am waiting for there to be a better book post conviction / acquittal.
Most glaring was how surface-level everything felt. I didn't get the impression this author had any more access than any other reporter on the political beat, and while the research was decent the information felt secondhand. Skimming the sources I see a lot of newspaper articles, many of them penned by the author, and transcripts from the floor, but I don't see much additional research. No effort to interview the relevant players to get some extra insight? Not even a mention that you tried and nobody was available for comment?
So I vacillate between being grateful that these stories are consolidated in one place that'll serve as a quick reference in Illinois legislative history over the past 30 years and being suspicious of this being the author cashing in on his career by pasting together some stories from him and his buddies. Overall I land on this being pretty good and worth the read but am waiting for there to be a better book post conviction / acquittal.
February 8, 2026
I think this is the book that convinces me that it's a bad idea to read a biography of anyone who's still alive. The chronology of this book ends right as Madigan left the speakership in 2021, but before he was officially indicted and convicted. Just like the Richard J. Daley biography I read that coincidentally was published just before he died, it feels a little myopic to publish a book like this before we really feel the impact of what losing Madigan as speaker means for the state. Outside of the political, there's just a lot that can happen in the last years of someone's life. The chapters about Madigan's fights with Rod Blagojevich, for instance, are so much more poetic knowing that these two men, each fierce, partisan Democrats, so diametrically opposed both in demeanor and tactics, both end up going down for corruption and both spend their old age in prison, begging their wives to secure a pardon from a Republican president. That's downright Shakespearean.
As a collection of information, the book's very thorough. The author mentions his time at the Chicago Tribune and it shows, both with his knowledge of politics and the fact that he experienced most of these fights first hand. But there wasn't really a central thesis or narrative thrust to tie everything together, more a neutral retelling of events.
Madigan as a figure is obviously divisive and after such a long time in power and with him being so mercurial in terms of ideology, it feels beyond reductive to say whether he was good or bad. I will say, if you're the longest serving state speaker of the house in American history who essentially controls a state's government for almost 40 years, it's pretty telling if your crowning policy achievement is building a baseball stadium.
As a collection of information, the book's very thorough. The author mentions his time at the Chicago Tribune and it shows, both with his knowledge of politics and the fact that he experienced most of these fights first hand. But there wasn't really a central thesis or narrative thrust to tie everything together, more a neutral retelling of events.
Madigan as a figure is obviously divisive and after such a long time in power and with him being so mercurial in terms of ideology, it feels beyond reductive to say whether he was good or bad. I will say, if you're the longest serving state speaker of the house in American history who essentially controls a state's government for almost 40 years, it's pretty telling if your crowning policy achievement is building a baseball stadium.
February 27, 2023
If you're from outside Illinois and want a look at this history-making legislative leader or how Illinois politics works (or doesn't), this book will help. If you've followed Illinois politics for many years, I'm not sure whether you'll learn anything new.
Michael Madigan was the dominant figure in Illinois politics throughout my childhood (and for almost a half-century). I used to think: someday, when he is gone, there will be an incredible book to be written on what happened behind the scenes, informed by people who were then unable to talk. That's not this book.
Why did Mike Madigan go into politics? Did he consider other careers? Why the legislature and not city council? Why wasn't he interested in Congress or higher office? How did he become Democratic party leader in the Illinois legislature? How did that control extend over the state Democratic party? What was his marriage like, with decades of commuting to Springfield? What motivated the guy, at the end of the day? You will not find those answers here. One of the most interesting chapters, how the White Sox were kept in Illinois, gives little detail on how Madigan saved the day (it seems Governor Thompson was the real hero of the hour).
The book excels at explaining how the patronage system worked: you knock doors, you get a job, you continue proving your worth, you get promoted. It also detailed how Madigan's fundraising kept his caucus in power (and in line). But the type of person likely to be interested in this book will find these explanations familiar.
Michael Madigan was the dominant figure in Illinois politics throughout my childhood (and for almost a half-century). I used to think: someday, when he is gone, there will be an incredible book to be written on what happened behind the scenes, informed by people who were then unable to talk. That's not this book.
Why did Mike Madigan go into politics? Did he consider other careers? Why the legislature and not city council? Why wasn't he interested in Congress or higher office? How did he become Democratic party leader in the Illinois legislature? How did that control extend over the state Democratic party? What was his marriage like, with decades of commuting to Springfield? What motivated the guy, at the end of the day? You will not find those answers here. One of the most interesting chapters, how the White Sox were kept in Illinois, gives little detail on how Madigan saved the day (it seems Governor Thompson was the real hero of the hour).
