Mike Madigan and public policy

Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan buried two nursing home reform bills in the House Rules Committee in 1984. One had been sponsored by Democratic State Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie, the other by Republican State Rep. Mary Lou Cowlishaw.

The Rules committee was the graveyard for unwanted legislation. Bills would languish there and never be called for a vote. They could die without anybody having to be on record as having opposed them.

Not long after, a major crisis surfaced in one nursing home and Attorney General Neil Hartigan, who planned to run for Governor, pledged to fight for a remedy and made nursing home reform a major issue in his upcoming campaign.

Madigan didn’t want Hartigan to be Governor. He didn’t want to be overshadowed by a more prominent member of his party, someone he could not control. And he wanted a piece of the action on an issue that he knew would receive a lot of public attention.

So, he resurrected the two bills, merged them into one, named himself chief sponsor, and added allies as co-sponsors so they could return to their districts and proclaim their support for consumers and for senior citizens.

Madigan declared, “There will be nursing home reform.” He positioned himself as the public hero of nursing home reform and the person who would be in control of the legislation. Passage of the bill was certain.

But he didn’t really care what was in the bill. Nursing home reform advocates still had to work to ensure it contained effective enforcement mechanisms.

The bill passed (and included some additional funding – for nursing home owners, not for residents) and Hartigan did not run for Governor.

Madigan persuaded former U.S. Senator Adlai Stevenson III, who had narrowly lost the previous gubernatorial race, to run again. Hartigan knew he couldn’t beat Adlai, so he withdrew as a candidate for Governor and ran for re-election as Attorney General.