Mike Madigan has held the House speaker seat for a total of 31 years. | File photo
Mike Madigan has held the House speaker seat for a total of 31 years. | File photo
DuPage constituents recently received robocalls criticizing state Reps. Deb Conroy (D-Villa Park), Stephanie Kifowit (D-Oswego) and Michelle Mussman (D-Schaumburg) for voting to reappoint Mike Madigan (D-Chicago) as speaker of the House.
"The Illinois Republican Party is committed to making sure that voters know their representatives sold them out yesterday," GOP spokesman Steven Yaffe said in a news release. "That’s why, today, the ILGOP is releasing robocalls in 18 House districts, informing constituents that their state representative backed 'Boss Madigan' against their wishes."
The robocalls targeted the representatives individually. A matter-of-fact male voice, "Chris," informed constituents that their representative "chose Mike Madigan over you and the people of the district." The automated call continued, calling Madigan a "Chicago political boss," and his tenure a "reign over Illinois."
Madigan has held the House speaker seat for a total of 31 years: from 1983-95, and from 1997-present. He will surpass South Carolina Rep. Solomon Blatt's national record of 33 years' service as state House speaker in 2018.
All three representatives were previously added to the GOP website BossMadigan.com, which linked lawmakers with Madigan and his major contributors. It was an effort to inform voters and push lawmakers to break Madigan's hold on the House speaker position by voting for a different representative.
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