The book excels at explaining how the patronage system worked: you knock doors, you get a job, you continue proving your worth, you get promoted. It also detailed how Madigan's fundraising kept his caucus in power (and in line). But the type of person likely to be interested in this book will find these explanations familiar.
June 27, 2024
Discussion about a new stadium for the Chicago White Sox and speculation that the team could move if Illinois taxpayers don’t cough up some cash is not new. If you’re interested in learning how the deal for the current stadium went down, I highly recommend this book by Ray Long. It is incredibly relevant to today’s discussion about Sox park.
While it looks like a book about a powerful man, his impact and his downfall, it is also a series of intensive case studies about the art of political dealmaking.
The story about the Sox stadium deal is just one of many that remains highly relevant, particularly as we watch Illinois weigh big issues related to the Bears, Madigan’s ongoing case, and more.
I’m so glad Ray wrote this!
While it looks like a book about a powerful man, his impact and his downfall, it is also a series of intensive case studies about the art of political dealmaking.
The story about the Sox stadium deal is just one of many that remains highly relevant, particularly as we watch Illinois weigh big issues related to the Bears, Madigan’s ongoing case, and more.
I’m so glad Ray wrote this!
July 23, 2024
Ray Long really shows his multi-decade journalistic chops in this book. It’s incredibly easy to read despite the fact that it’s chock full of facts, anecdotes, quotes, and legal and political strategic maneuverings. What a time to read this book as the DNC is back in Chicago and there is, essentially, an open convention. Although it’s looking like The Party is coalescing behind VP Harris, it’s not hard to believe or prophesy that - yet again - many deals will be cut and agreements reached behind the closed door of Chicago hotels. Oooh, how true rings the old saw - “history doesn’t repeat itself, it often rhymes.” Well, Twain, I find myself leaning more towards Faulkner’s adage - “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” At least that’s the way it seems in politics in Chicago.
May 22, 2022
3.75, rounded up to 4 for Goodreads.
Overall, this was a solid book about Michael Madigan's record tenure as the longest running Speaker of the State House of any state in the U.S. As a resident of Illinois, reading this book was really helpful in understanding the politics of this state and seeing how Madigan's legacy still shapes the state to this day. My main complaint is this book is a bit too hagiographic at times, it leans into the "brilliance" and spectacle of Madigan's career a little too much for my taste. Still, a valuable book about probably the most important politician in Illinois politics in the last 40 years!
Overall, this was a solid book about Michael Madigan's record tenure as the longest running Speaker of the State House of any state in the U.S. As a resident of Illinois, reading this book was really helpful in understanding the politics of this state and seeing how Madigan's legacy still shapes the state to this day. My main complaint is this book is a bit too hagiographic at times, it leans into the "brilliance" and spectacle of Madigan's career a little too much for my taste. Still, a valuable book about probably the most important politician in Illinois politics in the last 40 years!
November 12, 2022
Ray is a brilliant colleague of mine and I feel really lucky to learn from him every day! No one has covered Mike Madigan as closely as Ray for the last 4 decades. Ray here pours a lifetime of understanding into a smart dive into the king of Illinois’ Democratic machine. Expect some fun stories along with an exhaustive and unparalleled tracking of the Velvet Hammer’s career.
October 3, 2023
Ray Long does a great job explaining the career of former Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan. While I remember most of the events, I don't remember or didn't know many of the details that Ray explains.
July 22, 2024
Overall, I enjoyed the book. As an Illinois native, I am familiar with the infamous Michael J. Madigan so I was immediately drawn to this book when Ray Long, a reporter I’ve long followed and respected, announced the debut. Long offers an honest and fair (and at times harsh - but alway truthful) portrayal of Madigan’s record run as Speaker. My biggest issue with this book is that I am not a fan of nonlinear stories; however, I completely understand why Long made that choice, as paragraphs and chapters focused on certain characteristics, people and storylines. Additionally, I am intimately familiar with Illinois politics, but readers who are not may need additional context for some of the stories.
I would recommend this book to a friend who is interested in politics, and I would strongly recommend to a friend interested in Illinois politics.
I would recommend this book to a friend who is interested in politics, and I would strongly recommend to a friend interested in Illinois politics.
March 8, 2026
Rounding up from 3.5
This is just re hashing previously written articles. Not enough thick description.
This is just re hashing previously written articles. Not enough thick description.
July 9, 2022
A good recounting of the Madigan legacy. The book seems more than fair to Madigan at the expense of failing to report the impact on the people of Illinois.
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